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 'The Griffey card' Mariners owners reportedly threatened to trade star
Posted: Sunday July 04, 1999 05:54 PM
SEATTLE (AP) -- Owners of the Seattle Mariners have said privately they might have to trade Ken Griffey Jr. or Alex Rodriguez if their demand for more money for a new ballpark is refused, The Seattle Times reported Sunday. Mariners owners began saying as early as February it would be difficult to keep the team's top-paid players on the roster if the Mariners had to pay $100 million in cost overruns on the stadium that is set to open July 15. On Feb. 19, club chairman John Ellis wrote in a letter to the Washington State Public Facilities District board, "If the owners had to bear the entirety of the enormous increased costs ... it would have an obvious impact on the club's flexibility in struggling to field a highly competitive team in the difficult baseball environment." Two months later, Mariners lawyer Bart Waldman wrote the board that the cost of the project "now exceeds the entire purchase price of the club [and] threatens to undermine the very purpose for which the new ballpark was conceived -- ensuring the success and competitiveness of baseball in Seattle." The letters were provided to the newspaper by the stadium authority in response to a public-records request. On numerous occasions, Mariners officials have denied publicly that they would play "the Griffey card." The stadium board and the County Council have rejected the Mariners' bid for more money, saying club owners repeatedly promised to cover all costs over the $417 million that was budgeted and signed off on each additional expense along the way. On June 22, Ellis said the owners would do "everything in our power" to sign star players. Griffey and Rodriguez are both eligible for free agency after the 2000 season.
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