DEL.ICIO.USMajor League Baseball
Ken Griffey backs out on Braves
Veteran outfielder, who was expected to sign with Atlanta, headed to Seattle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Lake Buena Vista, Fla. — In an all-too-familiar turn of events, Ken Griffey Jr. crushed the Braves’ hopes Wednesday and decided to sign with the Seattle Mariners.
Two days after Griffey told a close friend that he planned to sign with the Braves, the enigmatic outfielder instead returned to the team he played for during the first 11 seasons of his illustrious career.
AP
Ken Griffey reportedly was ready to sign with the Braves. But, instead, he’s headed back to where his career began in Seattle.
The Mariners announced the signing Wednesday night. The Braves issued no comment, and Braves general manager Frank Wren did not immediately return a phone message or an e-mail.
It’s the fourth time in four months the Braves fell short while pursuing a star player they thought they had a good chance to get, and now general manager Frank Wren will have to look elsewhere to boost an outfield that was anemic in 2008.
It was a stunning reversal of fortunes for the Braves, who had read and heard many reports that indicated Griffey was going to sign with them in order to stay closer to his family in Orlando and play for manager Bobby Cox.
Braves players came to the ballpark Wednesday hoping Griffey might be suited up for their first full-squad workout. At the least, they hoped there would be a news conference to announce the veteran outfielder had signed with the Braves.
“All signs are good,” third baseman Chipper Jones said early Wednesday.
Jones had talked to Griffey daily for the past week and seemed confident he was coming to the Braves. “But I’m not going to smile until he’s signed,” Jones said, alluding to the previous times the Braves were jilted this winter.
They tried to re-sign pitcher Mike Hampton, who jumped instead to Houston and cited a desire to be closer to his children in Arizona.
The Braves spent six weeks trying to trade for San Diego ace Jake Peavy, only to pull out after the Padres kept asking for more in return for the Alabama native. Peavy told people he didn’t know if he would agree to a trade to Atlanta anyway.
The Braves then made what was the biggest offer at the time for pitcher A.J. Burnett, who eventually accepted a slightly larger offer from the Yankees, citing the city’s proximity to his family’s Maryland home and his wife’s desire not to fly.
Then came the Rafael Furcal debacle. The Braves said they had a gentlemen’s agreement with their former shortstop, but said his agent used the Braves’ offer to leverage a better deal to re-sign with the Dodgers.
The Braves’ fortunes seemed to turn when they signed reliable starting pitchers Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami in a one-week span in January, after trading for starter Javier Vazquez earlier in the offseason.
But the Griffey disappointment at the start of spring training served as a reminder of the ones that got away recently for the Braves, and left them still searching for another proven run-producer in a relatively inexperienced lineup.
The Journal-Constitution first reported Tuesday that Griffey had told a close friend he would sign with the Braves. Wren said Wednesday that communication with Griffey’s agent, Brian Goldberg, had gone smoothly until after that AJC report, which Goldberg and Griffey said was inaccurate.
Griffey told MLB.com later Tuesday that he was still torn between the pull of Seattle, where he had spent the first half of his career, and the Braves, where he would be just a one-hour flight from his wife and children in Orlando, and where he would spend spring training just a 20-minute drive from his home.
By noon Wednesday, Braves officials seemed concerned by the silence from Griffey’s camp and said they expected a decision from him by Thursday.
It’s been a week of misdirection plays for Griffey. Even as it was being widely reported last week that he would sign with Seattle, Griffey called Jones and a Braves official to express interest in playing for the Braves.
He hadn’t been one of the Braves’ preferred options for their outfield job entering the offseason, but the free-agent pool had thinned, plus the Braves didn’t have much room left in their payroll and didn’t want to trade top prospects to acquire an outfielder via trade.
Suddenly the Griffey option looked pretty good, and the Braves figured they would pair the left-handed slugger, one of only six players with 600 career homers, in left field with right-handed hitting Matt Diaz.
Because while Griffey’s statistics had declined in recent years, he remained a proficient hitter against right-handed pitching, as was Diaz vs. lefties.
Jones was asked Wednesday if he thought Griffey was still struggling with a decision. “I think he feels like he owes Seattle their due respect,” said Jones, indicating that Griffey wanted to talk to Mariners officials personally.
The third baseman reiterated that Griffey would help the Braves.
“He’s always wanted to play over here — he loves Bobby,” Jones said. “Now he’s got his opportunity. Hopefully he’ll be patrolling left field pretty soon.
“He’d be worth his weight in gold, obviously, on the field. But off the field, as well. We’ve got a bunch of up-and-coming outfielders, guys who would be well-served to soak up as much as they can from Junior.”
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