SSH2005 Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5193318 Free-agent right-hander Jason Johnson is expected to sign a one-year deal with the Indians, FOXSports.com has learned. Johnson, 32, will become the second free-agent addition to the Indians' rotation, joining right-hander Paul Byrd. The deal is contingent on Johnson passing a physical. The Indians have lost free-agent right-hander Scott Elarton to the Royals and are on the verge of losing free-agent right-hander Kevin Millwood, who is being pursued by the Rangers and Red Sox. The addition of Johnson, 52-86 lifetime with a 4.88 ERA, will enable the Indians to develop their younger starting pitchers more slowly. Johnson has made 32 or more starts in each of the past three seasons. He was 8-13 for the Tigers last season with a 4.54 ERA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Well, let's just say I'm less impressed by Byrd and Johnson than Millwood and Elarton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RME JICO Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 05:26 PM) Well, let's just say I'm less impressed by Byrd and Johnson than Millwood and Elarton. Definitely a downgrade IMO. Byrd seems to be over the hill and Johnson has never impressed me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodAsGould Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 well both are a downgrade of Millwood and an upgrade of Elarton is the way i see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Tizzle Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Terrible move by the Indians. It's not as if our entire lineup, aside from Anderson and Thome, has had experience against Johnson--and teed off nearly every outing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Honda Civic Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Good. We knock the insulin out of that guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jphat007 Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Nice! THank you Indians and Twins for your offseason! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Indians have had a terrible off-season. They are sitting back and hoping that all their young players develope into superstars. They lose Millwood, Elarton and Howry and get crap as replacements. They are putting all their eggs in one basket hoping C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee becoming aces. C.C. is good, but he had an ERA over 4.00 last year and Lee had a 3.79 ERA. These guys are good, but they are middle rotation guys as of now. They are hoping that these guys are stud because Westbrook, Johnson and Byrd are not exactly a scary 3-4-5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Here are the Sox numbers against Sabathia, Lee, Westbrook, Byrd and Johnson last year. Not included is Byrd in the playoffs. Sabathia 4.63 ERA, 0-1, .239 BAA Lee 8.10 ERA, 0-0, .333 BAA Westbrook 5.13 ERA, 0-4, .279 BAA Byrd 7.50 ERA, 1-0, .286 BAA Johnson 5.54 ERA, 0-2, .303 BAA Thank you CLEVELAND Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSH2005 Posted December 26, 2005 Author Share Posted December 26, 2005 The Indians are no longer talking to Millwood... http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/NASApp/ml...t=.jsp&c_id=cle CLEVELAND -- The Tribe's 2006 rotation is set, with Kevin Millwood officially out of the picture and Jason Johnson coming aboard. The Indians signed Johnson, who spent the past two seasons with the Tigers, to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2007. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed. With the signing of the 32-year-old Johnson, the Indians have cut off talks with Millwood and his agent, Scott Boras, about re-signing with the club. The Indians weren't willing to sign Millwood to the type of pricy, long-term deal he was looking for, so they turned their attention toward Johnson, a less-expensive, short-term alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witesoxfan Posted December 26, 2005 Share Posted December 26, 2005 The Indians are probably better than they were last season too. I like their rotation more this year than last anyways, and their bullpen should still be just as good. It will be a fun race in the AL Central this year, there is no question about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Dec 26, 2005 -> 12:58 PM) The Indians are probably better than they were last season too. I like their rotation more this year than last anyways, and their bullpen should still be just as good. It will be a fun race in the AL Central this year, there is no question about that. Their Bullpen lost Howry already, and is still counting on Wickman to be its closer. Also, 1 of their guys was already caught Juicing, and would face a 50 game suspension if he was caught next year. Wickman is still old and injury prone, and it was maybe only by luck that he got through last year. They don't have an obvious backup plan either. Their starting rotation has lost the guy with the best ERA in the AL, even though he couldn't win games, and a guy who really helped carry them late in the season in Elarton. They've replaced them with a couple of guys who scare me less than the 2 they used to have, and who may very well be easier to beat next year. Make no mistake...the only way the Indians can improve next year is to improve offensively. Their bullpen has taken a step back, and it seems their starting rotation has done so as well. They need the guys they have to take a step forwards