For a few days, it appeared as if Atlanta would finally sign a meaningful baseball free agent. Ken Griffey Jr. was coming to town! And then like Furcal and Peavy before him, Griffey jilted the Braves and opted for Seattle. Scapegoat? The newspaper that reported Griffey-to-Atlanta in the first place!

Sources have indicated that Griffey’s tide turned shortly after he became upset with the fact that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was reporting that he’d already decided to play for the Braves.

Griffey’s had a love-hate relationship with the media for years – remember his dust-up with Buzz Bissinger? – but would he really do something as losery as pick one team over another because of a media report?

The AJC is in full defense mode from the legions of irate fans that are battering the paper’s website with angry comments.

And I’m not blaming Mark Bowman at all for writing it, because I was standing there today when Frank Wren said Griffey’s agent all but ended communication with the Braves right after our AJC story came out Tuesday.

But let’s be clear: What we wrote was a story that said Griffey told a close friend that he had decided to play for the Braves over the Mariners. We wrote it, because that’s what the close friend told our Terry Moore, who goes back a long way with them (Moore is from Cincy, like Griffey).

We did not write that Griffey had agreed to a contract, or that he’d even told the Braves he was going to sign with them. We wrote that Griffey told his good friend that he had decided to play for the Braves.

Perhaps Griffey didn’t notice the PECOTA predictions? He really wanted to be across the country from his family and play for a 72-win loser instead of a squad that might win 88 games and be in the playoff picture?

Griffey opts for Seattle over Atlanta (MLB.com)