If you haven’t seen the previous post yet, Seattle extended the contract of catcher Kenji Johjima through the 2011 season ($24M).  Initially I was fuming over this move, but now I’ve calmed down enough to try and look at it from a couple different angles.

I’ve been thinking about some different scenarios on what may happen to stud catching prospect Jeff Clement, and there are more bad ones than good.  The first thing you have to notice about this extension is the timing.  Johjima is hitting just .200, so inking him now is a PR nightmare.  This move is obviously connected to other moves to come.

One thing GM Bavasi can now do, God forbid, is trade Clement.  He’s a hot commodity around the league.  Over the offseason the Twins wanted him as part of a package for Johan Santana, the Orioles for Erik Bedard, and even the Pirates wanted Clement in a package for Ian Snell and/or Jason Bay.  What makes a trade seem somewhat plausible is the emergence of catching prospect Adam Moore.  What Bavasi may be thinking is that Johjima catches through 2011, and Moore takes over the reigns in 2012.  Moore is currently in AA and has been compared to vintage Michael Barrett, which any team would be pleased to have.  Moore is also a better defensive catch than Clement and handles the pitching staff well.  While I would be very disappointed if Clement was traded, the presence of Moore would make it slightly easier to swallow.  Clement, if traded, would probably help bring in a very solid outfield bat that could be more than just a “rent-a-player.”

Another possibility is that Clement is about to be called up as the team’s DH.  This scenario also makes a lot of sense.  Many fans have wanted Clement to push incumbent DH Jose Vidro out of a starting spot all season long, but doing so would likely take Clement out of the running to be the full-time catcher in 2009.  With a solid catcher locked up for the next three seasons Seattle no longer has to worry about grooming Clement for the position and can move him.   Once Johjima’s contract is expired, up comes Adam Moore who, once again, is a better defensive option than Clement.   Having Clement and Moore in the same lineup at 1B/DH and catcher wouldn’t be a bad deal at all.  I actually wrote about some similar scenarios back in January.

A couple of people have mentioned that this move makes Johjima more trade-able.  Even if that was the logic behind the signing Seattle wouldn’t trade him this year.  If you haven’t noticed, Bavasi is a high character guy and has been known to trade aging veterans to contenders and bench players to situations where they’ll get more playing time.  Signing Johjima to a contract smaller than what he would garner on the free agent market and then immediately trading him would be a pretty sketchy thing to do for anyone, let alone Bavasi, and I can’t see it happening. 

Those first couple are the two main scenarios I can picture, unless you think Clement will rot in AAA for three more years.  Both seem realistic enough to happen, and obviously I’m hoping it’s the latter.  I do not want Clement to be traded, but at least we have a lot of catching depth in the minors.  I think he will be called up, because why would Seattle trade one already good and potentially great hitter for another good hitter?  Might as well go with Clement at DH for the rest of the year, a move that would certainly improve the moods of Mariner fans who are steamed by the extension.  “This doesn’t change Jeff’s track to the big leagues much, because Jeff’s track to the big leagues is more with his bat than with his glove,” Bavasi said, so that’s a good indication of an impending promotion.  Clement, however, is in Tacoma’s starting lineup at DH tonight.

last modified at 6:48 pm PST