Pirates are finalists for the services of free agent RHP Josh Johnson, according to his agent. Agent says he's considering "3 or 4" teams
Johnson was one of the best pitchers in the majors at times over the past five or six years. He has had injury issues and probably even more concerning was his season last year. For those that look at little more at the metrics his season last year could be attributed to luck and a somewhat small sample size as his xFIP was actually 3.58. Steamer is actually projecting 144 IP and a 3.80 ERA.
In Jon Heyman's projections he, a GM and an agent predicted a one year deal in the $10M to $12M range. So what would you pay or would you totally avoid him?
- In other actual news per Jeff Passan the Pirates have reacquired reliever Duke Welker from the Twins. No word yet on who the Pirates are giving up in the deal.
- Update to the Welker trade, it's Kris Johnson heading to the Twins.