MVN - Most Valuable Network

Dan Johnson DFA’d by Oakland

Dan Johnson was caught in a tough situation in Oakland. With top prospect Daric Barton entrenched at first base and Three True Outcomes  star Jack Cust splitting time at DH with Mike Sweeney, Johnson was gathering dust on the bench. The lefty hitter received a grand total of 1 AB with the A’s in the early portion of the 2008 season. It comes as little surprise, then, that the Athletics have designated Johnson for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for lefty Greg Smith.

Johnson, 28, was originally selected by the A’s out of the University of Nebraska in the 7th round of the 2001 amateur draft. The former Cornhusker has a career .249/.344/.419 line in the majors.

TG Analysis

Johnson draws his fair share of walks and pops an occasional homer, but his power is pretty ordinary by the Herculean first base/DH standards. Soon to be arbitration-eligible, Johnson is set the enter the portion of his career where his salary is likely to outweigh his contribution. He’s the sort of player you don’t mind having around during those first three inexpensive seasons, but there’s little reason to pay an inflated rate for a commonly found skill set during those arbitration years.

Johnson seems like a good candidate to end up with the San Francisco Giants, who have resorted to playing the likes of Dan Ortmeier and Rich Aurilia at first base. Should Johnson end up crossing the Bay, he might just be the best hitter in a putrid Giants lineup.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Dan Johnson, Athletics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.