(AP Photo)

Sorry this is so slow to be posted. My laptop was apparently infected with spyware, malware, viruses and whooping cough.

Here is Larry's story from the website.

There will be conference call/meeting with Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik about now (7 p.mish) and Griffey will probably meet with the media tomorrow. More updates when I get them. (I'll try and get a full transcript of it for you guys).

From the official press release ...

“This is a great day for the Mariners”, Mariners Jack Zduriencik said. “It is rare in this game when you get an opportunity to reunite a player and a team in a move that works for both. We spent a lot of time this winter doing our due-diligence on what the best baseball move for this franchise on-the-field was. By last week, we were confident the best fit for this club, on the field, was Ken Griffey Jr. After Don and I sat down with Ken and talked with him about our goals for the 2009 team and this franchise, it was even more clear that he would be a fit with us.”

Griffey, 39, spent the first 11 years of his Major League career (1989-1999) in Seattle, after being the first overall pick in the June 1987 Draft. In 1,535 games in his Mariners career, he hit .299 with 320 doubles, 30 triples, 398 home runs and 1,152 RBI. He is either first or second in nearly every category in the Seattle Mariners record book, including home runs (1st), slugging percentage (.569/1st), RBI (2nd), hits (2nd), doubles (2nd), total bases (3,316/2nd), runs (1,063/2nd), games (2nd) and at-bats (5,832/2nd). Edgar Martinez, who played 18 seasons in Seattle, is first in the categories in which Griffey ranks second.

“Jack and I have talked a lot about adding a left-handed bat with some power to our lineup,” Mariners Manager Don Wakamatsu said. “Ken is a great fit for our ballclub.”
During his 11 seasons in Seattle, Griffey was a 10-time All-Star (1990-99), winning the All-Star Game MVP in 1992 and three Home Run Derby’s (1994, 1998, 1999). He was voted the American League Most Valuable Player in 1997 and voted to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.

Griffey also won 10 Gold Gloves (1990-99), seven Silver Sluggers (1991, 1993-94, 1996-99) and was six times voted the Team MVP by the Seattle Chapter of the BBWAA during his playing days with the Mariners.

Griffey heads into the 2009 season listed among baseball’s all-time leaders in home runs (5th, 611), intentional walks (4th, 244), multi-homer games (T7th, 55), extra base hits (10th, 1,152), total bases (15th, 5,092), runs scored (38th, 1,612), doubles (T45th, 503) and hits (60th, 2,680). He also ranks first among active players in hits, home runs, RBI, total bases and runs scored
Griffey split the 2008 season between Cincinnati and Chicago (AL). He combined to hit .249 with 30 doubles, 18 home runs and 71 RBI in 143 games while battling an injured left knee.
Griffey is a career .288 hitter with 503 doubles, 38 triples, 611 home runs and 1,772 RBI in 2,521 games in 20 big league seasons with Seattle, Cincinnati (2000-08) and Chicago (AL).

Mariners team president Chuck Armstrong said he has continued to talk with free agent Ken Griffey Jr., including a call this morning.

“He talked about his family, about spending seven months away from them,” Armstrong said. “I believe he’s honestly torn about what to do.”

Among the irones: radio talk shows in Atlanta seemed certain Griffey was coming to Mariners – and stations in the Northwest seemed just as sure Junior was going to Atlanta.

Bottom line: Another day without a decision.

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Luis Sojo was one of he heroes in that romp to the post-season in 1995, but when he came calling on the Seattle Mariners it was to recruit players for the World Baseball Classic – and he got away with four of them.

Felix Hernandez, Jose Lopez, Carlos Silva and Endy Chavez, Venezuelans all,will play for Sojo when he manages the Venezuelan team. The tournament will take players out of camp from March 1 until the team is eliminated or plays for the championship the final week in March.

The Mariners might have been hit harder than they were. Two other Venezuelan players, center fielder Franklin Guittierrez and infielder Ronnie Cedeno, could have played but chose not to. Sojo understood.

“It can be a hard choice for players, whether to represent their country or stay in a camp and play for their careers,” Sojo said. “A lot of guys trying to make a team can’t play. I’m recruiting a little bit, and talking to team management.

“Our first responsibility is to take care of the players who come aboard. We want to win, yes, but that comes first.”

The prize catch for Sojo was pitcher Hernandez, who threw to hitters for the first time Wednesday. Hernandez can’t wait for the WBC.

“I’ve been getting in shape for it since November,” Hernandez said. “I wanted to play in the tournament two years ago, but Seattle said ‘No,’ so I didn’t go. I’m excited to represent Venezuela. The last time I got the chance to do that, I was 12 years old and played in a tournament that we won.”

Lopez, the Mariners starting second baseman, is aboard, too.

“Luis talked to me when I was playing winter ball this year,” Lopez said. “I don’t know what it will be like, playing for my country, but I want to find out. I know all the players on the team, and it will be a lot like playing in the big leagues.”

The Mariners and manager Don Wakamatsu haven’t named their opening day starter yet – although there’s no real mystery. Sojo didn’t need to think long about it.

“Felix is our Game 1 starter,” he said.

Sojo broke up a group of media that surrounded him when one writer asked if he’d heard the speech of controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who said it was every players “duty” to join the team.

“Who’s that?” Sojo deadpanned.

Another day, another roster move - and no, it didn't involve Ken Griffey Jr. this time, either.

While the world waits for Junior to decide his destination for 2009, the Mariners camp continues to grow.

Catcher Israel Nunez was brought in to help handle the 31 pitchers. Nunez is the seventh catcher on the spring roster, but the sixth who's actually here - Kenji Johjima remains with his Japanese World Baseball Classic team.

Nunez, 23, played in Class A last season, batting .224 in 59 games.

If you'e counting, that's 62 players in camp - including pitcher Luis Pena, catcher Jason Phillips, pitcher Josh Fields and Nunez, who have joined the team in the first five days here.

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Jamie Burke has caught hundreds of pitchers over the years, and 10 in the last four days in Mariners camp.

A thoughtful, studious fellow – all good catchers are – Burke watches every pitcher with a keen eye. So how are the Marines pitchers looking through two bullpen sessions each?

“You don’t evaluate guys throwing in the bullpen,” Burke said. “You try to learn their mechanics, their body language.”

Body language?

“Throwing in the bullpen, they’re relaxed, so you want to know what they look like relaxed,” Burke said. “That way in a game, if their body language changes, you know they’re tight and you deal with that.

“Until games start, you can’t evaluate pitchers. Throwing strikes in a bullpen, breaking off your pitches, that’s fine. But what you need to know is how guys throw with a hitter standing up there. That’s when you see what a pitchers can do.”

The bullpens, of course, are necessary. It’s what gets pitchers in game-shape, helps them work on everything from mechanics to new pitches.

What they do in games is what managers, coaches – and catchers – judge them by.