StuckOnYouk said:
Why the hell don't they just release him and thank NY for saving them 4 mil?
Average Reds said:
I cynically assumed he had been acquired for this purpose and was surprised when I heard he was being activated.
If Johnson's injury were projected to keep him out through late August, then I'd agree completely. There would have been no chance whatsoever to recover any value for him. But because he was activated with 3+ weeks left in the month, the Sox can at least hope he shows signs of being a decent LHH bench option with positional flexibility for a contending club that might have a player go down with an injury in the interim. He's no Brock Holt, but he's played every IF spot except SS this year along with both OF corners.
Yes, it's an extremely long shot, and I'm certainly not advocating playing Johnson frequently just to showcase him for this purpose. But if you're Ben Cherington, you treat him as a potential asset. At worst you end up dumping him for the same cost he had when acquired (~$1M). At best, a deal gets worked out for a lower-level minor leaguer or a PTBNL. At middle, a team claims him off waivers and you let that club assume the final month+ of his contract, saving the Sox $500k or so.
And before anyone tells me a guy like Johnson has zero value, please explain how -- rather than being discarded by the sport -- he's managed to play for four (soon to be five) different MLB teams in four years (with three of those clubs signing him as a free agent for a combined $11,825,000) despite successive lines of:
2011 - .222 .304 .413 .717
2012 - .225 .313 .365 .678
2013 - .235 .305 .410 .715
2014 - .219 .304 .373 .677
Those four years produced an ugly
aggregate 91 OPS+, yet he's
averaged about 1.0 fWAR over that span. Even while averaging less than 100 games the past two years with TB & NYY, he's still been worth 0.9 fWAR per season.