Like Mark McGwire before him, Ken Griffey Jr. is making a statement: There is such a thing as enough money. No one appreciates Griffey’s sense of values more than the Cincinnati Reds.
Because the electrifying Griffey was willing to accept significantly less than his market value, he gets a chance to raise his children in his hometown and lead a resurgence of the Reds, who twice won World Series with his father playing right field. Ken Griffey Sr. now serves as a Cincinnati coach and is considered a strong candidate to succeed manager Jack McKeon.
Griffey, voted by his peers as the Player of the 1990s, was one year away from free agency and a chance to ask for the world. Instead, he and agent Brian Goldberg maneuvered their way back to Cincinnati, where Griffey starred for Moeller High School before being the first player picked in the 1987 draft.
“The last time I put on this uniform, I think I was 8–for a father-son game,” Griffey said Thursday. “This is something I dreamed about as a little kid–being back in my hometown where I watched so many great players.”
Griffey’s Hall of Fame credentials should have insured the Seattle Mariners of a bountiful return in any trade, but Griffey’s 1-2 combination in negotiations undercut new Seattle General Manager Pat Gillick.
Griffey initially asked to be traded closer to his off-season home in Orlando, ruling out the 10 teams that train in Arizona. After blocking a December trade with the New York Mets, he said he would not approve a trade with any team other than Cincinnati.
Rather than allow both Griffey and All-Star shortstop Alex Rodriguez to enter spring training in the last year of their contracts, the Mariners traded Griffey for right-hander Brett Tomko, center-fielder Mike Cameron and two prospects–shortstop Antonio Perez and right-hander Jake Meyer. The Reds had acquired both Cameron and Meyer in trades with the White Sox (for Paul Konerko and Brook Fordyce).
Gillick did not apologize for failing to pry away Pokey Reese, Scott Williamson or any of Cincinnati’s more highly regarded prospects, but he did acknowledge the hard reality of his position. “Unfortunately we didn’t have that (much) leverage,” Gillick said. “At one time there were four teams Ken would accept a trade to. He amended that to one, and it significantly reduced our leverage.”
If the Mariners made a mistake with the 30-year-old Griffey, it was in neither extending his contract nor trading him during 1998. He was vested as one of baseball’s rare 5-and-10 players (five years with his team and 10 in the major leagues) at the end of that season, enabling him to dictate the terms of his departure.
The Mariners attempted to sign Griffey last season, but he rejected a deal that would have made him baseball’s highest-paid player. He turned down eight years and $140 million ($17.5 million a year), saying he wanted the Seattle front office to address the pitching deficit that contributed to the Mariners’ winning only two American League West titles.
It appears what Griffey wanted the most was a chance to relive his boyhood. And the people of Cincinnati were waiting with open arms, some putting up “Welcome Home” signs in their yards.
“There were 200 people at the airport, which I didn’t think I’d see,” Griffey said of his arrival Thursday. “I thought I’d sneak in and sneak out, but that was not the case.”
The Mariners and Reds agreed on the terms of the trade Wednesday, but it was contingent on Cincinnati’s signing Griffey to a deal that would keep him beyond 2000. He shocked baseball executives by agreeing to a nine-year deal worth $116.5 million.
The $12.94 million annual average not only is below the record Los Angeles gave pitcher Kevin Brown but also trails the deals held by five others. It pales alongside offers reportedly made this winter to Detroit outfielder Juan Gonzalez (eight years, $140 million) and Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (seven years, $118.5 million).
Griffey’s deal is even more favorable to the Reds because it includes $57 million in deferred payments, which are scheduled to be made from 2009 through 2024. Cincinnati pays no more than $7 million in any one season. That should allow Reds General Manager Jim Bowden to continue building the young team that won 96 games last season.
Griffey’s approach is similar to the one taken by McGwire, who joins him in pursuit of Henry Aaron’s career record of 755 home runs. Because McGwire is happy in St. Louis, he has never demanded to be paid at the top of the salary scale. He will earn $9 million plus incentive bonuses this season and has already exercised an $11 million option for 2001.
While the “hometown discount” is nothing new,baseball’s salary spiral has been the result of premier players pushing the limit. If nothing else, the presence of both Griffey and McGwire in the National League Central could present image problems for the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa.
Sosa, a runner-up to McGwire in historic home run races in 1998 and ’99, has two years and $18 million remaining on the contract extension he signed in July ’97. He began lobbying for a new contract last season and has continued those efforts this winter. Sosa claims to have been misquoted in an Associated Press story in which he set the bar at $160 million but clearly believes he should be paid as much as anyone else in the major leagues.
Griffey’s arrival in Cincinnati elevates the competition in the Central. Houston has won three consecutive division titles but will enter this season next year without ace Mike Hampton, shortstop Ricky Gutierrez and run-producing outfielders Carl Everett and Derek Bell.
Bowden was masterful in landing Griffey while maintaining the corps of the team that tied the New York Mets in the NL wild-card race last year. The Reds lost Greg Vaughn and pitcher Juan Guzman to free agency, but added outfielder Dante Bichette. Tomko’s departure opens a spot in the starting rotation for free agent Mark Portugal or left-handed reliever Dennys Reyes.
By helping Seattle to division titles in ’95 and ’97, Griffey gave his franchise both credibility and a platform from which to campaign for a new stadium. His highlight-film catches and tape-measure home runs helped baseball regain its popularity after the ’94 strike.
“We hope that Ken decides to go into the Hall of Fame as a Mariner,” Seattle President Chuck Armstrong said. “We might not have baseball here except for Ken, and we might not have Safeco Field.”
While the Mariners will miss the ’97 MVP, they believe they can win without him. Gillick has been among the most active general managers this winter, addressing immediate concerns while wrestling with the contractual dilemmas presented by Griffey and Rodriguez.
Tomko and free-agent relievers Arthur Rhodes and Kazuhiro Sasaki (Japan’s all-time save leader) join a pitching staff that includes promising youngsters Freddy Garcia, John Halama, Gil Meche and Jose Paniagua. Cameron gives Seattle a dangerous leadoff man, while free-agent first baseman John Olerud tempers Griffey’s absence from the middle of the lineup.
But Gillick’s headaches are hardly over. Rodriguez plans to play out this season before entering free agency at age 25. The Mariners will be hard-pressed to keep him–the over-under on his next contract is $200 million–and could entertain offers during this season. Because he has no control over a deal, he will not be a bargain.
Like Griffey.
