Griffey Cuts Red Tape

By ROSS NEWHAN

Feb. 11, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Cincinnati Reds acquired baseball’s best all-around player Thursday without having to break up a team that won 96 games or break their small-market bank.

With the Reds and Seattle Mariners having already agreed on the players to be traded, Ken Griffey Jr. made it happen by making good on his pledge to accept an under-valued contract if the Mariners accommodated his desire to join his hometown Reds.

Griffey, a member of baseball’s All-Century team at 30, agreed to a nine-year, $116.5-million contract, including a $4-million buyout in a 10th-year option. The total is considerably less than the reported eight-year, $148-million Seattle offer he rejected last fall and wouldn’t have been possible, Cincinnati officials said, if Griffey hadn’t been willing to defer more than 50% of that total. The deferred portion will be paid out over 16 years after he retires.

The annual average of $12.944 million puts Griffey--a 10-time Gold Glove winner who slugged 48 homers and drove in 134 runs last year--only seventh behind Kevin Brown ($15 million), Shawn Green ($14 million), Mo Vaughn ($13.3 million), Randy Johnson ($13.1 million) and Mike Piazza and Albert Belle ($13 million each) on baseball’s list of the rich and famous.

Griffey, who was eligible for free agency at the end of the season, reiterated that his desire to be traded was never about money.

“This is my hometown, this is where I grew up,” he said in a Cincinnati news conference. “It doesn’t matter how much money you make, it’s where you’re happiest, and this is where I’ll be happiest. It’s the moment I’ve waited for, to play where my dad played.”

Ken Griffey Sr., a coach with the Reds and, possibly, the future manager when Jack McKeon retires, spent nine seasons with the Reds in the 1970s and early ‘80s, a member of two World Series champions.

“Hopefully,” said his son, wearing a Red uniform jersey for the first time since he was 8 and played in a father-son game at what was then called Riverfront Stadium, “I’ll be able to win a few championships here like my dad did.”

It may happen in his first year, considering that the Reds did not have to part with second baseman Pokey Reese, first baseman Sean Casey, relief pitcher Scott Williamson or any of the other young and pivotal players Seattle pursued during the protracted negotiations.

As reported Thursday, the Reds acquired Griffey for pitcher Brett Tomko, center fielder Mike Cameron, second base prospect Antonio Perez and Class-A pitcher Jake Meyer. The Mariners, worried that an unhappy Griffey would become a distraction and intent on trading him before spring training begins next week, were without leverage when they resumed trade talks with the Reds last week. Griffey, as a player with 10 years in the majors and five with the same club, had approval rights over any trade and had said he would approve only the Reds after initially giving the Mariners a list of four teams he would join.

“Under the circumstances, I think we did quite well,” Seattle General Manager Pat Gillick said. “I’m happy with the people we got back. We added depth to our pitching staff in Tomko and acquired an athletic outfielder as a replacement for Griffey in Cameron, as well as picking up a pair of nice prospects.”

It had been speculated that the Mariners would quickly trade Tomko to the Angels for center fielder Jim Edmonds, but Gillick and Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman insisted they had never seriously discussed an Edmonds deal, even though Gillick was still asking his top scouts for their evaluations of Edmonds on Thursday morning, sources said.

Whether Stoneman, as some sources said, upped the ante by asking Gillick for a package of three pitchers at the 11th hour or Gillick backed off because Edmonds, who is eligible for free agency at the end of the year, had said he would not sign a long-term contract with Seattle if traded there isn’t clear.

What is clear is that 1) Stoneman, according to Cincinnati sources, had been willing to trade Edmonds for Tomko straight up a few weeks earlier if the Reds hadn’t asked the Angels to carry some of Edmonds’ salary, and 2) talks with the Mariners could resurface because Stoneman continues to sit with Edmonds and his depleted pitching staff during a winter in which Ismael Valdes, Mike Hampton, Darryl Kile, Octavio Dotel, Rolando Arrojo, Pat Hentgen, Manny Aybar, Jose Jimenez and Tomko are some of the starting pitchers who have been traded.

