Monday is Hot Baseball Wife Day here at UmpBump, and today’s entry is Maki Ofuji, the wife of Seattle Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima.  Born in Kyushu, Maki started modelling in high school and soon began appearing as a model in commercial ad campaigns. By the age of 20, she was already being hailed as one of the “Queens of Kyushu advertising.” She became so popular that she even began appearing in her own line of “idol” videos and photobooks.

Maki met Kenji Johjima when he was a highly touted rookie on the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. The couple was married in 2000, after which Maki gave up her modeling career to focus on raising a family. Together the couple has three children – sons Yuta and Keita, and daughter Miu.

According to the Japanese version of Wikipedia, Maki and Kenji are famous in Japan for their harmonious marriage. Kenji famously once said “Without the support of my wife and children, my life would not be possible,” which was considered an incredibly moving and sensitive thing for a Japanese man to say.

More pictures after the jump…

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Kenji Johjima’s contract extension (three yeras, $24 million) surprised many, including MLB Trade Rumors’ Tim Dierkes:

I didn’t see this coming; I thought the Ms would hand catching duties over to Jeff Clement in ‘09 despite questionable defense. Instead, they’ll apparently use him as a DH/1B or trade him. He’s hitting .375/.500/.688 in 19 Triple A games.

Neutral observers may be shocked, but the reaction in the Mariners blogosphere is downright despairing. I’d estimate that 50% of the angst is due to Johjima’s struggles, while the other 50% results from the continued blocking of hot-hitting catching prospect Jeff Clement. Let’s go to the blogs:

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Only a few more hours left of Wednesday. A bit of reading to get you through the last hump of Hump Day:

Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell would like their ice cream machine back, please. (Bradford Files) And is lack of ice cream behind Beckett’s mysterious injuries this year? (Center Field)

What it’s like when Jose Canseco hits on your girlfriend. (Diamond Hoggers)

The six-man roster continues to loom. (Washington Post) Oh god, no.

Dusty Baker doesn’t like walks, so Joey Votto isn’t walking. (Vegas Watch) Moneyball haters, rejoice!

A backward glance at Nomomania (Sam Mellinger for the Kansas City Star)

“Jeter and others may be trying to get Paul O’Neill’s number RETIRED? Has the world gone mad?” (Joe Posnanski on behalf of LaTroy Hawkins)

Why are Kenji Johjima’s pitchers throwing him under the bus? (Detect-O-Vision)

Stephen Drew is a righthanded dude who bats left. (DbacksBuzz) After burning my right arm two weeks ago, I have discovered that I can do absolutely nothing with my left arm. At all. Tip o’ the hat to you, young Stephen.

And finally, earlier in the week, Coley wrote about Boston prospect Jed Lowrie’s potential as a super-utility guy for MLB Trade Rumors. Today, Joe Haggerty writes for the Boston Metro about why the Sox are grooming their prospects that way.

And as always, if you’re reading something we should be reading, let me know!

Last week, we here at umpbump gave you our hard-hitting MVP picks, so this week, we’ve decided to unveil our picks for NL and AL Rookie of the Year picks. I’ll get things started today, with picks from Alejandro, Coley, and Sarah to follow over the weekend.

National League

3. Ryan Zimmerman (.289/.354/.475, 20 HR, 109 RBI)

2. Hanley Ramirez (.292/.353/.481, 17 HR, 51 SB)

1. Josh Willingham (.277/.358/.494, 25 HR, 78 RBI)

I’m as surprised as anyone that I ended up picking two Florida Marlins as my top two picks. The Rookie of the Year race in the NL this year was bursting with potential contenders, and it was up and down all year, and I really thought someone like Andre Either, Prince Fielder, or Ryan Zimmerman would come out on top, but now here we are with four games left to play, and it seems clear that Josh Willingham was the best young rookie on the Senior Circuit in 2006.

True, Zimmerman’s RBI total is impressive, but as we know, RBI is the mainstream stat least indicative of a player’s actual performance. Meanwhile, Willingham bested Zimmerman in both OBP and SLG, and hit five more homers than Zimmerman in more than 100 fewer at bats.

Hanley Ramirez proved he is a complete player this season, showing the ability to hit for average and power, and steal loads of bases, but Ramirez’s totals were bolstered by the numerous extra at bats he had as a leadoff batter. Meanwhile, Willingham showed the killer combination of both power and patience at the plate, leading all batting-title qualified rookies in OPS and establishing himself as a legitimate heart-of-the-order threat down the stretch for the Marlins.

American League

3. Kenji Johjima (.291/.334/.455, 18 HR, 76 RBI)

2. Jonathan Papelbon (35 SV, 0.92 ERA, 75K/68.1IP)

1. Justin Verlander (17-9, 3.63 ERA, 186 IP)

Orioles outfielder Nick Markakis and Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima put up remarkably similar numbers in this year, but Johjima gets the nod for third place because he plays catcher.

Jonathan Papelbon was an absolute revelation as the closer for the Red Sox in the first half of the season, but faded down the stretch and ultimately had to be shelved due to an impingement in his shoulder. Still, his first half performance was so dazzling, it was enough to earn him second place on my ROY ballot.

The clear winner in the American League has to be Justin Verlander. Not only did he provide nearly 200 IP and 17 wins to his team, but he also served as de facto staff ace for much of the year when Kenny Rogers was struggling, and helped lead the Tigers to their first pennant since god knows when. Basically he pitched like a Cy Young candidate in his rookie season.

It’s too bad Francisco Liriano got hurt and the Angels ridiculously sent Jared Weaver down to the minors for five starts. Otherwise, the AL top three would have almost certainly been all starting pitchers.