Griffey Talk

John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer says that Ken Griffey Jr., and his agent Brian Goldberg, are talking to four teams about playing in 2009. Of the four teams, two are AL and two are NL, Seattle is one of the AL teams, and the Reds are not one of the NL teams. Goldberg would not name the other 3 teams.

With that said, let's break down Griffey in Seattle and see if it would be a good move.

The basic numbers show a staggering decline from 2007 to 2008. In '07, he hit .277/.372/.496 with 30 HR and 93 RBI. In '08, he hit .249/.353/.424 with 18 HR and 71 RBI. This is due in large part to playing all of '08 on a injured knee. Griffey had knee surgery this off-season and it is supposedly completely healed.

The deeper we dive into the numbers, however, the HRs and RBI should not have declined as much as they did.

According to FanGraphs, Griffey's line drive percentage increased from 16.0% in '07 to 20.3% in '08. This is rather astounding seeing as he had 24 less hits this season in only 38 less ABs. His infield fly ball percentage was also down from 12.6% in '07 to 9.4% in '08. His strikeouts were down 10 and his doubles were up 6.

All of this points to the fact that Griffey should have a much better 2009 than 2008. Another thing that must be taken into consideration is that Griffey could be the full-time DH if the Mariners pick him up. This would lead to more plate appearances and less off days than in years past.

The estimated cost of getting Griffey would be relatively cheap, $3-4 million for 1 year. Do not expect Griffey to put up stats that we are used to seeing from him. All of his injuries are catching up with him and if he comes to Seattle, it will be a farewell tour. No one can deny that Griffey would bring fans to games. The city of Seattle is forever in love with Ken Griffey Jr., and as long as they don't expect too much from him, it wouldn't be a bad move to sign him.