Josh Johnson to the Padres

[PseudoSABR]

One year deal guaranteeing 8 mil, with 1.25 mil in incentives at 26 starts. There's also an option for 2015 if Johnson makes fewer than 7 starts (a rather odd provision).

 

The Twins should have been all over this, if they had the opportunity. Let's hope they are on better, more sustainable talent.

[kab21]

Excellent move by the Padres and something the Twins should have been in on. Of course the same could have been said about Marcum last year.

 

The odd provision was also included in Lackey's (longer) contract. It gives the team some value if he's injured the entire time. It's possible that JJ's arm is pretty iffy right now.

 

2015 club option at Major League minimum salary if Lackey misses significant time with surgery for pre-existing elbow injury in 2010-14

[DaveW]

Johnson said earlier this week he preferred San Diego, and frankly gave them a huge discount.

 

I wish the twins would have got him as well, however, not sure what a one year would have done for them...best case scenario is he has a nice year and becomes insanely expensive

[DaveW]

Per mlbtr It seems possible Johnson and agent Matt Sosnick could have gotten close to that $10MM mark had they focused on the highest bidder, but the pitcher preferred San Diego for personal reasons. The Padres got a discount approaching 20%, just for being the Padres.

[AllhopeisgoneMNTWINS]

It doesnt seem like the Twins were too interested in him. Great choice for Johnson though, he definitely if healthy can improve his stock in that beautiful Pitchers Ballpark

[howieramone1406390264]

We are going to be waiting off and on next season, for many of our top prospects to make it to Target Field. The last thing I want to do is wait for a starting pitcher whose arm may fall off. Gibson and Meyer will provide enough upside.

[AllhopeisgoneMNTWINS]

We are going to be waiting off and on next season, for many of our top prospects to make it to Target Field. The last thing I want to do is wait for a starting pitcher whose arm may fall off. Gibson and Meyer will provide enough upside.

 

I agree with you...but....if we resign Pelfrey I will be pissed because I would rather see if Josh Josh can resurrect his career over watching Pelfrey try to be a decent pitcher again. Josh Johnson has great stuff hurt or not, Pelfrey bleh.

[notoriousgod71]

Oh so Johnson didn't have some strong desire to sign with the Twins because he was born here?

[PseudoSABR]

Not facing the DH and pitching in Petco are boons to JJ's potential value; it's likely the Twins never had a legitimate chance. If the Twins want to pay top dollar for JJ after a successful season in San Diego, I imagine they'll be welcome to it.

[Thrylos]

Let's think about that: If you were not affiliated with any team or location in any way, where would your rather spend your Aprils, Octobers and Winter Carnival days: In Minnesota or in San Diego?

 

Location does matter as well.

[old nurse]

I cannot think of a pitcher who went to San Diego for a year and resurrected a career.

[drivlikejehu]

I cannot think of a pitcher who went to San Diego for a year and resurrected a career.

 

Jason Marquis?

[Thrylos]

I cannot think of a pitcher who went to San Diego for a year and resurrected a career.

 

Can you think of anyone who went to Minneapolis for a year and resurrected a career?

[JB_Iowa]

There's also an option for 2015 if Johnson makes fewer than 7 starts (a rather odd provision).

 

From a team's standpoint, I really like that provision. Of course, the player has to trust that if he is healthy, the team will start him. And 7 starts isn't that high a barricade.

 

Makes me wonder if they think that there is something that may require surgery or if the doctors just can't tell.

[gil4]

Can you think of anyone who went to Minneapolis for a year and resurrected a career?

 

Closest I can come is Pavano.

[Brock Beauchamp]

One year deal guaranteeing 8 mil, with 1.25 mil in incentives at 26 starts. There's also an option for 2015 if Johnson makes fewer than 7 starts (a rather odd provision).

 

The Twins should have been all over this, if they had the opportunity. Let's hope they are on better, more sustainable talent.

 

Since Johnson signed this early, that tells me he had a specific set of goals for a comeback season: he wanted to be in a big ballpark in the National League. If I was him, I'd do the same thing. Smart move and I question whether the Twins could have snagged him at any price... He's obviously fixing for a big contract in 2015. If he was worried about a 2014 paycheck, I doubt he would have signed before the Winter Meetings and at a lower price than most of us expected.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Oh so Johnson didn't have some strong desire to sign with the Twins because he was born here?

 

I don't know about others' arguments but I thought it could be a bargaining chip to attract Johnson to Minnesota, though it'd obviously have to come alongside a competitive offer. Obviously, that wasn't the case (though it's hard to say whether the Twins pursued him at all, never heard a rumor linking them to Johnson).

[TRex]

Can you think of anyone who went to Minneapolis for a year and resurrected a career?

 

How about 'Black Jack' Morris?

[Oldgoat_MN]

Closest I can come is Pavano.

 

Twins traded for Pavano.

After that he never pitched for another team.

 

Don't think that qualifies as 'resurrecting a career'.

 

[insert Rick Anderson joke here.]

[Thrylos]

How about 'Black Jack' Morris?

 

Jack Morris a. was ancient history, b. was towards the end of a very successful career (he was 36 in 1991 and played 3 more seasons) and c. Gardyn'Andy were playing ball back then. Nothing to resurrect.

