Braves third baseman Chris Johnson didn’t complain publicly for three months while he played sparingly, relegated to starts mostly against left-handers in a year when the Braves have faced far fewer lefties than usual.
But this week, with July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaching, Johnson’s mounting frustrations spilled over and he said he hoped the Braves would trade him — something they’ve been trying to do since the new front-office regime took over in October.
“I’d be lying if I said I understood it,” Johnson said of his diminished playing time. “It just seems like there was a point from the end of last year where, you know, the ship has kind of sailed, and it was just hard. So hopefully something (a trade) gets done.”
The Braves have had numerous discussions to no avail trying to find a team willing to take Johnson and the remaining $20 million he’s owed on a three-year, $23.5 milllion contract extension he received in May 2014, an extension began this season and includes salaries of $6 million this year, $7.5 million in 2016, $9 million in 2017, and a $10 million option for 2018 with a $1 million buyout.
There has been speculation the Braves might trade him by attaching him to a player that teams are pursuing – perhaps Cameron Maybin, who is having a career-best season after coming from San Diego in the six-player trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to the Padres on the eve of opening day. Coincidentally, it was through that Kimbrel trade that the Braves were able to dump more than $46 million still owed to Melvin Upton Jr.
However, Braves president of baseball operations John Hart said this week the Braves are done trading good players just to dump contracts.
Maybin is under contract at $8 million in 2016, with a $9 million option ($1 million buyout) for 2017.
If the Braves can trade Johnson, they will have cleared what they view as the last bad contract from the previous front-office regime.
Johnson finished second in the National League batting race with a career-best .321 average in 2013 – 40 points above his lifetime mark – and got the three-year extension from previous general manager Frank Wren a month into the 2014 season. The deal left many around baseball scratching their heads, given that Johnson had struggled mightily in April 2014, making 2013 look more like a possible outlier-type season.
Johnson finished the 2014 season with a .292 average, 10 homers and a career-low .653 OPS, and against right-handers he hit .231 with a .256 on-base percentage in 468 at-bats (he hit .395 in 114 at-bats against lefties).
When the Braves couldn’t trade him over the offseason, they entered 2015 with a plan to play Johnson primarily against lefties. But they didn’t face many early, and when the Braves traded for Dodgers third baseman Juan Uribe in late May, Johnson’s playing time was further diminished.
Johnson entered Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers with a .241 average with one homer, seven RBIs and a .601 OPS in 46 games, including .340 (17-for-50) against lefties and .167 (11-for-66) against right-handers.
After playing in 13 of the Braves’ first 19 games in April, and batting .324 with four doubles in that stretch, Johnson played in only 33 of the past 74 games before Tuesday, hitting .203 (16-for-79) with three extra-base hits, two RBIs and 29 strikeouts.
Even Freddie Freeman’s current month-long stint on the disabled list hasn’t led to increased playing time for Johnson, who ostensibly began the season as the backup first baseman. The Braves have used Kelly Johnson more at first base (14 starts) than Chris Johnson, who made his 11th start there Tuesday. Joey Terdoslavich has also started five games at first base.
Johnson was asked about not complaining publicly about his situation until now.
“Just trying to keep quiet, and hold out hope that something would change,” Johnson said. “When Freddie went down I thought maybe there would be an opening and that I would play against lefties and Kelly would play against righties. Then when I saw that Kelly wasn’t playing against righties, and I still wasn’t playing, the frustration kind of boiled over, and kind of got my mind on other things and other places.”
Johnson told mlb.com on Monday that it had been a frustrating year, and that from the beginning of the offseason it had been “pretty clear that the team has no interest in getting me back to form or to give me regular playing time.”
A day later, he didn’t try to walk that back or say it had been taken out of context or anything else. He stood by it and said he hoped to be traded. After the comment about his mind being “on other things and other places” recently, he was asked if he could still focus when he was in the lineup.
“Yeah. Absolutely,” he said. “Because of my teammates. I love my teammates and I’m going to give everything I’ve got. I’m the kind of guy that, no matter what happens, as soon as I step on the field, soon as I step in the batter’s box, I’m trying to do the best I can every time, no matter what the situation is. When the game starts, I’m not thinking about anything except for winning the game.”
