Johjima spent the first nine seasons of his career with the team currently known as the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in NPB's Pacific League, and there he was a 30-homer player between 2001 and 2004 before hopping across the Pacific to the Mariners. After struggling with the Mariners the past two years, the decision to move back to NPB clearly makes a ton of sense; he'll make more money, he'll be back home, and the smaller parks may give him a chance to regain his power stroke.
The Seattle Mariners announced on Monday that catcher Kenji Johjima has opted out of his current contract so that he can return to Japan and finish out his career there. Johjima signed a three-year contract extension with the Mariners in April of 2008, but used a clause that allowed him to opt out of the final two years of his deal.
The 33-year-old catcher came to Seattle in November of 2005 after playing 11 seasons in the Japanese Pacific League and was the first Japanese-born player to ever catch in the major leagues. In his four seasons as a Mariner, Johjima hit .268 with 48 home runs and 198 RBI.
Mike Blowers played 11 seasons in the majors, but he never had a day like this. Sunday, Blowers -- who now does color broadcasting for the Seattle Mariners -- made one of the most unbelievable predictions we'll ever see. The sheer accuracy of how he laid the situation out is simply mind-boggling. It involves the first career home run of rookie infielder Matt Tuiasosopo. Please check out the video, as it is well worth the watch.
Mike Blowers knows more about baseball than you. His AM radio predictions for Seattle Mariners third baseman and spellcheck challenger Matt Tuiasosopo came true in increasingly accurate and eerie ways, including pitch count, distance, and barometric pressure. The only possible explanations for this are that he is a genius, or that an older version of him traveled back in time with a Sports Alamanac. Somebody get a picture of his wife, see if she has enormous implants.
I predict that tonight's Dugout is after the jump. /puts fingers to temples
Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez has always had the stuff to make opposing hitters and anyone watching him work drop their jaws and say "wow." But he's also had the ability to frustrate with his inconsistency.
All of that has changed in 2009 as the 23-year-old has put together his best season in the major leagues, going 17-5 with a 2.49 ERA and 207 strikeouts.
Now his name is being mentioned as a Cy Young candidate, and the Mariners are elated to think about the fact that Hernandez may get even better in the coming years. Of course, that also means he's going to get more expensive.
But besides his fine season -- 89 runs scored, 96 RBI, .823 OPS -- Abreu seems to have passed on his patience at the plate to the rest of his Angels teammates.
"He's got the younger players understanding patience isn't a bad thing," Chone Figgins told FanHouse. "It's not about not being aggressive, but being patient, getting a pitch to hit. There's nothing wrong with being 1-1 and hitting, or 1-2, or 2-2.
"It's not something simple to do, but I think we did a good job of it in spring training and have tried to bring it into the season and have so far done a good job."
The Seattle Mariners slugging first baseman has been on the disabled list with a herniated disc since Aug. 29. He's been working hard to make it back to play this season and even has a goal to make his return in one of the games during the Toronto Blue Jays series, somewhere between Sept. 24-27. No matter if he returns this season or not, Branyan definitely wants to be back playing in Seattle next season. That could be expensive for the Mariners.
Branyan saw his first major league action in 1998. Since then he's played 11 seasons of baseball for eight different teams, never amassing more than 315 at-bats in any one season. That was until the 33-year-old first baseman broke out this season.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That in a little over 24 hours the Rangers went from in the hunt for the AL wild card to hanging on by a thread. Texas split a doubleheader with the Mariners Sunday and dropped two of three to Seattle over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox -- the team the Rangers are chasing -- swept the reeling Rays, who have now lost 11 straight, including taking both games of a day-night doubleheader at Fenway Park.
Boston doubled its lead in the race -- from two games to four -- with 20 games remaining for each team.
Carpenter, who won the award in 2005, was ruthlessly efficient in a 99-pitch, one-hit shutout of the Brewers on Monday, running his record to 16-3 and dropping his ERA to a stingy 2.16.
"That was Nintendo baseball. That's as good a stuff as I've seen this year. He throws strikes with electric stuff," Brewers right fielder Jody Gerut said.
Just a few days after announcing that he won't return to the Seattle Mariners in 2010, Kenji Johjima has signed a four-year deal with the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese Central League. NPB Tracker says the deal is a four-year deal worth the equivalent of $27.25 million, which is a pretty nice deal for him after opting out of the $16 million owed to him by the Mariners. 
The 
Seattle 
Starting Five
Every Sunday, 
Don't fault 
Starting Five
Starting Five
