Sorry, John. Lost in all the Vancil hype last week (we got him, everybody!) was news that, around the same time, the Mariners signed John Parham, too. I cannot forgive myself for this oversight.
John Parham is a catcher. Or at least, he was a catcher, for Cal State Northridge, proud alma mater of Adam Kennedy and Robert Fick and slightly less proud alma mater of Kam Loe. At CSUN, Parham batted .280 over three seasons, with his highlight being a .348/.426/.478 junior year. Had Parham built on that, he likely would've found himself drafted, but he instead came completely apart as a senior and wound up second fiddle news to a guy with a 1.4 K/BB in indy ball.
What little there is that's written about Parham seems to emphasize his solid defense, and while the only evidence that's offered in support is an impressive number of pickoffs and caught stealings, that's good enough for me to assume that he's better back there than Rob Johnson, which must be cool for him. Also cool for him is that he's getting a front-page post here while Chicago's signing of Daniel Cabrera to a minor league contract around the same time didn't warrant a front-page post there. Although that may just be sad for Daniel Cabrera.
Some of you may be wondering why I've written about John Parham and Preston Vancil while saying nothing about Tommy Everidge, to which I respond that "I don't know" is a reason.