Question to Seattle Mariners fans: Does John Jaso still exist?

There are things that have happened in Northwest history that are better not remembered.  The first is the Pig War.  Don’t know what the Pig War was?

Then be proud of yourself.

But in typical North West laid back fashion, we were able to have an event called a war in which only a single shot was fired and the only victim was in fact an Englishmen’s pig.

Another event worth forgetting in the Northwest is the windshield pitting epidemic in 1954, which is still used as an example of mass delusion. Sure it was the 50’s but do we really want the reputation for believing that cosmic rays caused car windshields to develop small divots?  Sigh.

Such events may have happened, but the best way to respond to these insults on our intelligence is to deny that these events ever took place.

It is, after all, the Seattle way.

If we don’t talk about it, then it never happened.  Don’t try and get all self-righteous, denying the denial.

This off season the Seattle Mariners pulled off a BIG trade that sent the friendly giant, (a.k.a 6’7” 270lb Michael Pineda) off to the land of no return in exchange for the offensive resurrection powers of Jesus (a.k.a Jesus).

Already Jesus Montero is dominating the news reports based on his performance in batting practice and receiving major criticism about his ability to be the catcher of the future.

The name on the back is Jaso! Will we see him in 2012?

Of course Mariners fans have yet to actually see things like Montero hit or catch in a live game.

The reality is that Miquel Olivo is a good man to be a mentor to a young guy like Montero. So the rookie has a chance to pick up some skills before he is supposed to be the everyday backstop.

But wait, you ask, what did we deny or forget in all this? 

The answer has something to do with another trade that the Mariners made in the off season which sent one of their pitching prospects off to the east coast while picking up a catcher with pretty high value.

Still don’t remember?

Even though I wrote an article about this trade back in November 5 Reasons to like the Seattle Mariners Trade For John Jaso  I am actually having problems remembering that it ever happened myself.

• Is he actually on this team?
• Does he even exist?
• What has even been said about Jaso since the M’s set up camp this spring?  Not much.

As it turns out the trust worthy Greg Johns of MLB.com asked Eric Wedge about the possible role for Jaso this season. 

Wedge’s response. “[Jaso] is kind of a baseball rat”.  That totally clears things up doesn’t it? (you can read the whole of Greg John’s piece on Jaso here: Whatever Mariners have in store, Jaso ready)

Jaso has more experience than Montero and was even in the running for Rookie of the Year back in 2010. 

He has a career .992 fielding percentage as opposed to the .994 that Montero had at catcher through the minors. 

Wait, what? 

I thought Montero was a defensive disaster?  Maybe Jaso is worth forgetting. 

Is there anything Moore to add?  You know I can’t think of anything worth mentioning.

© Danny Ferguson for North West Sports Beat, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |

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