It would be a storybook ending to a Hall of Fame career.
Ken Griffey Jr. returns to Seattle in a midseason trade, finding a way to reverse the aging process while sparking the Mariners into the playoffs and to the first World Series title for both.
Junior would get to return to the place it all started for him and Mariners fans would get a chance to say thanks for the memories.
That’s the way it would play out in a perfect world.
In the real world, however, that wouldn’t happen.
Sure, the Mariners have all the pieces to be a playoff team and a change of scenery has triggered turnarounds before, but Seattle shouldn’t make the move and here’s why.
There’s no place for him on the field. There’s three positions he could realistically play – center field, right field and designated hitter – and he’s not moving Ichiro out of center field, so forget that option. It was enough of an ego hit to have to move from center to right last year, so I don’t think he’d be too excited about moving to either left field or first base, two other possibilities.
The Mariners just dumped one old right fielder who wasn’t hitting (Brad Wilkerson) to clear room for Wladimir Balentien, a talented prospect who needs regular playing time. It doesn’t make sense to bring in Griffey when they just brought the youngster up. If Balentien is the right fielder of the future (Griffey certainly isn’t), let him develop. Even if he’s struggling now, it’s worth it to let him play through it. Seattle could move Balentien to left field, but no matter your opinion of Raul Ibanez, there’s no arguing that he’s one of the best players on the team right now (more productive than Griffey, by far, this season) and needs to be in the lineup.
Griffey wouldn’t fit as the DH for a similar reason. The Mariners need to start finding out which young players are going to be productive down the road. One of them, Jeff Clement, a first-round draft pick in 2005, was called up at the same time as Balentien. He has proven everything he can in the minors, but struggled in a short stint in the majors and was just sent down in favor of Jeremy Reed. Reed, who has been a productive major league hitter before, also needs an everyday opportunity.
A catcher by trade, Clement is blocked at that position by Kenji Johjima, who just signed a contract extension. That leaves DH for him. If Reed, an outfielder, is on the team, he could alternate with Balentien, but whichever one isn’t in right field should be at DH. And that leaves nothing for Griffey.
Griffey’s also not worth his current contract or the price it would take to get him from the Reds. The Reds are going to want to get something in return, likely in the form of young talent. Mariners’ general manager Bill Bavasi already emptied the farm system to get Eric Bedard this winter and mortgaging the future even more to get a 38-year-old injury-prone outfielder is a bad idea.
And even if the Reds do give him away for free, he is under contract for $12.5 million this season and he has an option for $16.5 million next year. The Mariners already have one of the largest payrolls and one of the worst clubs. Adding that salary is only going to make that worse.
I’m all for Griffey coming back and finishing his career in Seattle as he said last year he’d like to do. Junior was and is my favorite player in the game and I would love to see him play in Safeco Field for a year or two. But I’m also a Mariners fan and, barring a miracle, it would be a step backward for the team on the field right now.
Acquiring Ken Griffey Jr. may not be the worst thing in the world for the Mariners (that would be any trade involving Felix Hernandez), but it’s not something they should do. At least not until he’s a free agent.
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