Tomko, a disappointing 5-7 in 1999, went to high school in Orange County and lives in San Diego. He was surprised that his Thursday itinerary ended in Seattle rather than Anaheim.

“I thought that was what the deal would be,” he said. “Even this morning I figured I would be on my way to Anaheim in a three-way deal.

“But I got a call from [Cincinnati General Manager Jim] Bowden, who said, ‘You’re a Mariner.’ I was waiting to hear, ‘And now you’re an Angel.’ ”

The Mariners, who had signed John Olerud, Arthur Rhodes and several other free agents this winter in an attempt to convince Griffey he could be happy playing for a winner in Seattle, will now hope that Cameron, who hit 21 homers and stole 38 bases in a breakout season, can pick up some of the slack. They will also turn their financial focus on shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who is also eligible for free agency when the season ends.

Seattle officials hid any bitterness toward Griffey.

“I’m disappointed that he did not want to finish his career here,” club President Chuck Armstrong said, “but we might not even have baseball here and we might not have Safeco Field if it wasn’t for Junior’s contribution over the last 11 years.”

Griffey now moves into the heart of a Cincinnati lineup that will find Reese and Barry Larkin batting ahead of him and Dante Bichette, Dimitri Young and Casey immediately behind.

“The Reds made a hell of a deal,” Houston Astro General Manager Gerry Hunsicker said. “They acquired a premier player without impacting [the nucleus] of their 2000 club. I mean, they gave up a questionable pitcher [Tomko], a solid player [Cameron] and two kids who may not get past triple A. At the same time, I’ve never subscribed to the theory that one player puts a team over the top.

“I mean, Ken Griffey will be the same player he was in Seattle when he was surrounded by Randy Johnson for most of those years and several other outstanding players and the Mariners had a mixed record at best. Sure, there’s not one team in baseball that wouldn’t love to have him, but Ken Griffey by himself can’t lead a team to the promised land.”

Hunsicker hopes that’s true. His Astros have won three consecutive titles in the National League Central, which has become one of the most competitive and attractive in baseball, featuring, among others, sluggers Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Griffey.

A crowd of several hundred fans greeted Griffey when he arrived at the Cincinnati airport Thursday afternoon, and the team’s switchboard was flooded by calls from prospective ticket buyers. Carl Lindner, who succeeded Marge Schott as the principal owner of the Reds and is chairman of Cincinnati-based Chiquita Bananas, called Griffey’s homecoming a “landmark day for baseball’s oldest franchise” and added, “It couldn’t be more exciting. To think that Ken will break Hank Aaron’s home run record in a Reds uniform is thrilling.”

Lindner and Griffey laughed at that. Griffey is at 398 homers and counting. If he doesn’t have quite as much money to count in Cincinnati as he might have had elsewhere, he has enough.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Baseball’s Highest Average Salaries

In millions:

Kevin Brown (Dodgers): $15.0

Shawn Green (Dodgers): $14.0

Mo Vaughn (Angels): $13.3

Randy Johnson (Arizona): $13.1

Mike Piazza (New York Mets): $13.0

Albert Belle (Baltimore): $13.0

Ken Griffey Jr. (Cincinnati): $12.9

Powerful Pace

Ken Griffey Jr., who turned 30 in November, is more than halfway to Hank Aaron’s home run record.

Ken Griffey Jr. at age 29: 398

Hank Aaron at age 29: 342

Hank Aaron at age 42: 755

TO CINCINNATI

Outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr.

Last season: .285, 48 HRs, 134 RBIs

TO SEATTLE

Outfielder Mike Cameron

Last season: .256, 21, 66

Pitcher Brett Tomko

5-7, 4.92 ERA

Infielder Antonio Perez

Last season: .288, 7, 41 with Class-A Rockford

Pitcher Jake Meyer

3-2, 2.54 ERA, 16 saves with Class-A Rockford

CINCINNATI KID

TO CINCINNATI

KEN GRIFFEY JR.

