It’s been pretty clear for a long time that Josh Johnson wouldn’t throw another meaningful pitch this season, but it took until Thursday for the Marlins to make it official.
“You rewind this whole thing we thought it was gonna be a two-week thing and that was four months ago,” Marlins baseball operations president Larry Beinfest said.
Indeed, Johnson has been on the DL since May 21 with right shoulder inflammation. He’s gone without a major setback since, but he also hasn’t progressed nearly as the Marlins hoped. He’s just getting back on a mound now, and while the Marlins might have been tempted to try to aim for a late-September return as a reliever if they were still in the race, there’s certainly no point to trying it now.
Johnson, in the second year of a four-year, $39 million contract, will make $13.75 million each of the next two seasons. He’ll probably be worth the money if healthy, but he’s had just one season as a major leaguer in which he’s made 30 starts. He was 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA in nine starts before getting hurt this year.
