Reed Johnson: Average Is Cool Again

My latest FanGraphs piece looks at Reed Johnson, whom I despised last off-season for stealing Fernando Perez's roster spot (Perez went on to lose his job with the Cubs entirely, so maybe Johnson isn't entirely to blame here).

Anyway, my most recent assessment of Johnson has him looking, hey, pretty average — which is alright in my book:

He’s not a stellar base runner (11 steal, 10 caught stealing, and 0.4 BsR in the last four season). He’s not an amazing fielder (0.3 UZR over his last four seasons). He’s not a great hitter (.330 wOBA and 98 wRC+ since 2008).

He’s just Johnson. Average.

But, since he has displayed no particular weaknesses since getting relegated to part-time duty (where he can focus on mashing lefties, which is his specialty), Johnson has become a relatively valuable asset. Which is nice, especially since he is pretty cheap these days.