Wow. This makes me feel really old. I remember when he was a fragile prospect. Then he was a fragile major leaguer. Now he will be a fragile retired MLB'er.

No no, he's still a fragile prospect.

1o years sounds about right for his career, though i'd have guessed that it started and ended earlier.

Just looked at his BBRef page and his line for his first year in the majors reads Did not play in major leagues (Injured)

When he hit .345/.525/.548 in AA as a 20 year old in '99 he really looked like something special, and then came injuries, starting with missing all of 2000 with a bad wrist that seemed to take 3 times as long to heal as anyone expected and set the trend for his career.

A great one in the "might have been" category.

I once argued with some friends that a healthy Nick Johnson was more valuable than almost any first-baseman in MLB, including Mark Teixeira, which led to Mark Teixeira being labeled "the poor man's Nick Johnson" by my non-saber friends. I still insist that a healthy Nick Johnson WOULD have a substantially more impressive career than Teix, but we will sadly never know. I think Johnson probably would've been most comparable to John Olerud, with slightly less glove but slightly more homers, a fringe Hall of Famer, if he could've stayed on the field.

Nick Johnson but Durable would be one of the best players in baseball. A pity he never really was.

So I guess I shouldn't pick him in fantasy thinking that this is the year he stays healthy? Though, this will probably be the year he stays healthy. Unless he spends a lot of time washing his truck or something.

I thought he had already retired.

It could've been a brilliant career.

Wow. This makes me feel really old. I remember when he was a fragile prospect. Then he was a fragile major leaguer. Now he will be a fragile retired MLB'er.

You must be young. If Bob Horner had been a prospect a little longer, I would probably remember him at each of those stages.

this just means he'll play in 10 fewer games this year than if he hadn't retired

So I guess I shouldn't pick him in fantasy thinking that this is the year he stays healthy? Though, this will probably be the year he stays healthy. Unless he spends a lot of time washing his truck or something

"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is 'never get involved in a land war in Asia' - but only slightly less well-known is this: 'Never draft Nick Johnson in a league that charges transaction fees!'"

Unfortunately at the official announcement, Johnson slipped on a slight bump in the carpeting, causing him to fall over. He bumped his head on the table and had spent time in hospital with a head injury. Though the head injury was diagnosed as minor, the sudden jarring to the neck has left him temporarily immobilised. He then had an opportunity to utilise a wheelchair but broke both thumbs as they jammed in the wheels the first time he attempted to use it. Nick Johnson is expected to make a full recovery assuming he never ventures anywhere outside of the padded home he has custom built.

The Olerud comp looks pretty spot on. There were flashes but Johnson never showed big time power.

NJ 268/399/441, 123 OPS+
JO 298/398/456, 129 OPS+

The shape a bit different due to BA. Of course we'll never know what the early injuries cost Johnson in terms of talent but I have a hard time seeing an upside beyond Giambi (280/403/522, 141). Defensively he was just below average so better than Giambi but not close to Olerud. All three, ummm, added little on the basepaths. :-)

His b-r sims list is not a good one. Not surprising -- guys who hit this well almost always have longer careers. The two best are John Jaha (269/371/479, 120) and Nick Etten (277/371/423, 126). I'd never heard of Etten before. He was mostly a WW2 beneficiary but he did hit quite well in 41 and 42.

By the way, we are in the greatest Nick era of all-time. Markakis and Swisher appear to be the career WAR leaders among Nicks, followed by Johnson and we've also got Hundley. Etten, Esasky and the odd Altrock (check out his b-r page ... make note of his first and last appearances) seem the only other competition.

The Mick on his own might have been worth more than all the Nicks in MLB history combined.

Injury prone and an incredibly slow healer, doubly cursed. Rob Neyer projected him as the "1st Baseman of the Aughts", but it was not to be. Still, he made more than $29M. A good life awaits.

Nick Punto still has a chance.

Somebody get him a LifeAlert bracelet because a retired Nick Johnson is liable to fall and break his hip.

Still, he made more than $29M. A good life awaits.

Plus a full pension. Johnson managed to rack up 11 years of major league service time over his career. He averaged about 75 games per year of service.

