Clement Call Up Soon?

John Hickey is telling us tonight that Jeff Clement may be getting called up to the MLB sometime in the next week.

The move would come as relief to a struggling Mariner offense that is failing to score runs. None of Jose Vidro, Richie Sexson, or Brad Wilkerson are hitting well, or at all, and Vidro is the only one losing playing time because of that. Clement would presumably take over some of the DH duties, and possibly push Vidro even further down the bench behin Greg Nortan, who has hit well in the last couple of games that he has played. Maybe Vidro's time is up here. Designating him for assignment, or just flat out releasing him could be the best option. I'd like to see Clement come up here, but would the Mariners carry all three of Kenji Johjima, Clement and Jamie Burke on their active roster?

That's the question. Clement could back up for Joh and get most of his AB's at DH. But where does that push Jamie Burke, who has been a solid backup to Joh the last year and a month? There's no reason to get rid of him, and if there was, where would he go? To Tacoma? What team would want him? Maybe the Yankees would have interest with Jorge Posada on the DL. Although the Yankees would probably prefer a more glamorous option...

Then there's always the carry two and a half catchers approach, where Joh is still the full time catcher, and Clement is jsut inserted in to the lineup at DH or pinch hitting as much as possible. We'll have to wait a couple more days to see how this turns out.