Nick Johnson officially signs

Here is the official press release from the Yankees: The New York Yankees signed today 1B/DH Nick Johnson. Nick 31 was third in the majors last season with a 426 obp combined between Washington and Florida. He trailed only AL MVP Joe Mauer(444) and NL MVP Albert Pujols(443). He placed 6th in the NL with 99 walks while batting a career high 291 with 24 doubles, 2 triples, 8 homeruns and 62 rbi's. The Sacremento native began 2009 with the Nationals batting 295(104 for 353) with 6 homeruns, 44 rbi's and a 408 obp in 98 games before being traded with cash on July 31st to the Marlins in exchange for left handed pitcher Aaron Thompson. In 35 games for Florida he hit 279 with 2 homeruns, 18 rbi's, 36 walks and a 477 obp. Johnsons 402 career on base percentage since 2001 his rookie season is 8th among players with at least 3,000 plate appearances over the span. He had his best overall season in 2006 with Washington, batting 290 and having career bests in games played(147), plate appearances(628),at-bats, hits, doubles(46), homeruns(23), rbi(77), stolen bases(10) and walks(110). His 428 on-base percentage was a career best and the second highest single-season mark in Washington franchise history behind Tim Raines 429 in 1987. Despite the numerous career highs, Johnson season was cut short on Sept 23, 2006 by a fractured right femur which forced him to miss the entire 2009 season. Johnson wwho is a lefthanded batter, is a 292 career hitter with 16 homeruns and a 424 on-base percentage against left-handed pitching and a 266 career hitter wiht 73 homeruns and a 394 on-base percentage against righ tnaded pitching. he owns a 992 career fielding percentage, having committed just 48 errors in 5,719 career chances. He began his professional career in the Yankees organization. after being selected by the club in the 3rd round of the 1996 First-year player draft. In 3 major league seasons with the Yankees from 2001-03, he batted 256 with 36 doubles, 31 homeruns, 113 rbi, 125 walks and a 376 on-base percentage. He posted a team leading 422 on-base percentage in his final year with the club before being traded on December 4, 2003 with outfielder Juan Rivera and lefthanded pitcher Randy Choate to the Montreal Expos in exchange for right-handed pitcher Javier Vazquez. In 8 major league seasons with the Yankees, Montreal/Washington(2004-06, 08-09) and Florida(2009) he owns a 273 career batting avg with 165 doubles, 5 triples, 89 homeruns, 379 rbi, 27 stolen bases and 487 walks. The Yankees 40 man roster now stands at 38 players.

Non Tendered Free Agents

The non tender deadline for baseball was Saturday at midnight. If you don't know what that is it is players that were eligible for arbitration but the team decided to not offer them a contract making them free agents. The notable names that came out of this were Jack Cust, Matt Capps, Garrett Atkins, Clay Condrey, John Buck. There are some others too but these are probably the most well known players. I believe John Buck signed with the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. It will be interesting to see if the Yankees would be interested in anyone, I would say no or more likely the Mets. The Yankees need a leftfielder but if they don't resign Johnny Damon they will most likely play Melky Cabrera in left and Granderson in center and probably bring Hideki Matsui back as the DH. I think the Yankees are pretty well set with even their bench, they have Francisco Cervelli as the backup catcher, Ramiro Pena or someone else from their minor league system as the utility infielder, Jamie Hoffman and Brett Gardner as the extra outfielders. It is interesting though with the economy the way it is that some bigger names weren't offered contracts and became free agents. I forgot the most notable from the Yankees Chien-Ming Wang who won 19 games in back to back seasons in 06 and 07. I wasn't suprised the Yankees didn't offer him a contract but am a little suprised that he refused a split contract. The Yankees apparently wanted to give him a minor league contract that could switch to major league if he made the team, considering he had major injuries the last 2 seasons I think it was nice of the Yankees to even consider that but Wang is still upset with the Yankees for taking him to arbitration over 600,000 in 2006.