Braves sign veteran reliever Jim Johnson to one year deal

The Atlanta Braves have been linked to numerous free-agents this offseason and they finally broke through.

Jim Johnson, formerly of the Oakland A’s and Detroit Tigers in 2014, signed a one year deal with the Braves.  He will most likely join David Carpenter as setup men for Craig Kimbrel.  The veteran right-hander had his best seasons with Baltimore in 2012 and 2013, when he locked in 51 and 50 saves respectfully. However, 2014 was a different story as he came crashing back to earth hard.  His 7.09 ERA in just 21 appearances leads you to believe that there was a breakdown either physically or mentally with Johnson. In addition, Johnson’s 1.95 FIP was absolutely terrible–you don’t see numbers like that too often. The Braves will hope that Roger McDowell can fix the ailment in hopes of getting more of the 2012-2013 Johnson than last year’s version. The addition of Johnson eases some of the pain of losing Jordan Walden in the Heyward trade, but it’s still not clear if the Braves are looking forward to 2017 or will actually try and compete in the NL East in 2015. Atlanta also been linked to another Baltimore player in the form of Nick Markakis. The signing of Johnson might just help lure the 31-year-old Markakis to Atlanta. CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman has the details on the contract:

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