Mariners In On Randy Johnson?

I scoured what seemed like a dozen Randy Johnson articles, most of which had the same themes we were hearing yesterday: the Yanks don’t have to trade Johnson, the vacancy could go to Zito or Clemens, the Diamondbacks are in the thick of things, the Padres are the frontrunners, the Dodgers are just driving up the price, and the Giants and Angels are the dark horses.

Joseph A. Reaves of the Arizona Republic has a slightly different take, though: he says the Mariners have surfaced as a potential trade partner.  It’s just a one-line mention, but I haven’t seen it confirmed elsewhere yet.  I will try.  Additionally, Reaves writes that the Dodgers are not interested.

Newday’s Ken Davidoff weighs in on the side of reason: he doesn’t want to trade a decent 200 inning starter.  I also agree with him in that Kei Igawa can easily be pushed to the pen for two-thirds of a season if Roger Clemens is brought aboard. The Yanks aren’t so stacked with good starting pitching as to make Johnson expendable.