The Major League baseball offseason is starting to heat up and after names like David Freese, Prince Fielder and Ian Kinsler have moved, another name in closer Jim Johnson from the Baltimore Orioles has come up and teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees could be interested.
Reports came out last week that the Baltimore Orioles were reportedly shopping Johnson and now Jon Heyman from CBS Sports confirms that the team is "willing to listen" to trade offers on the closer. Heyman writes that the team is "trying hard" to deal Johnson and chances are they are looking for some hitting or starting pitching out of Johnson, who has been one of the best closers in baseball the past two years, including last season when he blew nine of 59 chances and ended up with 50 saves, his second time reaching that mark in two seasons.
Johnson is an interesting name in the mix, as the Dodgers and the Yankees could use closers, especially New York, with Mariano Rivera retiring. Johnson had 56 strikeouts last season and had a sub-3.00 ERA in each of the past two years, including in 2012 when he had 51 saves and a 2.49 ERA. Johnson is 30-yeard-old and still has an arbitration year before free agency and that could mean a team will try and trade for him and then sign him to an extension, but for someone looking to make a quick run to the World Series, he is a solid short term option as well.
The Dodgers have some options on the team already heading into next season with Brandon League and Kenley Jansen, but Johnson is more established and has shown over the past two years that he can be a dominant closer, including last year when he was an all-star player. According to CBS, names like Joe Nathan, Grant Balfour, Chris Perez, Joaquin Benoit, Fernando Rodney and Brian Wilson are all on the market and could be options for teams looking at closers, but Johnson might be the best of that bunch.
Johnson led the league in saves the past two seasons and with the Orioles looking to make an upgrade, it could be a good time for the Yanks or Dodgers to jump. Johnson will make over $10 million next season and with Johnson possibly gone, that could make Tommy Hunter the closer for the Orioles.