for them to get better - Sabathia and Lee on the mound have to improve, and their offense cannot start as slowly as last year if they want to be better. Both of those may happen, but they also may not. The Indians are gambling on both parts. But either way...the White Sox have almost certainly gotten better as well...our bench is better, we've added a massive lefty bat, we've added more power to our lineup, and we are starting the season with a guy who has a 99+ mph fastball closing instead of a guy with an 88+ mph fastball closing. And we may well have added thhe guy with the 2nd best changeup in the AL to our starting rotation out of our minor leagues. If our young team stays healthy, then the Indians will have to improve even more than we do next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jphat007 Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Dec 26, 2005 -> 02:58 PM) The Indians are probably better than they were last season too. I like their rotation more this year than last anyways, and their bullpen should still be just as good. It will be a fun race in the AL Central this year, there is no question about that. Their staff is nowhere near as good. They lost the freaking AL ERA leader and one of the best bullpen arms, and they picked up one decent journeyman, and another not so decent journeyman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fullcollapse Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 according to espn if johnson has a season exactly like last year, and pitches just 4 more innings, he would earn 5.5 million, 6 if either turns down the mutual option. according to baseball reference the most similar pitcher to johnson is glendon rusch... who is set to make 2 million this year... thank you for throwing money down the drain for a guy who will throw 200 sub par innings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milkman delivers Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 26, 2005 -> 08:59 PM) Their Bullpen lost Howry already, and is still counting on Wickman to be its closer. Also, 1 of their guys was already caught Juicing, and would face a 50 game suspension if he was caught next year. Wickman is still old and injury prone, and it was maybe only by luck that he got through last year. They don't have an obvious backup plan either. Their starting rotation has lost the guy with the best ERA in the AL, even though he couldn't win games, and a guy who really helped carry them late in the season in Elarton. They've replaced them with a couple of guys who scare me less than the 2 they used to have, and who may very well be easier to beat next year. Make no mistake...the only way the Indians can improve next year is to improve offensively. Their bullpen has taken a step back, and it seems their starting rotation has done so as well. They need the guys they have to take a step forwards for them to get better - Sabathia and Lee on the mound have to improve, and their offense cannot start as slowly as last year if they want to be better. Both of those may happen, but they also may not. The Indians are gambling on both parts. But either way...the White Sox have almost certainly gotten better as well...our bench is better, we've added a massive lefty bat, we've added more power to our lineup, and we are starting the season with a guy who has a 99+ mph fastball closing instead of a guy with an 88+ mph fastball closing. And we may well have added thhe guy with the 2nd best changeup in the AL to our starting rotation out of our minor leagues. If our young team stays healthy, then the Indians will have to improve even more than we do next year. I think you're thinking of Rincon on the Twins. The only place where I see the Sox being worse than they were last year is the bullpen for now. If they can turn Garland into some quality relievers, then they're arguably better everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santo=dorf Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Dec 26, 2005 -> 10:48 PM) I think you're thinking of Rincon on the Twins. The only place where I see the Sox being worse than they were last year is the bullpen for now. If they can turn Garland into some quality relievers, then they're arguably better everywhere. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Rafael Betancourt got busted last season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Dec 26, 2005 -> 07:53 PM) Rafael Betancourt got busted last season. Thank you, that was the name, and I was too lazy to google it yesterday. Kinda interesting how both of our major rivals had key relief pitchers who were suspended for steroids last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoda Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 26, 2005 -> 07:59 PM) ... and we are starting the season with a guy who has a 99+ mph fastball closing instead of a guy with an 88+ mph fastball closing. Don’t want to hi-jack this thread, but the fact that Jenks has a 96+mph fastball scares me. Plus the fact that he has gotten injured before for that very same reason. He looked healthy last year (seemed to get tired after being used in back-to-back games) but you still have to think about the fact that we have two closers (Jenks and Hermanson) who might go on the shelf for some while in 06. Our bullpen isn’t as strong as it was last year. Hopefully we can get some arms to replace Marte and Vizcaino. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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