Seattle Mariners

It kills me to say this, but Ken Griffey Jr. should not be wearing a Seattle Mariners uniform in 2010.

The news broke this morning that the 39-year old Kid will be returning to the tune of $2 million for next season to play an extremely limited role with the club.

Before I get into this, let me first say that Griffey is unequivocally my favorite player in the history of the game and the greatest player I have ever seen in person.

"The Kid" will be back for one more season in 2010.

Reports are coming out of Seattle (and Chicago) that George Kenneth Griffey Jr. will be signing with the Seattle Mariners for the 2010 season.

I know that he is not the same player that he once was, and that he doesn't add much to the roster at this point, but for the class act that he is, he deserves to go out when he wants to.

He is my favorite player of all time. And, over all major sports, he is my second favorite athlete of all time behind the great Michael Jordan.

According to Fox Sports, the Seattle Mariners are going to "kick the tires" on the availability of All-Star left fielder Jason Bay.

With the bloated contracts of C Kenji Johjima, SP Erik Bedard, SP Jarrod Washburn, RP Miguel Bautista, and 3B Adrian Beltre coming off the books, it frees up roughly $45 million in cap space for them to use.

Bay has played for the Boston Red Sox since they acquired him in a three-way deal that saw the departure of slugger Manny Ramirez.

Almost four years ago, the Seattle Mariners signed left hander Jarrod Washburn to a four-year, $37.5 million contract. For the first three years, he posted 31-43 record with ERA never under 4.32, WHIP always over 1.35.

Every Mariner fans thought Washburn signing was another horrible mistake made by former GM Bill Bavasi.

The New York Mets have reportedly said that they will not pick up the $8.1 million option for JJ Putz next season.

They have instead opted to buy his contract out for $1 million, making him a free agent.

It was just one season ago that Putz was considered a top closer in the American League. He was also the centerpiece of the trade that netted the Seattle Mariners CF Franklin Gutierrez, 1B Mike Carp, OF Endy Chavez, P Garrett Olson, and INF Ronny Cedeno (later used in a trade for SS Jack Wilson, and SP Ian Snell), among others.

I'll admit this is mostly speculation, but there is quite a lot of reasoning behind my ideas. This is just free writing my ideas, so here it is, my 2010 Seattle Mariners offseason plan.

1. Swap Brandon Morrow and JJ Hardy. Morrow is expendable given our pitching depth, and Hardy has a great glove and a very potent bat.

2. Trade Bryan Lahair, Jose Lopez, Jason Vargas, Ryan Langerhans, and Carlos Peguero to the Florida Marlins for Jorge Cantu, Ricky Nolasco, and a B-type prospect.

3. Trade Jorge Cantu and Randy Messanger to the Twins for Nick Blackburn.