M’s part ways with reliever

SEATTLE – Eric O’Flaherty’s fade from a promising role with the Seattle Mariners reached an end Thursday. The Mariners decided not to protect him with a 40-man roster spot and O’Flaherty was claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves.

O’Flaherty, a Walla Walla native who pitched for the short-season Class A Everett AquaSox in his first pro season in 2003, began this season as the Mariners’ left-handed specialty reliever.

He didn’t make it through the first month.

O’Flaherty went 0-1 with a 20.25 earned run average in seven appearances, and left-handed hitters batted .500 off him before he was sent to the minor leagues on April 14. He made 14 appearances with Triple-A Tacoma before a strained lower back sent him to the disabled list on June 11.

In 2007, O’Flaherty went 7-1 and held left-handed hitters to a .183 average, giving the Mariners hope that he could be their specialist against lefties. That became one of the team’s biggest needs after the off-season loss of left-handed reliever George Sherrill to Baltimore in the Erik Bedard trade.

The Mariners also added right-handed pitchers Stephen Kahn, Gabby Hernandez and Marwin Vega to the 40-man roster, while right-handers Luis Munoz and Tracy Thorpe cleared waivers and were outrighted to the minor leagues.

The moves left the Mariners with 37 on their 40-man roster.

Johjima becomes priority

Amid all that new manager Don Wakamatsu will have on his plate next year, he’s looking forward to working with catcher Kenji Johjima.

Johjima struggled to a .227 average with seven homers and 39 RBIs last season, and again had issues with some of the team’s pitchers. Wakamatsu said it’s important for the success of the Mariners that Johjima rebounds, but also important for Johjima.

“He’s got to feel good about himself,” Wakamatsu said. “I fancy myself as a pretty good catching instructor and I think I have some ideas that can help him. All I can base it on is the end of last year when he wasn’t playing as much. This guy is a proud man.

“The year before, this guy had a real good year. All of a sudden everybody wants to sour on him. The whole team is my responsibility, but that is a part of it and we’re going to do the best we can.”

Just like old times

Wakamatsu has worked with three current M’s in previous coaching jobs, and he sought information about the team from them during the interview process.

He coached with the Angels when catcher Jamie Burke was there, had pitcher R.A. Dickey with Texas and, in his first coaching job with the Mariners’ Double-A Port City team in 1996, he got to know outfielder Raul Ibanez, who was a catcher then.

“I talked to all of them, just to try to get a feel for the situation here,” Wakamatsu said.

He was particularly interested in the state of the clubhouse after reports of cliques and jealousy of the Japanese players.

“As a group, the more we can come together and define what’s wrong, the better we can come up with an idea how to fix it,” Wakamatsu said.