[halfchest]

I'm not too heartbroken. When the word came out earlier this week that he reached out to the padres and giants I kind of crossed him off my list. He would have been a nice third piece upside guy but not a huge loss on a one year deal. Now had he signed a 1 year plus option deal I would be a bit more disappointed. Still like our shot of grabbing 1 of Garza, nolasco, jiminez and then 1 of arroyo, kazmir to anchor the rotation. Then we can still take a flyer on a high upside reclamation project like Johan, Fausto (he'll always be Fausto to me), or Halladay.

[DaveW]

Can you think of anyone who went to Minneapolis for a year and resurrected a career?

 

This bit is getting tiresome, we get it, you dislike every single coach/GM/FO member on the twins.

 

You know just like the rest of us that the Twins haven't been real active in the free agent market...well...really ever.

 

Also Pavano more or less resurrected his career in Minnesota after 4 years prior of absolutely nothing.

[DaveW]

I'm not too heartbroken. When the word came out earlier this week that he reached out to the padres and giants I kind of crossed him off my list. He would have been a nice third piece upside guy but not a huge loss on a one year deal. Now had he signed a 1 year plus option deal I would be a bit more disappointed. Still like our shot of grabbing 1 of Garza, nolasco, jiminez and then 1 of arroyo, kazmir to anchor the rotation. Then we can still take a flyer on a high upside reclamation project like Johan, Fausto (he'll always be Fausto to me), or Halladay.

Yeah, it was pretty obvious he wanted to go someone south on the west coast (though SF isn't exactly "warm") but it made perfect sense for him to target the NL and a pitcher friendly park.

 

Again, not to bummed, I would have been if it was a 2 year deal, but at this point any one year deals don't do a whole lot for this club anyways, would rather invest some of that money this year into a 3-4 year deal for solid pitchers.

[twinsfan34]

Jack Morris a. was ancient history, b. was towards the end of a very successful career (he was 36 in 1991 and played 3 more seasons) and c. Gardyn'Andy were playing ball back then. Nothing to resurrect.

 

How about 'Black Jack' Morris?

 

 

It's hard to say getting a 1 year contract with the worst team in baseball (1990 - Twins were dead last) isn't exactly riding a success story.

 

Although...I will say, to those who say the Twins don't spend. Jack Morris' contract for $3.7M that year was the 4th highest contract in MLB and only $100k from being the richest contract given that year.

 

In 1990, the Twins had the 2nd highest contract in MLB, Puckett at $2.8M.

 

In 1989, Frank Viola was the highest paid player in MLB at just under $2.8M.

 

It wasn't until 1992 when the Yankees, Mets, & Red Sox started to hand out multiiple contracts that doubled the previous season's highest salary.

[nicksaviking]

I wanted Johnson but he clearly and publicly demonstrated he wanted to pitch in San Diego or San Francisco to be close to his home in Las Vegas. Not surprisingly he is not so attached to Minnesota considering he hasn't lived there in about two decades. I'm not sure what there is to be upset about, when folks here thought he would consider his "home" Minnesota they expected him to treat the Twins the same way he now treated San Diego. It would appear his "home" is Las Vegas, not Minnesota.

 

His agent says he left money on the table and everyone basically agreed that he took a discount. For all we know the Twins had a higher offer out there. Maybe waiting on him was even the reason the Twins reportedly were interested in Garza/Nolasco/Arroyo but reportedly had not submitted formal offers yet. Maybe now they do.

[TheLeviathan]

Great place to rebuild value for Johnson. But lets not pretend we couldn't use him. He has huge bounce back potential, regardless of what our prospects may or may not do.

 

Oh well, one name off the board, hope we see some action soon.

[DaveW]

Great place to rebuild value for Johnson. But lets not pretend we couldn't use him. He has huge bounce back potential, regardless of what our prospects may or may not do.

 

Oh well, one name off the board, hope we see some action soon.

 

Yeah, I'm not saying he wouldn't have helped in 2014, however I think most agree that best case scenario is Twins are a .500 team in 2014 even with a couple of signings (considering that its likely Buxton/Sano/Meyer will take some time to become effective major leaguers)

 

The one nice thing however is that if Johnson does go off, San Diego has the advantage to sign him long term, that would have been the nice part if he would have been with the Twins.

 

Oh well, onto Garza+Nolasco+etc

[Monkeypaws]

Johnson said earlier this week he preferred San Diego, and frankly gave them a huge discount.

 

I wish the twins would have got him as well, however, not sure what a one year would have done for them...best case scenario is he has a nice year and becomes insanely expensive

 

If you've ever been to San Diego, it's pretty easy to see why. Nice city with great weather.

[Brock Beauchamp]

If you've ever been to San Diego, it's pretty easy to see why. Nice city with great weather.

 

Getting less nice as time goes on. It seems that San Diegans learned nothing from their Los Angelenos brethren. Traffic has turned into a nightmare down there.

 

Still great weather but ugh, no public transport and horrible traffic compared to when I lived there in the 90s.

[Lonestar]

I wish the twins would have got him as well, however, not sure what a one year would have done for them

Possible trade chip.

Inside track to resigning him for 2015.