While both signings made a big splash when they first happened following the 2012 season, Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher have become two of the most hated men in Cleveland over the past two seasons. The pair made up 33% of team payroll for 2014 alone and contributed 0.0 (Swisher) and 0.4 (Bourn) of the Indians 12.1 total WAR (3.3%) according to Fangraphs. It isn’t surprising that the front office and fan base had soured with the two biggest free agent signings in team history.
Now that they have been moved to Atlanta, however, the team can move on. While Chris Johnson may not be that big of a catch, he was one of very few players with the ability level (-0.2 WAR in 2015) and the salary ($17.5M guaranteed through 2017) to make this deal possible.
For the Indians, this makes a lot of decisions simpler. No longer do they have to deal with the $29M owed to Swisher and Bourn in 2016 or risk their vesting options worth a total of $26M in 2017. Instead, they spread that value out over three seasons owing Johnson just $7.5M in 2016, $9M in 2017 and a minimum of a $1M buyout for 2018 in addition to the $10M+ included in the deal to the Braves.
More than anything else, this simplifies the roster configuration. When Swisher was with the team over the past two years, he was a poor defender at two positions, often injured and never able to play many games consecutively. While Bourn has been healthy this year, he has only recently started to play better than a replacement level player and Terry Francona has had to deal with platooning one of the most expensive players in franchise history. Simply by being there and being owed so much money, both players were guaranteed playing time over others who were significantly better both offensively and defensively.
Johnson will not have these expectations. While his paycheck will still be considerable, he is not going to supplant Giovanny Urshela (who has similar offensive numbers, but is considerably better defensively) from third base or Carlos Santana from first (at least not yet). Instead, he can fill a hole that didn’t exist in Atlanta, DH, as the Indians haven’t had a steady one since Travis Hafner went to New York.
For now, Johnson could be the starting DH, but in the future, he could be used even less often in a more Ryan Raburnesque role as right handed pinch hitter and utility man. This could be particularly useful in conjunction with Santana or Lonnie Chisenhall, who have had major issues against left handed pitching this year. The fact that Johnson can play first base at an above league average level already makes him a decent option and comparing his numbers (.323/.344/.403) to Santana’s (.236/.345/.276) against left handers makes this a pretty good fit.
Francona has been the master of the platoon this year, using it to make Raburn and David Murphy into one complete All-Star caliber player and I would expect he will continue this strategy in 2016. By using Johnson in only situations he has a great chance to succeed in, they may actually get a little of the value back that they lost on Swisher and Bourn.
