Josh Johnson and David Murphy Sign

One of my top 25 free agents signed and I'm 0/1 on the predictions so far, but close in the salary. I'm talking about my number 25 free agent, Josh Johnson. Johnson signed an interesting deal with the San Diego Padres initially 1 year $8 Million, but can change based on the amount of starts Johnson starts. David Murphy found his new home with the Cleveland Indians on a 2 year $12 Million. Both will be great additions to their new clubs.

A young Josh Johnson

Josh Johnson has battled injuries throughout his career, after the blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins, he landed with the Toronto Blues Jays. Expected to perform big, Johnson found only failure and injury. In 16 games for the Blue Jays in 2013 Johnson racked up 81 innings and a 6.20 ERA. Johnson only had 4 seasons under his belt with 150 or more innings pitched, those years are 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2012. His ERA in those seasons was 3.10, 3.23, 2.30, and 3.81 respectively. Johnson's trends seem to be in the wrong direction, combined with injury, the Padres scored a deal for a potential ace.

The contract Johnson signed with the Padres is for 1 year and $8 Million, but he can earn an additional $1.25 Million if he makes at least 26 starts, but if he makes fewer than 7 starts the Padres have an option for $4 Million for the 2015 season. The Padres are obviously working on their starting pitching, by adding Ian Kennedy during the 2013 season and now signing Johnson, but they will accompany Andrew Cashner and Cory Luebke  in the rotation for 2014. Rumors have fluttered around that the Padres are contenders for Ricky Nolasco.

The Indians acquire a new outfielder after trading Shin-Soo Choo last year. David Murphy has performed right around average his entire career, collecting a 104 OPS+ meaning he is better than average by 4%, but not by much. In 2013 Murphy's stats plummeted. Murphy put up a .304/ .380/ .479 slashline in 2012, but in 2013 that went down to a .220/ .282/ .374. Nearly a 100 point drop in average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. Although Murphy stayed healthy and hit his usual amount of home runs, he lost his patience at the plate, but he will be a good fit in Cleveland, following a lineup of high on base percentages such as Nick Swisher, Carlos Santana, and Jason Kipnis.