Johjima to DL
Mike Snow · April 16, 2009 at 4:26 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Kenji Johjima has been placed on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring. Making sure this doesn’t linger or turn into anything more serious is the wise move. Especially considering the work he did in the WBC, hopefully this allows for some rest in addition to getting healthy. The media tends to focus on pitcher overwork (Matsuzaka), but tacked onto the grind of being behind the plate for a full season, the effect on catchers might warrant more attention.
It speaks volumes about Jeff Clement’s future as a catcher that he’s still in Tacoma at this point. Jamie Burke is the new Pat Borders.
Also, Tuiasosopo gets sent down so he can actually play. Sean White is the first name spit out by the random bullpen arm generator.
Seems like Clement’s stock keeps falling as every day goes by. That’s too bad, he seemed like a nice prospect.
Is it official that it’s Burke who’s called up and not Clement? I haven’t seen it written anywhere.
And here I thought this injury- albeit unfortunate- was finally a chance for Clement to get a 2 week trial as the starting catcher, and for him to prove himself worthy, such that we’d have a tough decision to make when Johjima is back.
Kinda sad really. I really like Clement, but if they’re not going to use him in even this situation, we might as well trade him before he has NO value.
Also, I would have thought Justin Thomas before Sean White, but I guess it’s all the same…
It might have something to do with the fact he’s hitting about .050 right now too. Plus they want him to play everyday, and it looks like they want to give most of the starts to Johnson.
Hey, what happened to the ability to edit your message before it’s posted?
I just checked the Tacoma Rainier’s roster and sure enough White and Burke are already off of it (despite, Tui and Johjima still being on the M’s roster).
Probably just as well. I heard Johjima was deftly afraid of The Grinch as a child.
It speaks volumes about Jeff Clement’s future as a catcher that he’s still in Tacoma at this point.
In Perl terms
~s/as a catcher/in this organization
Really, it’s not like the M’s don’t have talent at 1B either (Shelton and Carp), plus Moore’s breathing down his back catching in AA. I think if the M’s are going to swing a deadline deal, Clement ends up being the busted prospect that gets tossed into it.
Please explain. Are you claiming Clement is now a ‘busted prospect’?
A name like a Star Wars creature and a mug like the Grinch? I’m scared of him.
Even though Clement is struggling I thought the logical move was to bring him up and see what he can do at the ML level unless the FO believes that Clement should be brought up in one of his hot streaks or something I’m kinda mad since you won’t get a true look at him in AAA and by bringing him up to the ML the club gets a look at what Clement can really do and whether he fits with the team at all and if he does fine keep him if not then trade him but stashing him in AAA accomplishes almost nothing really.
At this point you know Clement will be below average at defense and you’re going to see whether Clement will make it as a catcher or not by seeing if his bat is worth keeping him at catcher he’s been mashing AAA pitching before this season so you bring him up and see how he does and he’s only has 200 AB at the ML level so calling him a bust right now means you hit the panic button to fast.
Well, I wouldn’t expect Johnson to keep hitting the way he has been the last few games, but here’s hoping he does (and makes it hard for Wakamatsu to put Kenji back in as the regular catcher when he comes back, a la the apocryphal story of Wally Pipp).
And speaking of minor leaguers and injuries (in case you missed it) Carlos Triunfel had surgery yesterday and is out of baseball for “four to six months.” (So much for people predicting the sports medicine “wizards” would have him playing again in a month.)
You’ve always had that, and you just used it — if you couldn’t edit before you posted it, you couldn’t write it in the first place. What you’re asking for is the ability to edit your message after it was posted (for a couple of minutes, anyway). That was an experimental feature (WordPress extension) that Derek was trying out. It went away earlier this year, presumably because it was creating some other problem (if Derek ever mentioned exactly why, I missed it).
He was afraid, but he did it deftly. I like that image.
“Deftly”?
That’s, uh…. yeah.
Anyway, I’d say that picture makes him look more like another character to me.
Why not a lefty like Jason Vargas? It is a small sample size, but he has been tough on lefties so far in 2009.
[don’t do this]
Crap Truinfel is out for 4-6 months!? Thanks for the info Joser but that is terrible news. I guess it makes 2 weeks out for Joh not seem nearly so bad at least.
Excuse the idiocy, but where/when do we get a lineup? tx.
ESPN, sorry folks.
Whoops. I meant to say “deathly”. Obviously.
Yeah, Baker wrote about it at the end of his update on RRS’ injury. At least he gets to rehab in Seattle so he’ll have an opportunity to get a sniff of what exciting, regular-season Mariners baseball can be (just in case he needs any additional motivation).
wouldn’t it be better for Clement to play every day on Tacoma, than to sit most of the time up here?
Yes, especially if he’s trying to get his hitting turned around.
I don’t read too much into this in regards to Clement. He is best served right now by playing everyday which he will only do in Tacoma.
wouldn’t it be better for Clement to play every day on Tacoma, than to sit most of the time up here?
Absolutely, but that shows he’s definitely inferior to Johnson in the front office’s thinking at present. He’s not just in the minors because he needs a chance to play, but because the team figures it has better options. Even though Johnson doesn’t have nearly the same potential as a hitter.
JAKU JAKU JAKU JAKU…..4 innings of scoreless ball!
Please explain. Are you claiming Clement is now a ‘busted prospect’?
Jeff Clement is older than Jose Lopez, and still doesn’t have a roster spot on a MLB team, after being a first round draft pick in 2005 justlike Trot Tulowitzki, Alex Gordon, Justin Upton, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun (who’ve all gotten regular jobs on MLB teams and were drafted before and after him). He’ll turn 26 this August, so he’s not a particularly young player, either, like, say, Cameron Maybin- to give you an idea, Edgar spent a big chunk of HIS age 26 year on the M’s roster, and he’s a very good example of someone who started his career very late by MLB standard. Oh, and Clement’s had multiple knee surgeries and plays a position (poorly) that is notoriously hard on knees and ages players prematurely.
I’m not saying Clement won’t go on to a decent MLB career (I think he’s a ~league average hitter at 1B/DH today, maybe a touch better), but I’d say the odds are very high that if he does, it’s as a ~league average hitting 1B/DH, not as a catcher, and the M’s have a guy (Mike Carp) who’s a couple years younger than Clement, not that far behind Clement as a hitter at a similar age, without being needed to be converted to a new defensive position- so it’s not even all that clear that Clement is the best 1B prospect in the organization at this point, and the M’s have a logjam of players blocking Clement for 2009 (Branyan, Griffey, Wlad and Shelton).
That’s why I think Clement will end up as part of a trade; because his path through the organization is murky at best, and he probably has more value to another team than the Mariners. That doesn’t mean he has no value, but it’s unlikely he realizes it on this team catching… and yeah, that makes him a busted prospect compared to what he was visualized as even a year or two ago.