Pirates Talk With Kelly Johnson

If you thought the additions of Akinori Iwamura and Bobby Crosby were enough to stop the Bucs from pursuing further middle infield help, you were wrong.

The Pirates are in serious talks with Kelly Johnson, who has been recently non-tendered by the Atlanta Braves. Johnson does not only play middle infield, he can also play in the corners of the outfield, which is why the Pirates are interested.

Johnson will be 28 at season's start, and is coming off a down season in 2009, as he hit .224/.303/.389 with 8 homers and 29 RBI. In 2008, Johnson hit .287/.349/.446 with 12 homers and 69 RBI, so he is definitely not incapable with the bat. There is a good chance that 2009 was just a fluke and he could bounce back and help the bucs offensively.

Defensively, he hasn't played in the outfield since 2005. As a secondbaseman, he is about as average as they come. His WAR (wins above replacement) last year was 0.7, and is RAR (runs above replacement) was 7.0, neither number is anywhere near good enough for him to compete with the likes of Akinori Iwamura in the infield.

The Pirates would use Johnson as a bench player who would play left or right field on occasion. Like I said, he hasn't played the outfield recently enough to get any kind of measure of how effective he is out there, but there seems to be no real question that he is capable enough to handle a start or two a week.

As far as money goes, Johnson made $2.825 million last year, so I wouldn't expect the Pirates to pay more than $3 million for him (we would be looking a 1 year deal, 2 years at the most).

The other question that this brings is if the Pirates are giving up on signing Rick Ankiel. No progress has been made and it's seeming less and less likely that Ankiel will wear a Pirates uniform next spring. The advantage of signing Johnson over Ankiel would be the expectations. Johnson understands that if he gets signed it's going to be for a utility job. Ankiel wants a chance to re-establish himself as a major league outfielder and make some money next season, which the Pirates really can't offer him with Jose Tabata lurking in Indianapolis.

Is Rick Ankiel a better player than Kelly Johnson? Absolutely.
Is Rick Ankiel a better fit for the 2010 Pirates than Kelly Johnson? I'm afraid not.