PEORIA, Ariz. — If Ken Griffey Jr. is about to return to the Seattle Mariners, it’s news to him.
“We don’t know what we’re doing next year with respect to Seattle. It’s all rumors,” Griffey said Thursday after finishing his round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in California.
Yet there are signs this seemingly inevitable final fling between a fading slugger and the team that made him a superstar beginning as a teen may be getting closer to reality.
Griffey’s agent, Brian Goldberg told The Associated Press in an e-mail he and the Mariners have talked recently. And multiple reports earlier Thursday said those talks had intensified in recent days.
The 39-year-old slugger is credited with helping save baseball in Seattle with majestic home runs, wall-scaling catches and magnetic charisma while playing his first 11 seasons there through 1999.
After the White Sox declined the $16.5 million option on Giffey’s contract, a return to Seattle for a fraction of the price seemed possible.
In December, Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said he had preliminary talks with Goldberg about possibly bringing back Griffey, who is fifth all-time with 611 home runs in 20 seasons. Recently, Zduriencik has been more coy about Griffey.
Thursday evening, he was silent. At the spring training camp for the Mariners, Zduriencik said through a team spokesman he would not comment on Griffey, or any unsigned free agents.
Griffey said he was in the dark on where the talks now stand.
“I really don’t even know. My agent is handling,” he said moments after stepping off the Poppy Hills course.
When asked if he still wants to play despite knee surgery last October, Griffey said: “As long as it’s still fun, I want to keep playing.”
For now, he is expected to remain at Pebble Beach until his team ends play in the pro-am Saturday or Sunday.
Goldberg, in an e-mail Thursday evening, said: “There is nothing specific to report. The Mariners and I have had discussions but there is nothing definite.”
The Mariners have been trying to add a power hitter for months. They were believed to be pursuing Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn until this week, when Abreu signed with the Los Angeles Angels and Dunn agreed to a deal with the Washington Nationals. Seattle has also talked to the agent for free agent Garret Anderson.
The Mariners prefer a left-handed bat because the dimensions of pitcher-friendly Safeco Field are shortest in right field.
The configuration fits the left-handed Griffey so well, the Mariners presented him with a framed photo of their stadium before a Reds-Mariners game in 2007, with the words “The House that Griffey Built” across the top. Griffey played just half a season in it before getting the trade he demanded to Cincinnati in 2000.
That was months after he rejected Seattle’s offer for $148 million over eight years.
Yet the fans in Seattle still love “Junior,” who would give an instant jolt to what appears to be a long rebuilding season.
He made his first opening day start with the Mariners as a 19-year-old in 1989. He stayed 10 more years before the trade to Cincinnati. He has been hampered by injuries since and had arthroscopic knee surgery following the 2008 season, the last half of which he spent with the White Sox.
He is the Mariners’ career leader in home runs (398), slugging percentage (.569) and trails only Edgar Martinez in team history in games played with 1,535. He’s also second to Martinez in Seattle history in hits, RBI, extra-base hits, at-bats, doubles, runs and total bases.
Seattle’s starting outfield currently has Ichiro Suzuki in right field, Franklin Gutierrez in center and question marks in left. Designated hitter is another of the many starting positions open for competition in spring training, a camp that Zduriencik has said will be more like a competitive proving ground for all than a warmup for the season.
Griffey has resisted the idea of being a full-time DH.
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