The Indians on Thursday designated infielder Chris Johnson for assignment to make room for recent free agent signee Rajai Davis on the 40-man roster.
The move means the Indians were willing to eat the remaining $17.5 million on Johnson’s contract instead of having him hold up a roster spot on the active 25-man or 40-man rosters. Johnson was owed $7.5 million in 2016, $9 million in 2017 and had a $1 million buyout for 2018 if his option wasn’t picked up by the club, for which the Indians are still responsible.
“It was a tough decision,” said Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti. “As we looked at how we’d allocate playing time on our roster moving forward, we found it’d be pretty difficult to get CJ some at-bats. That led to the decision.”
With the reported signing of Mike Napoli in addition to Davis on Wednesday, the Indians had a logjam at first base, of which Johnson found himself at the bottom. Johnson could have moved to third base, but he’s statistically one of the poorest third baseman defensively and would have blocked Giovanny Urshela.
Johnson’s last option would have been a move to the outfield, which he said during the season he was willing to do, but that would have been more of a project and the Indians had already brought in other options this winter, including Collin Cowgill and Joey Butler.
Thus, Johnson was one of the highest-paid players on the team but one who would have warranted finagling to get into the lineup on a consistent basis. Instead of letting go of a younger piece on the 40-man roster, the Indians chose to simply take their loss with Johnson.
“What we’ve tried to do is focus on what gives us the best chance at the best team,” Antonetti said. “And that’s the sense through which we try to make decisions. We didn’t get there easily, but we felt as we looked at our alternatives, this was the direction we needed to go.”
Davis announced
The Indians officially announced the signing of Davis on Thursday. Signed for a reported $5.25 million plus incentives, Davis figures to be the leading candidate to take over as the primary center fielder for the 2016 season.
Early in the season, Davis could see time in left field while Michael Brantley continues to rehab from offseason shoulder surgery. Brantley, who is currently in Cleveland and progressing well, per Antonetti, is still expected to miss roughly the first month of the regular season.
“Rajai is a really good player that’s got a lot of versatility as a right-handed hitting outfielder,” Antonetti said. “He can play all three outfield spots and fits our team very well. He can serve a variety of roles.”