Wait, Did We Really Sign Kenji Johjima to a Three-Year Extension?

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August 19, 9:40 AM

by Mike Baldwin, Seattle Mariners Examiner

 

 

Many things Bill Bavasi did hurt the mind when you try to reason them out.  The Carlos Silva signing, the trading our entire team and getting nothing in return, the getting rid of Jamie Moyer because he was no good and then watching him post an 11-7 record with a 3.64 ERA at the age of 45 while your current picthing staff considers it a success as long as the pitches that got knocked out of the park were "good pitches."

But nothing, and I mean nothing, will surpass the utter stupidity of the Kenji Johjima extension.  If Bill Bavasi ever gets sued by Mariners fans, all they'll have to say is "Kenji Johjima" and the judge will side with them.  Of course, Bavasi wouldn't be guilty by reason of insanity.  Why else would you give a 32 year-old catcher on the downside of his career a $24 million extension while he's hitting .200 and, oh, your best prospect happens to be what?  A catcher.

I hadn't really thought about this until last night, when I looked at Kenji's stats during our 13-5 loss.  Kenji Johjima has as good as power numbers for the year as Raul Ibanez does...in the month of August.  He's hitting .218 with four homers in 293 at-bats.  And he's not even playing very much right now.

Meanwhile, Jeff Clement, the aforementioned number-one prospect, is finally starting to come around.  After his three hits in the last ngihts' game, Clement has his average up to .231, which doesn't seem impressive until you put it in perspective: Clement is 19 for his last 48 and has raised his average 59 points in the month of August.  Looks like maybe he's finally ready to make the leap to everyday starter, seeing as he's still two days shy of his 25th birthday.

But if Clement is going to become our number one guy, what do we do with Kenji, or as he will soon be known, "The $24 million backup?"

Look, this isn't a personal knock on Johjima.  I've liked him since he got here and thought that last year he established himself as one of the top-5 catchers in the league.  But a funny thing happened and he forgot how to hit.  

The extension we gave Johjima is just another in that long list of reasons why these M's can't possibly be competitive for at least another three years.  We'd be paying our backups too much. 

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