Stumping for Junior

PEORIA, Ariz. – So what that Mariners pitchers and catchers reported? A Seattle icon was causing all the buzz – while golfing 700 miles away.

Ken Griffey Jr. was in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in California on Friday, still an unsigned free agent. Mariners decision makers were still mum on whether a one-year deal with Seattle’s beloved “Junior” was imminent.

Yet one Mariners player who was recently at Griffey’s house said the 39-year-old slugger wants to return to Seattle, where he started becoming a superstar as a teen in 1989.

New Mariners first baseman Russell Branyan is a former teammate of Griffey’s in Cincinnati. He said he was at Griffey’s home in Orlando, Fla., four weeks ago for a dinner as part of a charity golf event.

“He told me he’d love to come back here. … I asked him if we were going to be teammates again. He seemed very open to it,” Branyan said.

Then Branyan pointed to his left, at the locker vacated earlier in the day by veteran Mike Sweeney. Sweeney, who could lose at-bats as a designated hitter should Griffey arrive, is now immediately to Branyan’s right. That leaves two empty stalls on a corner of the clubhouse, the preferred setup for superstars and the same spot RBI leader Raul Ibanez had for years until he signed with Philadelphia this off-season.

“Look, they moved Sweeney to clear space at the corner locker,” Branyan said while laughing and referring to Griffey, who is fifth all time with 611 home runs.

Seattle’s first full-team workout is Wednesday. That’s plenty of time for Griffey to finish his pro-am in California and come to Arizona to take a physical that would complete a new deal.

After the Chicago White Sox declined the $16.5 million option on Griffey’s contract, a return to Seattle for a fraction of the price, perhaps $5 million, seems possible. The Mariners are trying to drop their payroll to about $100 million, down from about $120 million last season.

Branyan, who played with Griffey in 2002 and ’03 and arrived to the Mariners this winter in Seattle’s annual search for left-handed power, is all for the move.

“He’s a fun guy, a great teammate,” he said, squashing a perception Griffey can sometimes be unapproachable.

Branyan said that is a public front, a necessary shield around superstardom for a 13-time All-Star.

“You have that type of status, you’ve got to have some walls around you,” Branyan said.

Will Griffey be shagging flies in a Mariners uniform next week?

“Honestly, we’re waiting to see,” first-time manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Wakamatsu said he’s only met Griffey once, last year. He talked to him for a couple of minutes.

“I respect him as a player. He’s one of the greatest of all time – especially in his time in Seattle,” Wakamatsu said.

He said Griffey’s return would not be a distraction in a camp where there will be a lot going on.

Wakamatsu is trying to institute a new system and has opened most starting jobs as a competition after Seattle lost 101 games last season.

Notes

Wakamatsu’s most pleasant surprise on reporting day: Smiling RHP Carlos Silva appears to have lost 30 pounds or more. “It looks like somebody cut him in half,” the new manager said, laughing. Silva went 4-15 with a brutal 6.46 ERA and kept getting hurt during a disastrous Seattle debut season in 2008 – the first year of a $48 million four-year deal. He weighed as much as 285 pounds last year. … LHP Jarrod Washburn won’t be on the field until Wednesday, the first day of full-team workouts. Wakamatsu said Washburn has an excused absence for an unspecified prior commitment. … LHP Erik Bedard was delayed getting out his native Canada by a snowstorm but is expected to be on the field for his first workouts today. … Wakamatsu eliminated one potential starting pitcher already. He said RHP Miguel Batista, who lost a career-high 14 games last season while starting in 20 of his 44 appearances, will be in the bullpen and will be tried as a closer. Batista has 38 career saves, 31 of them when he was Toronto’s closer in 2005.