Could contenders be after Cubs' Johnson?
Sorry, Mrs. Johnson, mother doesn't always know best.
Her son, savvy hard-nosed Cubs utility outfielder Reed Johnson, has never been traded in his 14 years as a professional baseball player.
Mind you, all clubs would seem to have a need for Reed. His pinch-hit RBI bunt single in the seventh was the difference in the Cubs' 3-2 win over the Cardinals at Wrigley Field on Saturday. Afterward, manager Dale Sveum called his super sub a “valuable guy to a team that's vying for a championship or trying to get in the playoffs.”
The nonwaiver trade deadline is Tuesday.
“Sometimes I guess I feel like my mom could be my agent because she always has an idea where I'm going to go, but I never end up anywhere,” Johnson said with a smile. “I might have to fire her.”
Johnson is 13-for-29 (.448) as a pinch hitter this season. Only Colorado's Eric Young (14-for-50) has more pinch hits.
It's that ability to deliver coming off the bench, as well as Johnson's versatility to play all three outfield positions and play them well, that make the right-handed hitter a potential target for contending teams. The 35-year-old, who's signed only through this season, hasn't let the trade rumors affect him.
“Once you're in between the lines, you don't really think about it too much,” said Johnson, who's hitting .307 with 3 homers and 16 RBI. “Before the game, when you're in the clubhouse with the guys, everybody is chipping on each other about getting traded different places. You think about it then, but once the game starts, you really forget all about that stuff and just try to win games. So it's a good release to get out there during this time of the year.”
Sveum called on Johnson to pinch hit with Geovany Soto on first base and Tony Campana on third with two out in the seventh. On the first pitch he saw from lefty Brian Fuentes, with third baseman Matt Carpenter playing back, Johnson dropped a bunt down the third-base line. All Fuentes could do was grab the ball and hold it, as Campana slid home safely to break a 2-2 tie.
“That's always an option for me,” Johnson said of the bunt. “That's part of my game. If there's an RBI out there, or it's a situation where I need to lead off an inning and get on base, and they're going to give me that bunt at third, I'm going to try to take advantage of that every time.”
In situations like Saturday's, Johnson was assessing it from the moment he left the on-deck circle.
“You just watch,” Johnson said. “To me, it's more of a habit when I'm walking up to the plate. You just check the field. (Maybe) the second baseman's way back and up the middle. Maybe I can push a bunt that way. Or maybe the third baseman's back in that situation. Usually for me, if I'm leading off an inning, I don't ever get that. They won't give me that.”
Sveum knows what Johnson is going to give him every day, whether he brings him off the bench or starts him. Saturday's small ball was Johnson's call.
“That was all on his own,” Sveum said. “He's a good bunter. I remember once in Boston (when Sveum was a coach) he did it against us with the bases loaded and it turned into a monster inning. Reed's one of those baseball players that has those kind of things in his toolbox and knows the importance of the situation. He's just an ultimate baseball player that you love having around.”
How much longer the Cubs have Johnson around is the question.