PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Now, Ken Griffey Jr. has another reason for wanting out of Seattle.

Griffey told ESPN that he has received at least three death threats since November. He told the Seattle Times newspaper about one of them, which stated: "You might be able to control where you play, but you can't control what happens to your family. I can."

	Ken Griffey Jr., teeing off at Pebble Beach, feels like a target in Seattle.

Griffey also told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer this week, "The (Mariners) front office, the fans and the media, everybody's ripped me. Think I can come back?"

"When you start getting death threats directed at your family, that's bad," Griffey told the Times.

He said the letters have come after Nov. 2, the day the Mariners called a news conference and announced his trade request. Since then, he has narrowed the number of teams he would play for to one: Cincinnati.

With one year left on his contract, Griffey is committed to play for the Mariners for the 2000 season. After that, he can become a free agent. He has said he won't sign a contract extension with the Mariners.

"When you get death threats from Seattle fans, then that's bad," Griffey said Thursday as he walked off the Poppy Hills course in the weather-abbreviated first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. "Something like that is pretty much the last straw as far as me staying in Seattle."

Mariners pitchers and catchers are to report for spring training Feb. 17 in Peoria, Ariz. The Mariners begin playing spring training games March 2.

The Reds' spring training is in Florida. Griffey has said he wants to be traded so he can be closer to his family.

"I don't know if I'm gone or not, but I'm not going to worry about it anymore," Griffey told the Times. "It's out of my hands. The way I look at it, I have a job, somewhere, whether it's Seattle or Cincinnati. That's the way it is.

"I'm a 10-and-5 guy (10 years in the league, at least five with the same team). I gave the Mariners an option that if they wanted to trade me, they could trade me. But it's got to be where I want to go. And I'm the bad guy in this? I don't get it."

	Ken Griffey Jr. Center Field Seattle Mariners Profile
	1999 SEASON STATISTICS G HR RBI AVG OBP SLG 160 48 134 .285 .384 .576

Griffey wants to be in Cincinnati, not Seattle, this season, though. He turned down a trade to the New York Mets. He said he distrusts new Mariners general manager Pat Gillick.

"How can I come back there and play?" he asked. "You've got everybody pretty much against me. You've got the fans thinking I'm whining, I'm a baby and whatever, because that's what Pat said. Somebody in the front office called me a spoiled brat because I didn't accept the trade to New York."

Although Gillick and new chief executive officer Howard Lincoln have spent the winter rebuilding the Mariners' roster, Griffey was critical of Gillick for releasing third baseman Russ Davis and pitcher Brett Hinchliffe rather than trading them.

Griffey said his trade request wasn't about money.

"I turned down $140 million from the Mariners. Does that sound like a guy who cares about the money?" he said.

Griffey, 30, is scheduled to earn $7.9 million this season, which would be his 12th in Seattle. In his 11 seasons with the Mariners, he has 398 home runs, including 48 last season after consecutive seasons with 56 homers.

Since Gillick replaced the retired Woody Woodward after last season, the Mariners have added starting pitcher Aaron Sele, relievers Kazuhiro Sasaki and Arthur Rhodes and first baseman John Olerud as free agents, adding $27 million in payroll.