| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 4:13 pm |
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Sports 
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What if the Mariners had never taken Junior? Believe it or not it nearly happened. Former Seattle owner George Argyros was skittish about taking another high school kid after being burned the year before. But former scouting director Roger Jongewaard liked the kid so much he put his job on the line Along with all the draft picks that turned out so wrong for the Seattle Mariners, the one they took 22 years ago was as right as any they've ever made.Who wouldn't have wanted Ken Griffey Jr. with the first overall pick in 1987? Well, how about the owner of the Mariners? George Argyros, who owned the Mariners from 1980-89, wanted no part of the 17-year-old from Cincinnati as draft day approached. It's not that Argyros thought Griffey wasn't a nice player. He just didn't favor a high school kid who may or may not have the mental makeup to match what was unquestionably great physical talent. "George didn't like high school kids," said Roger Jongewaard, the former scouting director who ran the Mariners' drafts. Argyros felt he'd been burned the year before after Jongewaard convinced him the Mariners needed to take Patrick Lennon, a highly regarded teenage shortstop, with the eighth overall pick in the 1986 draft. Lennon became embroiled in off-field issues his first minor league season and never developed into the star Jongewaard thought he'd become. Argyros didn't want to re-live that in the 1987 draft despite Jongewaard and nearly everyone else in the organization trying to convince him that Griffey was a no-brainer pick. "George said something to the effect, 'What makes you think Griffey is The Guy?'" remembered Jongewaard, now a scout with the Florida Marlins. "I said, 'George, this kid is very special.'" Argyros shot back. "He said, 'But that's what you said about Patrick Lennon,' " Jongewaard said. "But I told him, 'I thought Patrick was special. But George, this Griffey kid has got it all.'" Argyros urged his people to draft pitcher Mike Harkey, a big right-hander from San Diego who starred at Cal State-Fullerton. "Harkey was a good-looking kid. He was a big pitcher and we needed pitching," Jongewaard said. "Back then, it looked like he was going to be a tough starter." Jongewaard remembers talking with Auggie Garrido, Cal-Fullerton's coach at the time, about Harkey and became further convinced that Griffey was a better pick. "Auggie told me, 'He's not even my best guy,'" Jongewaard said. Fortunately for Jongewaard, he had the support of team president Chuck Armstrong and then-general manager Dick Balderson. Still, it took some effort to convince Argyros that Griffey's unmatched five-tool skills would offset any concerns over his maturity. "Roger had prepared all this material that showed that while about two-thirds of the players drafted are college players, two-thirds of the U.S. players who are All-Star players were drafted out of high school," Armstrong said. Argyros backed down, but not without conditions. "George said, 'OK, but if you do this and it doesn't work, it will be your ass,'" Jongewaard remembers. That's not a threat anyone wants to hear from the boss. "But," Jongewaard added, "George said that a lot." Argyros had one other mandate: The Mariners had to get Griffey under contract before the draft, or else they would take Harkey. Complicating an already complicated situation, the Mariners had been put in a trust in 1987 because Argyros was trying to sell the team in order to purchase the San Diego Padres. Armstrong, as the acting CEO, was allowed to speak with Argyros once a day, and even then a witness was required to be in the room. The night before the draft, the Mariners asked the Griffeys -- dealing mostly with Ken Griffey Sr. and agent Brian Goldberg -- how much they wanted for Junior to sign. Their answer was $225,000, Armstrong said. "We said, 'One, we're in a trust and we don't have the money to do that. And two, he's a high school guy,' " Armstrong said. "Back then, the bonuses for high school kids weren't as big as what the college kids got." The Mariners countered at $140,000 and the Griffeys dropped their price to $200,000. "We went up to $160,000 and said we needed to have an answer in the next hour or we'll go to our next pick," Armstrong said. "Senior called us back and said, 'We'll take it.'" The next day, the Mariners drafted Griffey with the first pick. Two years later, after proving to everyone at spring training that he was ready for the major leagues despite being only 19 years old, he played his first big-league game. Argyros could have blocked that, too. The Mariners could have kept Griffey in the minor leagues and not only saved themselves from paying big-league money, but also delayed his eligibility for arbitration by a year. "But George said, 'They played it straight with us then and we'll play it straight with them now. If he deserves to make this team, he makes this team,'" Armstrong said. Griffey hit 16 home runs in his first big-league season, on his way to 617 so far in a career that will get him into the Hall of Fame. Mike Harkey? That college pitcher preferred by Argyros went to the Chicago Cubs with the third overall pick in 1987. He reached the big leagues in 1988 and finished an eight-year career with a 36-36 record. Jongewaard found himself in a similar fix with a different management group six years later when the Mariners again had the first overall pick. He wanted a supposed can't-miss high school shortstop; they thought an impressive-looking college pitcher would provide more immediate help. "They wanted me to take Darren Dreifort," Jongewaard said. "They said, 'Why wouldn't we want a college pitcher with a great arm?' "I told them, 'Because this guy is special.' And they said, 'But that's what you're always saying.' " Jongewaard picked another future Hall of Famer -- Alex Rodriguez. Read Kirby Arnold's blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com\marinersblog |
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