Indians - Signed Johnson

Cleveland Indians - Signed P Jason Johnson to a 1-year contract worth $4 million.

This is a $3.5 million contract with a $500K buyout clause and a few million in incentives both 2006 and the mutual option year of 2007.

I don’t particularly like this signing.  Johnson just isn’t a very good pitcher and the Indians don’t need a 5th starter for up to 2 years - they need someone to cover the gap for Jeremy Sowers for up to a couple of months.  In fact, I’m quite certain that Sowers is a better pitcher than Jason Johnson now even if you don’t give him a dozen starts in Buffalo.

2006 ZiPS Projection - Jason Johnson
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 W   L   G  GS   IP    H   ER  HR  BB  SO   ERA
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10  11  33  33  202  215  103  22  62 107  4.59
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