I still remember that horrible Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium in 2006 when Nick collided with Austin Kearns while pursuing a popup and was severely injured. Hope the Nats bring him back to D.C. sometime this season to throw out a first ball.

I still remember that horrible Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium in 2006 when Nick collided with Austin Kearns while pursuing a popup and was severely injured.

IIRC, at first the medical staff thought Nick would be fine by 2007 spring training - he missed the whole season.

I don't think any retired player has ever been on the DL. Watch this space.

I never quite got it - early in his career the Yankees would put him in as a defensive replacement for Jason Giambi. To my eyes, he was not a particular improvement; Giambi threw like a wounded butterfly, but was reasonably proficient at receiving throws and catching pop-ups. Nick seemed to have none of those skills.

If memory serves me right, he always got good marks in prospect reports at the time...although how much of that was wishcasting him into the next don mattingly by yankees fans, I don't remember...i do think he (initially at least) had better range than the average 1B, and would eventually grow into the whole "catching the ball" part of the job.

Hoping Larry B drops by to weigh in with his thoughts, post-Bushmills

26. Nick Johnson, 1B/DL

From the article in #24, Derek Zumsteg said:
"If you're looking for someone to fill the #1 spot, and you're determined not to take Johnson as a continued show of confidence (and I realize that's not what the list is for), I would suggest Ryan Anderson, who I think is a better greatness bet than Sean Burroughs."

That's a quicker strikeout than the Gashouse Gorillas vs. Bugs Bunny.

I always thought Rany J. did a good job moonlighting on baseball at BPro. His colleagues all slammed Ichiro (the 2nd surest Hall of Famer behind Pujols at #29) pretty hard in that piece.

Rany nailed Nick the Stick with this comment:
"Look, this was not an isolated injury for Johnson. He has a history of fragility that this injury only emphasized. Compare him to D'Angelo Jimenez: Jimenez was in a car accident and broke his neck, was expected to miss the whole year, but was back in action by August. Johnson suffered his injury while swinging the bat--something you sort of have to do as a hitter--and the injury was so unexpected and strange that they're still not sure what exactly happened. It's a very, very bad sign when a non-traumatic injury should cause you to miss an entire year.

On top of that, he's missed a year of development, and hitters coming back from wrist injuries usually struggle their first season back. That might not happen with Johnson, but I have no way of knowing that. All I know is that his history of injury makes him something less than an ideal prospect."

So I guess I shouldn't pick him in fantasy thinking that this is the year he stays healthy? Though, this will probably be the year he stays healthy. Unless he spends a lot of time washing his truck or something.

Yeah, I was the dope who kept drafting/keeping Nick Johnson year after year in fantasy, thinking "if he stays healthy, he's a steal!" So I've always had a love/hate relationship with him.

On the plus side, I got flashes of brilliance in 2003 and a really nice 2006 when everyone else had given up on him. On the minus side, 75% of the time he was using up a DL slot and constantly forcing me to rely on someone like Lyle Overbay or Daric Barton at 1B.

Ah, what coulda been.

Re #24: JOSE ORTIZ!

Always thought that it was weird that Nick Johnson was Larry Bowa's nephew (or something like that). The demeanor obviously doesn't run in the family.

I wonder if Nick could get a job as a hitting coach. I mean, he will probably end up working in some capacity in baseball, what the heck else is he gonna do?

His 2003 was pretty exciting at the time. Not often a 24 year old walks more than he Ks. Ah well.

Can I try this career over?

Nick Johnson

Klapisch: Nick Johnson's fractured fairy tale

TAMPA, Fla. – You study Nick Johnson’s face for the resentment he surely feels toward the fates, a longing for the career he was supposed to have. Johnson has been bruised and broken too many times to count, slammed in the face, wrist, back and leg – so overwhelmed by bad luck, he says, “Maybe I didn’t drink enough milk as a kid.”

dupe

. . . I never quite got it - early in his career the Yankees would put him in as a defensive replacement for Jason Giambi. To my eyes, he was not a particular improvement . . .

