SEATTLE — A year ago, in the feel-good story of the season, the Seattle Mariners and their fans welcomed Ken Griffey Jr. home in as memorable an interleague series as Safeco Field ever hosted.

Today, the Cincinnati Reds are offering Junior’s services around the majors – and the Mariners have declined deep discussions about any possible trade for the future Hall of Famer.

Why?

Simple. The team is on pace to lose close to 100 games and has a payroll of about $118 million. Adding Griffey’s $12.5 salary this season would only increase that payroll — and that’s for a 38-year-old corner outfielder.

Worse, Junior is batting .234 with nine home runs and 34 RBI.

If the Mariners could, say, acquire Junior for Richie Sexson, they’d do the deal. But the Reds are dumping salary, not adding, and have zero interest in the Mariners first baseman.

Bottom line: Griffey has been offered and the Mariners have said “No, thanks.”

Down the line, the situation changes. Griffey has a club option for 2009 at $16.5 million and almost certainly will become a free agent. At that point, his interest in coming back to Seattle — and the team’s interest in him — could change.

Bullpen in charge

After determining all the pitchers unable to start Tuesday’s game, the Mariners decided to give lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith his first major league start — and told the rest of the Seattle bullpen to be ready.

“I’ve never pitched nine innings in my life,” the pitcher said. “In my dreams, I can go five, six innings. Realistically, they’ll probably hold me to 50 pitches or so.”

Manager Jim Riggleman said Rowland-Smith would pitch as long as he got outs, but admitted he didn’t know how long that might be. “We’d like to get four, five innings, but if he throws a lot of pitches, or Toronto is right on the pitches he does throw, it might be two innings,” Riggleman said. “We figure we’ll use three or four pitchers, then see how we set up for Wednesday.

The problem came when Felix Hernandez sprained an ankle, and he’s still not ready to pitch. R.A. Dickey pitched Monday, Erik Bedard went Sunday and Miguel Batista isn’t available.

“It’s not a big deal, really, except to me,” Rowland-Smith said. “To me, getting a start is special, a chance to show what I can do in that role. Who knows, if I do well I might get another shot.”

The most pitches Rowland-Smith has thrown in a game this season is 53 on June 18.

Short hops

Closer J.J. Putz got in 45 throws from 75 feet Monday without pain, another small step in his planned return from elbow problems. … Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt was out of the lineup after an afternoon root canal to ease the pain of an infected tooth. He’ll likely be available tonight. … When Ichiro went 5 for 5 on Sunday, he did so in his 1,999th career game. That made him the first player since Stan Musial to collect as many as seven five-hit games in fewer than 1,200 major league games. Musial had seven in his first 906 games.