Atlanta makes late push to sign Griffey

PEORIA, Ariz. — A late push by the Atlanta Braves has given the Mariners some serious competition in their pursuit of outfielder Ken Griffey Jr.

Sources close to the situation say the Braves did not pursue Griffey until last week. But the 39-year-old, who has a daughter playing AAU basketball in Atlanta and lives a short flight away in Orlando, Fla., has expressed a serious desire to Braves officials about playing there.

The hang-up is money.

Despite reports the Braves are considering several outfielders, sources say Atlanta's choice comes down to Griffey or former Angels slugger Garret Anderson. Both are left-handed hitters, and whoever is chosen would platoon in left field.

But the Braves are apparently operating under tight budget constraints and don't have more than $2.5 million they could offer Griffey as part of a total compensation package — base salary plus incentives. The team's scouts also have serious reservations about whether either player could hold up a full season if they received a full complement of at-bats against right-handed pitching.

Instead, the late push by Atlanta has come because the team feels it needs a veteran bat from the left side — even if that bat can't play as often as some would like.

A source said he did not think the base salary offer to Griffey would be for more than "a million or two."

The source added: "If Seattle wants Junior that badly, they should just pay him."

That may not be as easy as it sounds because the Mariners are operating under much tighter budget restrictions than in the past.

"I think this year, we've got to hold the line," Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln said on Saturday, as he watched Seattle's pitchers and catchers go through their first spring training workout. "We can't expect all of our employees to focus on expenses and all of that and not make sure that we're operating within a budget."

Lincoln said the team's budget will be less than the $120 million it was at the end of 2008. In the past, he added, the Mariners have upped their budget at the last minute, but that's unlikely to happen as much this time.

Previous indications were that the team had roughly $1.5 million of payroll room available. That could be tweaked if anticipates any significant boost to ticket and merchandising sales by adding Griffey.

Lincoln said Saturday that the majority of payroll budgeting is based on anticipated ticket sales, meaning a slight budget increase could be authorized to accommodate Griffey.

Free-agent Anderson will likely land on the team that doesn't get Griffey.

Lincoln acknowledged that certain things have changed dramatically on the baseball and financial landscape since Mariners president Chuck Armstrong nixed an August trade that would have sent pitcher Jarrod Washburn and roughly $13 million in salary to the Minnesota Twins. The Mariners now owe Washburn $10.3 million this season.

"I don't think anybody expected what was going to happen," Lincoln said while watching pitchers and catchers work out on the first day of spring training. "No one expected we were going to have an economic crisis. So that when decisions were made in terms of the trading deadline or just right after the trading deadline, things have completely changed.

"For example, how many people would have told you that, say, in September or October, some of these veteran free agents would be going for what they're agreed to accept? That is what this economic crisis has done."