Nick threw very well for a 1st baseman, and that apparently was enough to give him a reputation for good defense coming through the minors, but he wasn't that mobile and not all that good at digging out throws. Of course, the defense probably deteriorated over time due to all the injuries, too.

Hope the Nats bring him back to D.C. sometime this season to throw out a first ball.

Then he'll tear a muscle posing for photos afterwards.

Without Nick Johnson, I never fall in love with baseball and end up finding Neyer or this website. I'm not entirely sure how/why, but in 1998, it was Nick Johnson that captured 12-year-old me's fancy and made me actively start checking minor league box scores before I ever got TRULY interested in MLB. So, yeah, really sad to see Nick go. Still remember exactly where I was when the news hit that he was being called up.

I'm just glad he was able to retire rather than be humanely destroyed.

When he was traded for Vazquez I was so happy the Yankees got rid of him that I didn't care that they had acquired a guy as good as Vazquez.

When he was traded for Vazquez I was so happy the Yankees got rid of him that I didn't care that they had acquired a guy as good as Vazquez.

One of the darkest days of my Yankee fandom.

When he was traded for Vazquez I was so happy the Yankees got rid of him that I didn't care that they had acquired a guy as good as Vazquez.

Did you care after his first pitch October 20th, 2004?

36-you mixed up the time sequence.

That link in 24 is great BTW.

An important player for the early Nats. My sister's favorite.

This is like learning that Gary Hart has retired from politics, or Deanna Durbin from her movie career.

That link in 24 is great BTW.

It really is. Perfect microcosm of BP: some solid insight, hilariously wrong predictions made with such certainty, and Joe Sheehan being Joe Sheehan.

Juan Rivera, Nick Johnson and Javier Vazquez appeared consecutively in Rotoworld's Player News yesterday. They were, of course, all involved in that trade between the Expos and Yankees in December 2003. If only Randy Choate had done something newsworthy yesterday...

That link in 24 is great BTW.

IIRC, he was almost dealt to the Royals around that time for Jermaine Dye. Which would have given us two fragile 1B/DH types.

When he was traded for Vazquez I was so happy the Yankees got rid of him that I didn't care that they had acquired a guy as good as Vazquez.

One of the darkest days of my Yankee fandom.

Seconded

The only other baseball player to look even remotely like Babe Ruth. I thought he was going to be a great one.

That link in 24 is great BTW.

It really is. Perfect microcosm of BP: some solid insight, hilariously wrong predictions made with such certainty, and Joe Sheehan being Joe Sheehan.

And with C.C. Sabathia at #18 and Albert Pujols at #29.

In my APBA league, when creating a season's batch of new prospects for the draft, I'll often model them on a similar MLB prospect. Based on Nick's .500 OBP minor league season, I created Frank Lewis, who has stayed healthy. So here's what a healthy Nick Johnson might have looked like.

It really is. Perfect microcosm of BP: some solid insight, hilariously wrong predictions made with such certainty, and Joe Sheehan being Joe Sheehan.

What's funny is that Gary Huckaby manages to be exactly right and exactly wrong about Ichiro, all in one line: Suzuki is a tiny little slap hitter. I'll be surprised if he hits 10 home runs during the season. Yes, he might hit .340 in Safeco, but he has to in order to be valuable.

i enjoyed that old time link too

i remember how sean burroughs was gonna be a STAH!!!! (along with jeff clemens and brandon wood)

i have to smirk seeing pujols at #29 and roy-o at #8 - along with all those guys being SOOOOOO sure that age 27 = washed up.

youneverknow who is gonna stay healthy let alone be able to hit major league pitching. LOTS of bad guesses

and AROM

i like your imaginary players league. i wish i had your skillz. i would create an imaginary HOTTTTT guys league, all of who want to clean my house and fix my garage/storage room seeing as how my kidsss top the Major League Mess Created stats

#21 Maybe Steve Ontiveros. Memory say he "retired" a few times in frustration in the late 90s. Then tried to come back, pitched a few (generally effective) innings and went back on the DL.

He pretty sure he hurt himself while working out to try and get another shot. Probably 1996.