Marlins to keep Josh Johnson - for now

November 29, 12:47 PMMLB ExaminerAlex Brown

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Josh Johnson will be with the Marlins come Spring Training 2010

wallyg

It looks as if the Florida Marlins are actually intent on keeping one of their young stars – at least, for now. The Marlins are looking to keep young ace Josh Johnson, rather than dealing him this offseason as has been widely speculated. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Johnson will retire a Marlin, but choosing to keep their arbitration-eligible young star through his hearing is certainly a good start for the notoriously cheap franchise.

Johnson is eligible for arbitration and based on his excellent 2009 season, he’ll be due for a big raise on the $1.4M he earned last season. Johnson was an impressive 15-5, posting a 3.23 ERA and 8.2 SO/9 last year for the Fish and if he’s able to avoid injuries, he could become a perennial Cy Young candidate. Of course, that’s a pretty big, “if,” as an elbow injury has sidelined the young right-hander and he could be considered as “injury risk.”

While this is a good start for the Marlins, the real test will be whether they can sign Johnson to a long term deal to keep him with the team beyond the end of the 2011 season, when he will be eligible for free agency. I don’t think they will be able to afford the young ace, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. With Johnson’s history of injuries, I just don’t think it’s a great idea for a small market team to commit a large amount of money on him. Rather, I see the Marlins trading him later on this season for a package of top prospects, similar to what the Indians did with Cliff Lee last year.