Dan Johnson Clears Waivers

This could be a gift for the Blue Jays. I understand not wanting to pay Big Hurt's '09 contract, but they need his offense. Johnson would be an upgrade over Rod Barajas/Gregg Zaun at DH.

KC? Move Gload back to his familiar LF/1B/PH bench role. That would be an offensive upgrade for them.

And then of course the Giants. They have publicly stated that they would like a left-handed bat that can play 1B everyday ... and they have stated that they are not interested in Dan Johnson. OK.

I don't see in other natural fit that would net DJ regular AB's.

I can see the Braves getting him to backup Teixeira, they dont really have a reliable backup!

The Mets have to pick this guy up.. I mean, he'd have to do better than the .600 OPS and awful defense Delgado provides, right?

This is the second time I've seen the Blue Jays suggestion, which I don't get. He wouldn't be replacing Barajas, he'd be replacing Stairs.

My next suggestion is Seattle. Last year Ben Broussard got ~250 ABs caddying for Sexson, and they've got no such partner for him this season. Could work.

The Reds wouldnt want him. He walks too much for Dusty....Maybe the Cubs if they wanted to part w/ the slumping Ward. I could see the Astros/Yankees interested.

"I suppose the Giants are hunky dory with Dan Ortmeier at 1b. I still think the two Dan's fates are intertwined in some way."

Ortmeier has started 3 games at 1B this year. That experiment ended almost as soon as it began. Aurilia has been their regular 1B, and as has been noted in this thread, they're now trying Bowker there.

Reds should be a non-starter considering their 2 current options at 1B (one vet, one rookie, both way better than DJ) are both LHB.

Yankees also a longshot; if they wanted someone with DJ's skill set as an alternative to Giambi they'd just call up Shelley Duncan who is killing AAA with the SWB Yanks.

Astros... maybe, I guess. I'm still pushing the M's for this one. Although so far in 2008 they haven't used any of my other bright ideas for them, so who knows.

True. But here, look at it this way. We're pretty much considering LF and DH, the other positions being set (or not impacted by this discussion -- considering 1B locked down by Overbay), right? And we're all expecting the Lind callup. Where does that leave you? LF - Lind (LHB)/Stewart (RHB); DH - Stairs (LHB)/Barajas (RHB).

The weak spot in that alignment is the RHB DH -- a problem that DJ does not solve. Sure, over the next week until Lind actually joins the team, DJ is an upgrade to the lineup vs RHP over Stewart/Stairs or Stairs/Barajas. But I think it's still not a great fit. Especially considering Overbay's LHB so DJ doesn't offer any additional platoon advantage at his actual position on the diamond.

Strange move, and makes me question the Gross acquisition bigtime (he was supposed to make Haynes a AAAer again, not replace Johnson!!!) ~ but whatever…

If Johnson rakes during his AAA stint, that might raise some eyebrows and move Johnson up a few pegs on some GM's wish list. He's like poor man's Casey Kotchman...he's got the talent to be a perennial 80-20-90 guy with good OBP but no wheels.

O MAN!!! im so pumped dude, now i get to go see and meet Johnson! yeah rays minors right down the street! haha thats cool. i saw Kazmir play before he got called up, man he was awesome. i need to go to more games...