I think that’s what they’re going for right now.

From what I heard he’s around 200+ PA’s away from having those team options lock in and become guaranteed.

If I were them I’d be doing everything possible to bench his ass.

He’s not playing well and he’s making an assload of dollars.

because normally by this point in the season, he’s already made a trip or 2 to the DL or has at least had to miss games due to a fractured or sprained something or other.

But this year, he’s missed one game due to a stomach flu and that’s it. He’s been totally healthy for nearly a full half season.

The back injury that plagued him throughout his early career has apparently been fixed well enough that it no longer bothers him or causes him to miss games. The freakish leg injury that wiped out his entire 2007 season obviously was a fluke that could’ve happened to anyone and clearly has healed and isn’t a concern going forward.

The wrist injury that caused him to bounce back and forth between active and DL last year apparently isn’t hindering him at all this year. So my point is that since he’s managed to stay healthy throughout the entire first half and isn’t missing games with little nagging injuries anymore, isn’t there at least some cause to believe that Nick Johnson is now more likely to be able to maintain good health for the 2nd half of the 2009?

You can’t just look at his average number of PA per year and say “oh, he’s already closing in on his average # of PA/year so he’s due to be injured.” It doesn’t work that way. if Nick Johnson hasonly averaged 400 PA per year it’s because he’s previously been plagued with various breaks/fractures/back issues requiring periodic 15 day DL stints, nagging/lingering injuries causing him to have to miss multiple games in a row from time to time even when active, and one entire missed season from a freak injury. This season, however, he’s not experiencing any of that stuff. He’s played (virtually) every day for 67 games with no injury concerns whatsoever.

We didn’t think until the day of the draft that we had a shot at Scheppers in the supplemental round. You never know who may or may not be there at that pick

the more I think you’re right ~ especially if he’s a Type A. I wonder if the Cubs didn’t get so excited by the fact that Bradley was not a Type A that they brain-locked into signing him.

“Sure, it’s insane to give Bradley 3 years at $30 million, but at least he doesn’t cost us a draft pick…”

By the way, Johnson’s agent’s name is Rex Gary.

Seriously.

After watching the Juan Cruz debacle last winter I think alot of guys and teams will think long and hard about arbitration this winter

…FA arbitration works. If Nick Johnson chooses to accept the Rangers offer of FA salary arbitration, he does so knowing that the tradeoff is that he specifically forgoes his right to offer his services to the highest bidder in exchange for the security of a guaranteed contract from one team and one team alone. He has no leverage. Therefore he cannot use the example of a FA contract negotiated in an open market like Bradley’s as his outline.

By agreeing to the arbitration, he agrees to allow the arbitrator to determine whether the team’s submitted proposed salary or his agent’s submitted proposed salary for 2010 is more appropriate. The team will almost surely offer him a slight increase over his 5.5M 2009 salary. If Johnson’s agent goes way above that then you can be fairly certain, given the economy, that the arbitrator’s going to side with the “reasonable increase” offered by the team no matter what kind of season Nick Johnson is coming off of. And it’s not like the arbitrator has the discretion to choose a salary that splits the difference. He has to pick either one or the other,

unless they are part of a bigger package that would also have to include our own top pitching prospects.

If we could trade max for Johnson we should jump all over it