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.
 

The Birds and the Fish?

The huge trade between the Blue Jays and the Marlins is complete. The Blue Jays will get Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonifacio, and John Buck. The Marlins will get Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Alvarez, Jeff Mathis, Anthony DeSclafani, Justin Nicolino, and Jake Marisnick. 4 Million Dollars will go to the Blue Jays.

This trade is obviously in favor of the Blue Jays. They get two speed demons, one who is a great hitter, one great pitcher and one good pitcher, and a decent catcher.  The Marlins are dropping their payroll and reconstructing their team.

The way I would construct the lineup for the Blue Jays in the following:

Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Colby Rasmus, Brett Larwrie, Adam Lind, John Buck, Rajai Davis.  

But the Pitching Rotation is even better. Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow, Ricky Romero are a sold four starters although Romero was just terrible this past season.

In other news, Today the Tigers signed right fielder Torii Hunter. He signed a 2 year $26 Mill contract with the Tigers. He will be playing with some of the best and probably play right field and bat 5th or 6th. The projected lineup is the following:

Edwin Jackson, Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Torii Hunter, Jhonny Peralta, Alex Avila, Andy Dirks, Omar Infante.

Not to shabby for these two American League Teams.  

The Miami Marlins

The Marlins finished 2011 with a record of 72-90. They made a lot of moves this off season and I think they will have the biggest difference in wins, for the better.

The pitching rotation for The Marlins is pretty decent. They have Josh Johnson anchoring it, coming back from an injury. His ERA over the past 3 seasons is 2.64. That translates to a 153 ERA+, meaning he is 53% better than league average.  The Marlins also signed Mark Buehrle. Buehrle has pitched 200+ innings for the past 11 seasons which is phenomenal. He has a 3.82 ERA over those 11 seasons which is also really good for a guy who pitches so much. Carlos Zambrano was acquired through trade. He is troublesome but Ozzie Guillen can probably put him in line. Zambrano's ERA was elevated to 4.82 in 2011, but his career ERA is 3.60.

The Marlins also signed the National League leader in batting average, Jose Reyes. Reyes is known for his speed, but in 2011 he had a .384 OBP. His average on base percentage for the past 3 seasons is .355 which is about where it will be for 2012. Hanley Ramirez will be moving to third base to accommodate Jose Reyes. He wasn't so pleased at first, but he is warming up to it. Ramirez is 28 and has a career .380 OBP and a162 game average of 25 home runs and 83 RBI's. The RBI's will increase, because with Reyes in front of him will produce more runners on base. Mike Stanton is 22 years and has established himself as a power hitter. In 2010 and 2011 he hit 22 and 34 home runs respectively. Over those 2 years he also has a 132 OPS+ which is only going to improve with time.

The other signing for The Marlins was Heath Bell. In 2009 Heath Bell established himself as one of the most dominate closers in the game. In the 3 seasons since 2009 he has a 2.36 ERA, 132 saves and 9.6 K/9. The Marlins can stitch together the rest of the bullpen and finish games strong.

The Marlins made a definite bang in the 2011-2012 off season. They are making another attempt to make the post season. If they win the World Series within the next few years lets hope they don't have another fire sale right after.

By the way am i the only person who like the new uniforms?