Kenji Johjima said earlier today in Japan that he left the Seattle Mariners because his playing time had been cut so severely.
Johjima held a conference call with Japanese-speaking reporters — he declined a similar opportunity with English-speaking reporters — for the first time since the Mariners announced Monday that he was using an opt-out clause to leave the team with two years and $16 million remaining on his contract.
“After I came back to Japan (following the Mariners’ season), I talked to my wife and family, then reached my decision,” Johjima said. “I told them what exactly I wanted.
“I concluded that I would like to play every day. I would like to play for a team which really wants me, needs me. That’s my straight answer.”
It’s also a different reason from the one Johjima gave in a statement released by the Mariners on Monday.
“I feel now is the time to go home while I still can perform at a very high level,” he said in the statement. “Playing close to family and friends was a major factor.”
But not THE major factor.
As long ago as last year, not long after he had signed a three-year, $24 million extension with the Mariners on April 25, 2008, Johjima voiced his displeasure about his dwindling playing time to a teammate.
“I talked to him about it during batting practice one day last year. We were in the outfield at Shea (Stadium),” relief pitcher Mark Lowe said. “He told me, ‘I don’t care how much money I’m making. I don’t play for the money. I want to play every day.’”
That talk occurred during the Mariners’ interleague series against the New York Mets, only two months after he had signed the three-year extension. Johjima, however, had struggled to keep his batting average above .200 and the Mariners, on their way to a last-place finish, had called up catching prospect Jeff Clement and given him most of the starts in late June.
“When he first came over, he was the guy guaranteed to catch every single game,” Lowe said. “Things have changed a lot in our organization. I know he always wanted to play. It’s a long season, it’s a grind. If you’re not happy, it makes you miserable.”
Johjima’s playing time diminished each season he was with the Mariners, from 144 games his first year in 2006 to 135 in 2007, 112 in 2008 and 71 this year.
This was a season of change for the Mariners, with new general manager Jack Zduriencik and new manager Don Wakamatsu having flushed out several players who don’t fit their longterm plans. The Mariners gave Rob Johnson more starts the second half of this season and also were enthusiastic about the rise of catching prospect Adam Moore, who started six games after being called up in September.
Both Zduriencik and Wakamatsu said they were surprised when Johjima opted out of his contract.
“I had no idea what he was going to do,” Wakamatsu said. “From the second half (of the season) on, there were rumors that he might not come back. But I didn’t have any feel at all whether he was or wasn’t. We hadn’t talked about next year or playing time or anything.”
Still, Johjima sensed his role as the Mariners’ regular catcher had ended. As he negotiates with Japanese teams, playing time will be the major factor.
“That’s the reason I left the Mariners,” he said. “Of course, I have to compete to get the job, but it was huge disappointment for me not to play every day past two years. I would like to go to the team which will give me an opportunity.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com\marinersblog
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