The Sox Pickup Ex Rays First Baseman

This past september Dan Johnson blasted the biggest homerun of his career down 2 strikes with 2 outs in the 9th inning to tie the Yankees, ultimately setting up a walk-off home run by Even Longoria, punching the ticket to October for the Rays. Unfortunately that was Johnson's first hit since April 27th of that season.

The Chicago White Sox just signed Dan Johnson to a minor league contract and extended an invitation to spring training to the 32 year old veteran. He's bounced around baseball since his debut in 2005 with the Oakland A's, playing on the Rays twice with a stint in Japan in between.  The question is do the White Sox really need any help at first base right now? The answer is no, not at this moment. With Paul Konerko coming off another stellar year anchoring down first and Adam Dunn available to fill in on Paulie's days off, the Sox are pretty set. Not to mention the fact that super utility man Brent Lillibridge can also hold down the fort at first if need be.

But lets think outside the box here, with potentially 3 men on the roster who can play first base on any given day, why would Williams sign a mediocre first basemen like Johnson? Well, there has been a lot of speculation about what Williams is going to do if the Pale Hose start out slow this season. Could guys like Konerko, Dunn, and/or Lillibridge be on the trading block if the Sox start out slow/ have a bad season? With the word "rebuilding" being thrown around this offseason, one can't help but wonder if Williams has that in the back of his mind as sort of an exit strategy should the 2012 campaign prove to be a disaster. At Soxfest when asked about rebuilding this offseason, Williams clarified that it was not a total rebuild, he called it a "hybrid rebuild," explaining that he wanted to keep certain guys and mix in some rebuilding type moves. But as I mentioned earlier, I can't help but wonder if the White Sox have a horrendous year (which I doubt will happen) will the phrase "hybrid rebuild" be given a violent shove into a "total rebuild."

The bottom line is Dan Johnson is a career .236 hitter with 56 home runs and 187 RBIs (since 2005). Hes been on 3 different major league teams now with a stint for the Yokohama Baystars of Japan thrown onto his resume. He's very grateful for the shot the Sox are giving him and is determined to work his way into a spot. Unfortunately for him, he's going to need to undergo some massive improvements and/or see a few injuries in front of him if he's going to get the call from the big club.

But, it is baseball and stranger things have happened, so all we can do is sit back, relax, and strap it down and let it all develop.