Chris Johnson agrees to deal with Marlins, still owed a ton of money by Cleveland Indians

The Miami Marlins have taken pity on the baseball community by giving us two semi-interesting things in one day. First, they signed pitcher Wei-Yin Chen to a five-year, $80 million deal. Then, moments later it was also revealed that they will be signing short-lived Cleveland Indians third baseman Chris Johnson.

The terms of Johnson’s deal have not yet been disclosed, but it should not be much more than minor league deal. Not only is Johnson’s production not worth much more than that anymore, but he will be making a lot of money anyway from the three-year, $23.5 million deal he signed prior to 2014. Cleveland comes into the picture because they still owe Johnson $7.5 million of that contract in 2016 and $9 million of it in 2017.

The Indians acquired Johnson shortly after the 2016 trade deadline in exchange for Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn. Essentially the Indians and Atlanta Braves were swapping bad decisions, as all three players have failed to live up to the big contracts they signed previously.

Johnson played in only 27 games for the Indians in 2015 where he slashed .289/.312/.367 playing a mix of third and first base. There was thought that Johnson could be a corner outfield option for the Tribe in 2015, but the Indians designated the 31-year-old for assignment on December 17 after they signed outfielder Rajai Davis to a one-year deal.