This is something other than Rusney …
Even if you got a lottery prospect on the deadline, that would be better if Rusney paid to just not use it on the sidelines and let him run without return for that spent money. But you can not get that by playing with JBJ every day. Use JBJ as a defensive upgrade and see if Rusney can help kick the bats. He fails? Ok. But you can not win without trying.
I think the problem with Johnson is different fold, but different, IMO.
1) this move fits when the season is completely divided. It’s not that you have a solid 1-4 and need somewhere else to evaluate the next young arm. The whole rotation is shot and there is nothing but room for audition.
2) You could not apply for him in the offseason, If you find enough FA pitching to need his roster spot. Otherwise you have even less to work with in an organization that is not known for having a pipeline of weapons. Keep him up to ST, see if you can work on that walking rate down, and you have years of control left on a rear affordable man.
3) I also do not see an abundance of other guys who are worth bringing into the wings. Again, you already have a lot of holes in the rotation.
You are correct, you know roughly what you have with Johnson. A piece of 4.5era stability if you rule the walks back in that pain in 2019m
Overall, punting on the season seems to be a mistake in the extended playoff year. If eovaldi thing lasts 6 weeks, and Perez keeps things together, you have 2/3 of the 3 guys you really need in a playoff series.
Given the 3-game 1st round, and 5-game seconds, you can see many ‘powerhouse’ teams being eliminated early by teams without a deep rotation before moving on to a 7-game alcs.
Just depends on whether you want to win.
As a separate, NO “LOOK” that you get from someone else you are introducing now will have some greater reliability than looking at the same man next spring – in fact, probably less, because then you will have more games.
