According to Ken Rosenthal, the Mariners will give catcher Kenji Johjima a three-year extension. That’d keep him with the team through 2011, his age 35 season. It’s worth three years and $24MM – no kind of discount.
I didn’t see this coming; I thought the Ms would hand catching duties over to Jeff Clement in ’09 despite questionable defense. Instead, they’ll apparently use him as a DH/1B or trade him. He’s hitting .375/.500/.688 in 19 Triple A games.
Here’s a look at the remaining free agent catchers after this season. Ivan Rodriguez and Jason Varitek head the class.
