Catching guru Hansen will get M’s on the same page

If there’s a communication problem between catcher Kenji Johjima and the pitching staff, Roger Hansen will fix it. If Johjima and the other catchers, Jeff Clement and Jamie Burke, need a kind heart to steer them through whatever problems they’re having, Hansen can do that. If they need someone to jump down their throats, he’s there for them.

Hansen, the Mariners much-loved and sometimes-abrasive catching coordinator, joined the team Friday to help solve “issues” that have arisen lately. Perhaps chief among them is facilitating better communication with the pitchers. After his last start, Jarrod Washburn said he and Johjima weren’t on the same page.

“I know Kenji and Jeff and Jamie so well, I know what they do,” Hansen said. “So I’ll just form my opinion after I see what goes on and see how they are handling it.”

Hansen said he hasn’t sensed any conflict between Johjima and the pitchers.

“If there is — and I don’t know that there is — I’m going to find out,” he said. “It does happen from time to time. It happens everywhere. It’s the catcher’s responsibility to try and get on the same page as the pitcher. That’s their job and whatever it takes to do that, that’s what we have to do.”