Time to Test the Market for Josh Johnson

Over the years, we have all seen how dominant Josh Johnson can be. When healthy, he has been one of the very best pitchers in baseball. That is just the problem though, Josh Johnson is not healthy very often. After getting through a season injury free in 2012, for just the third time in his seven full seasons, Johnson really helped to increase interest in his services. With the franchise as a whole in transition mode, after last years epic failure in free agency, and the high demand around baseball for top of the rotation starters it seems like a very good time to at least test the waters for a Josh Johnson trade.

The Marlins did listen to offers during the trade deadline and many around baseball said their asking price seemed too high. However, with Zack Greinke being the only dominant starter in free agency, one would think that the market would be larger for a guy like JJ now. There are always teams out there looking to deal for a starter and this year should be no different. The Marlins would be smart to talk to contending teams with strong farm systems, the Rangers and Orioles seem to be the first that come to my mind, that feel they maybe one starter away from really making some noise.

Josh Johnson is really popular in Miami and trading him may not be the popular move but it could be the most beneficial. This is a franchise that knows all about the fire sale and how immediate a well executed one can pay off. While I don’t think it is time for a complete fire sale, I do think that it is a good time for some pretty significant changes. The payroll won’t be what it was two years ago but it also is not going to be really close to what it was heading into this past season either. There are a lot of holes on this team and I think that JJ could help more by leaving than he could by staying and hopefully giving the Marlins another 200 innings.