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Chris Johnson: Running Out of Time in Atlanta?

By John Buhler

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It has been a very up and down two and a half-year stint with the Atlanta Braves for 3B Chris Johnson.  Johnson came to Atlanta in the Justin Upton/Martin Prado trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks before the 2013 season.  From nearly winning a NL Batting Title in 2013 with a .321 average to likely finishing the 2015 MLB Season with a sub-.300 OBP for the second consecutive season, is Chris Johnson’s time in Atlanta coming to an end soon?

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Johnson was the every day starter at third base in both 2013 and 2014.  He won the starting gig early in 2013 after platooning with Juan Francisco.  With his outstanding first year with the Atlanta Braves, Chris Johnson seemed like he was doing a great job filling the massive shoes left by future Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones.

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    • But after big league pitchers discovered that you could throw a tailing fastball or a slider on the outside part of the plate to get Chris out, his once high batting average dropped (2014: .263, 2015: .243).  Being that Johnson has never shown a proclivity towards taking free passes (29 BB’s in the last two seasons combined), his OBP at an uncomfortable spot below .300 (.285 in 2015).

    When President of Baseball Operations traded for 3B Juan Uribe from the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this season, Chris Johnson’s playing time was severely diminished.  Juan Uribe is a Gold Glove caliber defender at the hot corner and can hit the ball over the fence.  Johnson doesn’t have the defensive range or hits for as much power as Uribe.

    Since John Hart doesn’t care for sub-.300 OBP’s, Chris Johnson has been on the trade block for several weeks now.  However due to his albatross of a contract (signed through 2017 for 3-year, $25 Million and a team in 2018), Hart hasn’t found any suitable trade partners for CJ yet.  So what is John Hart to do?

    In my opinion, I don’t think it would be wise to designate for assignment Chris Johnson and eat all that money, since most DFA’s end up with the player being released from his former team.  So Hart will definitely have to make a multi-player trade to rid the Atlanta Braves of the last bad Frank Wren contract.

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    Perhaps some contending team will like Chris Johnson’s ability to hit left-handed pitching and his past success at producing in the clutch with opposite field singles.  I’m not saying that Chris Johnson isn’t a valuable player on a big league roster any more because he still is, but that contract is almost unmovable for John Hart.

    While I don’t foresee Hart DFA-ing Chris this season, I hope that either Johnson’s play with the Braves improves or Hart can mastermind another mutually beneficial deal with a contending team involving Chris Johnson.  Maybe a change of scenery could help CJ get back to hitting around .300? I am afraid that time is running out for Chris Johnson with the Atlanta Braves though.

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