Reed Johnson & Me

Reed Johnson was released by the Toronto Blue Jays at the end of spring training this year. He was signed by the first team to make him an offer, the Chicago Cubs.

I have one degree of separation from Reed Johnson. That fact in and of itself is meaningless. If anybody wants to get his balls in an uproar than my best friend is close to Reed and that somehow is reflective of me trying to play a blog trump card, he is free to get those huevos in as big an uproar as he likes. Having an indirect connection to a reserve outfielder in the major leagues is as of much value to me as having known the Duke of Northumberland (R.I.P.) It fits well in a blog concept. A couple of ibuprofen and some ice wrapped in a wash cloth applied to the tender area will reduce the swelling.

As a baseball fan I've always appreciated Reed's ability and felt bad that he's never gotten the multi-million dollar career his skills predicted. There's a reason for this. He's been very brittle physically. His yahoo and baseball-reference entries follow:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7118

http://www.baseball-reference.com/j/johnsre02.shtml

A far more detailed analyst, Mike Gimbel, proprietor of Mike Gimbel's RPA (tm), tells a rather different story. According to Mr. Gimbel, Johnson was going into spring training this year the 6th best left-fielder (inclusive of hitting and fielding) in the American League, the 20th best outfielder overall in the American League, and the 40th best overall in major league baseball on a per plate-appearance at-bat and in the field basis. He's a pretty good hitter: has a little power but maybe lacks some patience. He makes up for that by having the bizarre ability of being hit by pitches.

As a fielder alone, he's worth 1 3.4 wins per season above the median. He and his friend Eric Byrnes are the two finest defensive LFs in MLB.

He's a small man physically (much smaller than the 5' 10" 180 lbs in his media guide listing). He is a bright guy with a wry sense of humor and is as brittle personally in ways as he is physically. This has prevented him from capitalizing on the whole "gritty-team-first-White-guy" image which sportswriters and fans love and has kept far too many undeserving White players in the bigs at the expense of superior Black talent.

Nobody thought I wasn't going down fighting, did they? Very little has changed since Jim Bouton in Ball Four (1969) made the observation that Black major leaguers don't have the "luxury" of being just OK. It's star or goodbye. And "star" itself is kind of weird, too. Far too many White fans and sportswriters have convinced themselves that Barry Bonds is somehow NOT A GOOD PLAYER, nevermind NOT THE DEFINING PLAYER OF HIS GENERATION. I cannot tell you how many arguments I've had with guys who'll go to their graves preferring to have Mark Lemke to Barry Bonds at bat for all the marbles!

So, the one unearned advantage Reed has, the color of his skin, he can't use. Major League Baseball is a very conservative sport and is not marketing any small White guy who doesn't use the cliches and play the role. Reed Johnson, I think, paid a little too much attention in class when a scholar-athlete at Fullerton State.

He'll be the 4th OF with the Cubs this year. He's a little ouchy right now and although I hope things break right for him, I'm resigned that this may well be his last go round. It's a shame.

With Kelso Junior's organzied baseball life having begun yesterday, I can't help but think of Reed. Junior's a little White kid but he's got a lot of talent but he knows it. He's got a big, sarcastic personality and is very very hard on himself sometimes.

He gets his athletic ability from his grandfather and his personality from his father.

So, with all of that in mind, in homage to Reed Johnson, Kelso has signed on as a free-agent 4th outfielder with an actual blogging team! For real. Pinocchio, you're a real boy, now.

Negotiations apace.

Details to follow.

[UPDATE: THE DEAL IS DONE. KELSO'S NUTS HAS BEEN SIGNED BY http://thedisbrimstone-dailypitchfork.blogspot.com/ KELSO'S AGENTS MESSRS BORAS AND MOORAD REPORT EVERYTHING WENT SMOOTHLY AND THAT THEY WISHED EVERY OWNER AND GM WERE AS SPORTING AS PAIN AND SER CAVALOR. DETAILS OF AGREEMENT WERE NOT DISCLOSED. SER KELSO'S ONLY COMMENT WAS AN IMPRESSION OF LUIS TIANT'S OLD TV COMMERCIAL FOR OSCAR MEYER: "IT'S GREAT TO BE WITH A WINNER!"]

Kelso's Nuts love you