PEORIA, Ariz. — Ken Griffey Jr. has decided to return to the Mariners.
The Mariners announced the move Wednesday night. The 39-year-old outfielder’s contract is for one year and believed to be worth $2 million in base salary, plus incentives.
Griffey is fifth on baseball’s career home run list with 611.
Atlanta appeared to be Griffey’s choice Tuesday for the same reason the former Mariners star left Seattle in 2000: geography. The Braves’ spring training camp is about a 20-minute drive from the Griffey family home in Orlando, Fla., and Atlanta is about an hour away by plane.
Griffey asked for a trade from the Mariners in 1999 to be closer to home. He eventually got one just before the 2000 season, to Cincinnati.
That was months after he rejected Seattle’s offer for $148 million over eight years.
