M’s have an interest in Griffey

Amid all the warmth and fuzziness of a possible reunion with the Seattle Mariners, Ken Griffey Jr. just wants to prove he’s still a productive major leaguer.

Brian Goldberg, Griffey’s agent, said Tuesday that Griffey knows he isn’t the player at age 39 that he was during his prime with the Mariners in the 1990s.

But he said Griffey plans to come back much better than he was this year after having surgery on a left knee injury that hampered him throughout the season. He hit 18 home runs in 2008 with the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox, the fewest of any season in his career when he’s had at least 490 at-bats.

“One thing I can say is that Junior is very comfortable with who he was baseball-wise on the field and who he’s not anymore, but also who he can still be for a few more years,” Goldberg said.

Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said he has spoken with Goldberg about Griffey, who is a free agent. Zduriencik said the talks were preliminary and he would know whether the Mariners are serious about signing Griffey within a week to 10 days.

“You can’t forget history as far as what Junior meant to the franchise,” Goldberg said. “But at the same time, wherever Junior plays next year, whether it’s Seattle or another team, the bottom line is that it has to make sense baseball-wise.”

Goldberg said he has spoken with nine teams, six from the American League.

The Mariners’ main focus this off-season is to sign players who can help them over the long term, and signing a 39-year-old coming off surgery may be a risk they aren’t willing to take. Still, the M’s have openings in left and center field, first base and DH.