There is a possibility that the Yankees are going to sign Nick Johnson, a former Yankee, to be their new DH. The puzzling thing about this deal is that Johnson has little power and his defense at 1B is below average. So, it seems like we would be signing a guy who will play very little in the field which begs the question: Why didn't we just resign Matsui? The only positive about Johnson is that he gets on base a LOT. His on base percentage last season was .426 and, to show how solid that is, the league average is .336. Another example is Derek Jeter. He had the highest on base percentage for the Yankees this past season and his was .406. Johnson would likely bat second behind Jeter which would move Granderson lower in the order. This move would seem to say that the Yanks want to focus more on manufacturing runs rather than hitting them all out of the park. Here's the projected lineup if this move goes through:
1. Jeter SS
2. Johnson DH
3. Texeira 1B
4. Rodriguez 3B
5. Posada C
6. Cano 2B
7. Granderson CF
8. Swisher RF
9. Cabrera LF
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Another point is that Johnson has had a bunch of injuries and has played, on average, less than 100 games per season in eight seasons. He even sat out all of 2007 after breaking his femur in 2006. Why sign a guy with tons of past injury problems when his best attribute is on base percentage? The only thing I can think of is that he is cheaper than Damon but Matsui signed with the Angels for only one million more than the projected offer to Johnson. This whole thing seems a little weird to me. The only other thing I can think of is that the Yankees have a free agent they want to sign next season that will take Johnson's place at DH after this one year deal. Then again, a problem with that plan is that Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera will need new contracts and they should end their careers in pinstripes and they will need to get paid as the Hall of Famers to be. We'll see what happens I guess.
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