The Seattle Mariners spent the years 2004-2008 making mediocre and down right crappy baseball players very rich men.
Scott Spazio. Rich Aurillia. Richie Sexson. Adrian Beltre. Carl Everett. Jarrod Washburn. Miguel Batista. Jeff Weaver. Carlos Silva. Brad Wilkerson. And of course, Kenji Johjima. Hundreds of millions of dollars were showered upon these players who either completely failed to produce, or completely failed produce numbers in line with their enormous salaries.
So Monday's news that catcher Kenji Johjima would be returning to Japan, effectively leaving nearly $16 million on the table, it felt like some sort of karmic redemption.
Signed before the 2006 season, Johjima was touted as a solid offensive addition at a premium position. And while Johjima did produce good offensive numbers during his first two years in navy blue and northwest green, what offensive upgrade he provided, was negated by the fact that the language barrier between Johjima and fellow Mariners pitchers resulted in far more runs than Johjima could generate with his bat.
Johjima was a gimmick. A gimmick that got much worse once he signed a 3-year, $24 million contract extension, despite hitting .194 at the time.
The first Japanese catcher to play in the Major Leagues, Johjima presumably only garnered serious interest from the only Japanese owned baseball team (Hey, he can be a playmate for Ichiro!).
Let's get one thing straight: despite claims to the contrary, Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik is probably somewhere dipping Double Stuff Oreos in milk with Carlos Silva.
How often does a general manager get $16 million thrown his way? Michael Vick had to kill dogs in order for the Atlanta Falcons to recoup the money from his contract. The Knicks only got $2 million back from the waste known as Stephon Marbury.
Coming off a remarkable 85-win season, the Mariners are now flush with cash. Beltre, Batista, Washburn and Johjima are now all off the books. That's nearly $40 million Zduriencik has to play with. Johjima's departure is also significant because it means the only remaining bone headed contract from the Bill Bavasi era belongs to Carlos Silva.
The M's will now presumably look in house to replace Johjima. Rob Johnson calls the best game in baseball, but hits a baseball as well as Stephanie Pratt drives drunk. He's also undergoing more surgeries this offseason than MJ had in any given month.
Adam Moore has hit well in the minors, but didn't get enough at-bats during a late season call up to show he can hit consistently.
Fear not though. You know what's great about having the best GM in baseball? There's no reason to fear that he'll sign a non english speaking catcher.
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