From Mariners Camp

From AJ Moss at ESPN.com

How will the loss of Kenji Johjima impact the Seattle Mariners' staff?

There is a table in there that shows the difference in Seattle's ERA with Johjima catching and Rob Johnson ('05) catching. Very favorable numbers for Johnson.

To the meat of the article:

Was Rob Johnson really that big a difference? Apparently so. In addition to King Felix posting a 15-2 record with the 25-year-old calling the shots behind the plate, Johnson's handling of the entire Seattle staff was nothing short of masterful. His 3.22 "catcher's ERA" was the best in all of the major leagues, but more telling was Seattle's 46-29 record in games started by Johnson, compared with a 28-39 record with Johjima.

Clearly, the comfort level between the staff and Johnson cannot easily be dismissed, but despite the past success, the catcher may not be starting on a regular basis for Seattle in 2010. Johnson had surgery on both of his hips in the offseason, and is only now getting ready to see live game action this spring.

Johnson is confident that his "new hips" will allow him to improve his ability to throw out baserunners -- his 29.3 percent paled in comparison with Johjima's 50 percent of would-be thieves removed from the basepaths -- as well as his production with the bat. Johnson hit just .213 last season, but has told reporters this spring he believes his 2010 batting average will end up somewhere between .265 and .290.

However, there still is a lot of concern that Johnson simply won't be able to handle the rigors of catching four or more times a week, at least not right away. That's where Adam Moore comes in. Moore has been so impressive since being taken in the sixth round of the 2006 draft, that Seattle had no problem trading away "catcher of the future" Jeff Clement, and giving that title to the rookie, who started 2009 at Double-A and ended up playing six September games with Seattle.

Click through to read it all.

Now, if you saw the alumni report to day, you may have noticed that Shawn Kelley got the start in one of the split squad games. Kirby Arnold explains.

The Mariners used Kelley mostly an inning at a time out of the bullpen last year, but this month they’ve increased his workload in order to use him more in middle relief. Manager Don Wakamatsu said the team talked during the offseason about prepping Kelley as a starter — something he did in college — but abandoned that thought.

When the pitching pairings for today came out, though, it rekindled speculation that the Mariners, who are considering multiple options for the end of the rotation, may have turned back to Kelley.

Uh, no.

The Mariners have no plans to convert Kelley into a starter. With Doug Fister still not ready for games after he was hit by a line drive last week, the Mariners decided to use today’s game against the Royals to build up their relievers.

And I can seem to find the image online, but Felix Hernandez ('03) is on the cover of the latest ESPN: The Magazine with Cliff Lee and Ichiro.