When I posted my list of interesting non-tenders earlier this week, Kelly Johnson was one of the players I mentioned. Because it appears now that the Pirates actually are interested in him, let’s talk a little more about it. In 2007, Johnson became the Braves starting second baseman and hit .276/.375/.457 with 16 homers, 26 doubles, and 10 triples. He followed that up in 2008 with a .287/.349/.446 line with 12 homers, 39 doubles, and six triples. Last year, he spent some time on the DL with a wrist injury that resulted in his losing his job to Martin Prado and an ensuing non-tender.
Defensively, his UZR was pretty consistently below average, coming in at 7.4/150 for all of his time at second base with the Braves. In his 79 games as a left fielder, though, he was way above average. That sample size is very small, but the Pirates seem to think he’d be a good fit out there as they’re reportedly looking at him the same way they’re looking at Ankiel and Nady.
I’m still not terribly high on picking up an outfielder for the expressed purposed of being an every day starter because I want to see Jeff Clement get a chance, but Johnson would be interesting because of his versatility. He’s a lefty, but he doesn’t have huge platoon split at all. Careerwise, his OPS is actually higher against left-handed pitching and he hit lefties well in both of his productive seasons at the plate. That means that as a supersub (I wouldn’t try him at short or center, but he could probably fill in at second, third, or either corner outfield spot), he could be used to give both lefties and righties time off against tough matchups and he’s got a better Major League track record than just about anyone already on the roster (Brandon Moss, Delwyn Young, Steve Pearce) that would fill that role right now.
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