Seattle mum on former Mariner, current free agent Griffey

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Mariners can have Ken Griffey Jr. back if they want him, now that he's a free agent.

New Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik refused to say whether Seattle will make a push to sign its former franchise center fielder who is still beloved in the Northwest. That was hours after the Chicago White Sox made Griffey a free agent -- and free for a potential return to the team with which he said two years ago he would like to retire.

"We can't comment on any specific free agent at this time," Zduriencik said Thursday afternoon through a Mariners spokesman in an e-mail to the Associated Press.

The White Sox declined Griffey's $16.5 million contract option for 2009. Griffey will get a $4 million buyout to complete a $116.5 million, nine-year contract he agreed to with his hometown Cincinnati Reds before the 2000 season -- after he demanded a trade from Seattle.

The Mariners drafted Griffey, who turns 39 next month, No. 1 overall in 1987 and put him in their opening day lineup two days later while he was still a teenager. He stayed there for the next 11 years.

Griffey was an All-Star 10 times with Seattle. He has been an All-Star only three times since -- the last time in 2007.

He hit a combined .249 with 18 home runs and 71 RBI in 143 games last season for the Reds and the White Sox, to whom he agreed to be traded so he could play in the postseason. He went 2-for-10 as Chicago lost in four games to Tampa Bay in the first round of the AL playoffs.

Griffey batted .260 with three home runs and 18 RBI in 41 games with the White Sox, who acquired him July 31 in a trade that sent right-hander Nick Masset and infielder Danny Richar to Cincinnati. Griffey had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee this month to repair torn meniscus and torn cartilage, a condition that affected his power numbers.

"He will undoubtedly help some club, both on the field and in the clubhouse," White Sox general manager Ken Williams said Thursday. "Pure class."

Griffey passed Sammy Sosa for fifth on the home-run list last season and has 611, trailing only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Willie Mays (660). Griffey is 18th with 1,772 RBI.

His fit in Seattle could be as a full-time DH, something he has resisted becoming. But he might not fit Seattle's first months of a massive rebuilding job that Zduriencik was hired this month to lead. The Mariners last season became the first team with a $100 million payroll to lose 100 games.

When he came back with the Reds for an interleague series in Seattle in June 2007, Griffey said he wanted to retire as a Mariner. When asked to clarify whether he would like to play for Seattle again, Griffey said then, "I don't know. That depends on a lot of things, health and everything else."

Griffey didn't specify whether he would like to return to Seattle as an active player or simply for a ceremonial contract before retiring.

In the weeks leading up to his 2007 return, Griffey was reluctant to talk about it and even told Mariners president Chuck Armstrong he feared getting booed.

But then he received an extended roar from the crowd before the series opener, just after Armstrong and others presented him with a framed picture of Safeco Field with the words "The House that Griffey Built" across the top.

"Never did I imagine it would be like this coming back," Griffey told the crowd that night. "I didn't know how much I missed being in Seattle."