Reed Johnson wasn't even unemployed long enough to catch up on Season 5 of The Wire, which should make his cabal of ultra-loyal fans quite happy. MLBTR reported around 12:30 that the Cubs were about to bring him on board and those lovable losers have just issued the official press release.Sparky gets a one-year deal, dollar terms have yet to be disclosed, and will suit up for the club this afternoon. He'll likely end up platooning in centre with left-handed hitting Felix Pie, who stunk worse than cow dung in his first tour with the club last year. There was some understandable trepidation amongst Cubs' brass over handing the job over to an unproven sophomore. Early fan reaction to Sparky's addition is positive.
Cubs fans are angsty about Pie (pronounced Pee-Ay), a highly touted prospect for the past few years, and rightly so. He steals his fair share of bags, but has awful success rates. He probably doesn't have any more power than Sparky. He walks enough, I guess, but not as much as an AL team would like. His .792 OPS at AAA in 2006 in the ultra hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League is unimpressive, though he was only 21 at the time. His CubsHub scouting report is here.
Where am I going with this? Oh ya, don't be surprised when Sparky gets 400 ABs this year and makes his first trip to the playoffs. His scrappiness will be praised to the heavens by NL fans who'd never seen him play before.
-- Johnny Was
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