Johnson B. Goode

The last time I wrote one of these posts—the Indians are sure to sign X before you read this—I was talking about Jeremy Bonderman.  We all know how that worked out: after delving into the minutiae and the splits, the fastball velocity and the comps, the Indians didn’t close the deal, and we were all left holding our respective spreadsheets. Let’s hope this time is different, because as dour as I was about the potential for Jeremy Bonderman joining the Tribe, I’m just as psyched for Nick Johnson.  And with Ken Rosenthal reporting that the deal is all but done, I’m already counting my chickens. But first, let’s deal with the obvious negatives: Nick Johnson is a 32-year-old 1B/DH with negligible defensive value, a .270 career batting average, and a history of major injuries.  He’s played for four teams in his career, and hasn’t lasted three full seasons with any of them.  His injury problems have ranged from bone bruises to stress fractures to muscle strains to a fully fractured femur....