Regular Season

*--*

Year, Team AB R H HR RBI AVG 1989, Sea 455 61 120 16 61 .264 1990, Sea 597 91 179 22 80 .300 1991, Sea 548 76 179 22 100 .327 1992, Sea 565 83 174 27 103 .308 1993, Sea 582 113 180 45 109 .309 1994, Sea 433 94 140 40 90 .323 1995, Sea 260 52 67 17 42 .258 1996, Sea 545 125 165 49 140 .303 1997, Sea 608 125 185 56 147 .304 1998, Sea 633 120 180 56 146 .284 1999, Sea 606 123 173 48 134 .285 Totals 5832 1063 1742 398 1152 .299

*--*

Division Series

*--*

Year, versus AB R H HR RBI AVG 1995, NYY 23 9 9 5 7 .391 1997, Bal 15 0 2 0 2 .133 Totals 38 9 11 5 9 .289

*--*

League Championship Series

*--*

Year, Team AB R H HR RBI AVG 1995, Cle 21 2 7 1 2 .333

*--*

TO SEATTLE

MIKE CAMERON

Regular Season

*--*

Year, Team AB R H HR RBI AVG 1995, Chi (AL) 38 4 7 1 2 .184 1996, Chi (AL) 11 1 1 0 0 .091 1997, Chi (AL) 379 63 98 14 55 .259 1998, Chi (AL) 396 53 83 8 43 .210 1999, Cin 542 93 139 21 66 .256 Totals 1366 214 328 44 166 .240

*--*

BRETT TOMKO

Regular Season

*--*

Year, Team IP W-L BB SO ERA 1997, Cin 126 11-7 47 95 3.43 1998, Cin 210.2 13-12 64 162 4.44 1999, Cin 172 5-7 60 132 4.92 Totals 508.2 29-26 171 389 4.35

*--*

Big Deals

Baseball contracts worth $50 million or more. Figures include all guaranteed income but not income from potential incentive bonuses. There is no distinction for money deferred without interest:

*--*

Player, Club Years Total Salary Ken Griffey Jr., Cin 2000-09 $116,500,000 Kevin Brown, LA 1999-05 $105,000,000 Mike Piazza, NYM 1999-05 $91,000,000 Bernie Williams, NYY 1999-05 $87,500,000 Shawn Green, LA 2000-05 $84,000,000 Mo Vaughn, Ana 1999-04 $80,000,000 Pedro Martinez, Bos 1998-03 $75,000,000 Larry Walker, Col 2000-05 $75,000,000 Gary Sheffield, LA 1998-03 $68,500,000 Albert Belle, Bal 1999-03 $65,000,000 Raul Mondesi, Tor 1998-03 $60,000,000 Greg Maddux, Atl 1998-02 $57,500,000 Randy Johnson, Ari 1999-02 $52,400,000

*--*

Highest Salaries

Baseball contracts with average annual values of $12 million or more. Figures include all guaranteed income but not income from potential incentive bonuses. There is no distinction for money deferred without interest:

*--*

Player, Club Years Avg. Salary Kevin Brown, LA 1999-05 $15,000 000 Shawn Green, LA 2000-05 $14,000 000 Mo Vaughn, Ana 1999-04 $13,333,333 Randy Johnson, Ari 1999-02 $13,100,000 Mike Piazza, NYM 1999-05 $13,000,000 Albert Belle, Bal 1999-03 $13,000,000 Ken Griffey Jr., Cin 2000-09 $12,944,444 Pedro Martinez, Bos 1998-03 $12,500,000 Bernie Williams, NYY 1999-05 $12,500,000 Larry Walker, Col 2000-05 $12,500,000 David Cone, NYY 2000 $12,000,000 Carlos Delgado, Tor 2000-02 $12,000,000

*--*

29 Home Run Club

Most home runs through age 29:

1. Ken Griffey Jr. 398

2. Jimmie Foxx 379

3. Mickey Mantle 374

4. Eddie Mathews 370

5. Hank Aaron 342

5. Mel Ott 342

7. Juan Gonzalez 340

8. Frank Robinson 324

9. Harmon Killebrew 297