Braves Sign Jim Johnson To MLB Contract

What happened to this dude the last two years?

Also, Tigers signed him to a minor league deal last season (after he was cut by Oakland). Not sure why he's getting a major league deal this early in the offseason.

Jayson Stark
@jaysonst
#Braves announce they've signed Jim Johnson to a one-year contract. 1.95 WHIP last year highest by full-time reliever in 2000s (with 50+ IP)
 
I'm sure people will complain but no harm here unless it's a good amount of guaranteed money. He was a hell of a reliever for a few years. No harm
 
Have to wait for the monetary terms before making any judgments, to be sure.

I kind of hated when we signed Antonio Alfonseca, and he ended up being pretty good for us, not to mention a hell of a lot of fun.
 
No he was never that good, always overrated. Relievers who don't strike hitters out are not good. Why would we give him a MLB contract?
 
Some positives, from MLBTR: "...Johnson’s never posted a ground-ball rate lower than 51 percent, and that mark has been 58 percent or better in each of the past four seasons. Johnson’s sinker continued to induce grounders last season and there was no drop-off in its velocity (average 93.6 mph), so the Braves presumably have a nice buy-low candidate..."
 
Hart: "Here's a guy that, when you look at the big picture, had back to back 50 save seasons and that is worth gold in today's environment of starting pitchers not going as deep into games as they use as well as a guy that has the mentality to get in done in the toughest, biggest spots so there's reason to believe that we have acquired a guy that can be a key component to our bullpen going forward and used in high leverage situations. We understand he's struggled the past few years, but guys with that history, that mentality don't just lose it overnight, and him being able to work with Roger we believe we will get him back to where he was before, which was a dominant reliever."
 
Chris Cotillo
@ChrisCotillo
Source: #Braves deal with Jim Johnson is worth $1.6M guaranteed. He can earn an additional $900K in performance bonuses.

Mehhhhh.

Jim Bowden
@JimBowden_ESPN
Jim Johnson 5-2 7.09 ERA 1.950 whip 69 hits in 53.1 innings and gets 1.6m with 900 in incentives according to #Braves #Why?
 
emk418 said:
I'm sure people will complain but no harm here unless it's a good amount of guaranteed money. He was a hell of a reliever for a few years. No harm
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Costs a 40-Man Roster spot that could've been held for a borderline prospect until after the Rule V Draft. Can't fathom who else was going to guarantee him money and give him a roster spot in the next week or two.

Will admit this one's a complete head-scratcher for me. I have as much faith in Roger as anyone does, but I sure as hell wouldn't have guaranteed him anything.
 
clvclv said:
Costs a 40-Man Roster spot that could've been held for a borderline prospect until after the Rule V Draft. Can't fathom who else was going to guarantee him money and give him a roster spot in the next week or two.

Will admit this one's a complete head-scratcher for me.
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Have to agree now knowing we gave him $1.6M. Good lord
 
Hawk said:
Not sure why he's getting a major league deal this early in the offseason.
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I'm not sure why this team has done a lot of things this offseason (and this early in it)—but the extent to which Johnson bounces back won't matter much if there's never any leads to protect anyway. Nonetheless—while they paid him more guaranteed than I would've thought necessary—the term is short, and the cost is not insanely high, so neither is risk. He can always be flipped midseason if he performs.
 
jpx7 said:
I'm not sure why this team has done a lot of things this offseason (and this early in it)—but the extent to which Johnson bounces back won't matter much if there's never any leads to protect anyway. Nonetheless—while they paid him more guaranteed than I would've thought necessary—the term is short, and the cost is not insanely high, so neither is risk. He can always be flipped midseason if he performs.
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I have no problem with this line of thinking - I'm all for trying to stockpile pieces by dealing players we sign to plug holes for a couple seasons.

It's just the timing for me - if we were intent on signing him, where's the harm in telling him we weren't going to do it until after the Rule V Draft so we could protect one extra prospect? If someone else guaranteed him a deal before the draft was over, it probably wouldn't have been the end of the world for our pen.
 
I am supportive of the general idea here of buying low on a reclamation project. I just wish I like Johnson better as a pitcher. Still, the risk is minimal. I for one am fine non-tendering a guy like Schlosser to take gambles like this.

Still really hoping we take a flier on a Rule 5 arm, but the pen is getting pretty full as it is and we still need to acquire a proven left-handed setup man IMO.
 
Oh my God, not Jim Johnson! Why would we ever sign Jim Johnson! What was Hart thinking signing Jim Johnson?! Surely Jim Johnson will not have a jersey saying 'Johnson' and be sitting in our bullpen waiting for the phone to ring calling for 'Jim Johnson' to pitch! The insanity of adding Jim Johnson to the team!!

This is all Heyward's fault....:icon_biggrin:
 
See what happens when you offer someone a contract?

Also.......Jim Johnson is REALLY bad.
 
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