Johjima opts out of Seattle contract

[Drew Doughty]

So what has happened with projections of Japanese stats into MLB numbers in the past 6 years? I can't imagine they're as high as they were then.

 

Johjima was pretty decent his first couple years. He just became an old catcher.

It's not just him. We all remember the early years of the decade where we were told that the Japanese leagues were better than 4A quality, and now we've seen a bunch of what would have been first ballot Japanese league hall of famers come here. Johjima had a solid offensive season, a decent offensive season, a bad offensive season, and a poor one (and he decided not to take them up on the last two $8 million per season of his contract! Someone have him talk to Soriano). The 5A thing just doesn't seem to have been earned in last two thirds of the decade.

 

edit: but I guess this deserves its own thread in General.

 

it's almost like johjima was aging or something. how strange.

[CUBZ99]

I saw a report that Johjima signed in Japan for 4/$27MM. Nice move on his part.