Okay, so it looks like we’ve got ourselves a 2nd baseman. Sorry, Luis Valbuena.
While this decision from Johnson would have seemed very unlikely earlier this week (it seemed he would probably have gotten a multi-year deal from one team or another), things turned headed to last night’s arbitration acceptance deadline, with GM Alex Anthopoulos acknowledging that Johnson was, in fact, likely to stay with the Blue Jays for at least one more year.
The contract that Johnson gets from arbitration will be non-guaranteed. The 29-year old made $5.85 million last season, and will likely receive a raise for next season. For the Blue Jays, this is a good thing, as Johnson would have been probably the best remaining option out there in FA, barring a trade to bring in a 2nd baseman.
The move will relegate the recently acquired Valbuena to the bench, and will also require the Blue Jays to clear a spot from their 40-man roster. We’ll likely find out who that player will be soon enough. That player will be Brian Jeroloman, whom the Blue Jays lost to waivers, then reclaimed from waivers, and who will be DFA’d to make room for Johnson.
Curiously, when Alex Anthopoulos spoke about Kelly Johnson, he appeared quite open to the option of potentially bringing in a long-term piece at 2nd base via trade, even with Johnson on the club. The Blue Jays GM stated that “(Johnson has) played a lot of left field before. We talked about signing him as a left fielder. There’s absolutely a scenario where he could be a candidate for left field. So we haven’t ruled (that) out if there’s a player we can get.”
While I doubt that we’ll actually see Johnson playing much in the outfield (there is already a competition out in left field between Travis Snider and Eric Thames), it does seem like the goal for Anthopoulos remains on acquiring a long-term solution at 2nd. Even though he has mentioned that the team could offer Johnson a multi-year deal, perhaps he doesn’t necessarily considering it the best fit. In his own words, “we’re open-minded. Again, if we can get a core piece, a controllable piece, we have the ability to do that.”
Either way, it looks like the Blue Jays will at least come out of the Winter Meetings with a new closer and a 2nd baseman for next season.
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Well it is good to see Alex took my advice and is signing Kelly Johnson.
If the Jays find a great core second baseman then Johnson would be a very
good fit in left field given the propensity for the younger players like
Thames, Snyder and Rasmus to have prolonged slumps. If an outfielder has
a slump Johnson would be right there to pick up the slack.