When asked Thursday if Griffey's return was timed to coincide with the team's first spring game with a live television broadcast in Seattle, manager Don Wakamatsu laughed and said, "You're sharp."

"No. That was the day it fell," he said. "Just trying to slow him down a little bit. ... Probably the safest thing right now is to give him some more time hitting and moving around out here."

Wakamatsu said the 39-year-old Griffey looks great, four months after arthroscopic knee surgery. But the knee is still sore.

Last weekend, the Mariners signed the active home run leader to a one-year contract worth $2 million, plus a possible $3 million in incentives based on plate appearances and attendance, because they believe he is as healthy as he was in 2007 when he hit 30 home runs with 93 RBIs. But their rookie manager wants to ease Griffey back into action.

Griffey sat with his left knee propped up on a shipping crate and was icing it at his locker after another morning of batting practice and outfield drills.

"It's getting better," he said.

The plan is for him to begin playing next week as a designated hitter but probably not in consecutive games initially. The Mariners would like him to get 30 to 40 at-bats in spring training. Some of them come in morning minor league games.

"We don't have a set plan right now," Wakamatsu said. "It's how he comes in day to day."

Not that Griffey is concerned with any of that. He said he doesn't need to play in exhibition games to be ready to play left field in the season opener April 6 at Minnesota, as long as he keeps getting swings and running in drills each morning.

He says spring training is more for pitchers.

"I've been through 20 of these," Griffey said of camps.