I wrote about the plight of Ken Griffey Jr. a couple of weeks ago. It was sad to see him bumbling to the sunset of his career in the town where he became a baseball legend. A few days ago Tyler Kepner of the NY Times did a nice profile of Junior, a man he covered doing the Mariners beat for The Seattle Post- Intelligencer. The blurb that caught my eye is a story that was big at the time, but gets lost in the lore of Mets history:

“At the ’99 winter meetings, the Mariners talked with the Mets about a deal centered on Armando Benitez, Roger Cedeño and Octavio Dotel. They asked for Griffey’s approval within 15 minutes, never interpreting that as a hard deadline.”

What’s the point of that deal over a decade later? Could you imagine how that would have changed Mets history?

In theory it would have blown up in the Mets face because Griffey spent the majority of his Cincinnati time injured. Still, in nine years he was a pretty productive player averaging 24 homers, 70 RBI, and an .870 OPS. Not superstar numbers, but certainly not Mo Vaughn circa 2003. Even with those numbers he still would have been a great offensive complement Mike Piazza.

What Griffey could have impacted was the 2000 season. If that deal goes through then Mike Hampton probably doesn’t become a Met (David Wright might not be one either!) and who knows what John Franco would have done closing games for that team. I do remember rumors they would have tried to sign Kazuhiro Sasaki to replace Benitez so maybe it would have been a wash. I do think Griffey in the middle of that 2000 lineup with Piazza, Alfonzo, and Zeile would have beefed up what was an average offensive team. He was vintage Griffey his first year in Cincinnati hitting 40 homers, driving in 118, and putting up a .940 OPS. Big difference having Griffey in centerfield than Jay Payton.

The ultimate “what if” is regarding Griffey’s health. What if the Mets acquired a healthy Junior? Look at his numbers with compromised legs. Could you imagine him pursuing the all time home run record in New York? Imagine how that would have rankled George, since Griffey was the one star that never seemed to want pinstripes.

Of course, there are parts of me that wonder if Griffey, even healthy, would have really liked it here. Kepner describes a moody guy that didn’t always like talking to the press. That works in Seattle or Cincinnati, but will get you tons of bad ink here. You don’t have to be Jeff Francoeur, but you need to play the political game to manage the relationship.

Alas, it probably all turned out for the best. The Mets got to the World Series with Hampton and wound up receiving draft pick compensation when he departed in the name of David Wright. It’s still fun to wonder “what if” the Mariners didn’t tick Griffey off that winter night in 1999. The course of Mets history would certainly look a whole lot different.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

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Tags: Armando Benitez, Cincinnati Reds, David Wright, Edgardo Alfonzo, John Franco, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Hampton, Mike Piazza, New York Mets, New York Times, Octavio Dotel, Seattle Mariners, Todd Zeile, Tyler Kepner