Last year, I spent the time immediately after the season examining each player that had made an appearance in St. Louis during the season. This series was well received and so I’m bringing this idea back for the 2013 offseason. More summaries than anything, I imagine the player coming into Mike Matheny‘s office and having a short conference before heading home for the winter. Stats are just the ones accumulated for the Cardinals during the regular season.
This year’s Exit Interview series is brought to you by Bonfyre. A large number of the United Cardinal Bloggers used Bonfyre all season long and found it a great way to interact and discuss things in a limited audience. No need to worry about some pseudo-fan crashing your Facebook conversation or trying to explain fine points in 140 characters on Twitter. Invite who you want to the group and get to talking. Share pictures as well–Bonfyre is a great way to document parties or other events, especially for folks that can’t be there. Sign up today and give it a try.
Player: Rob Johnson
Season stats: 20 games, 38 PA, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K, .171/.237/.257
Hero/Goat: Goat 1
Overall grade: C-
Positives: If nothing else, Johnson made himself a real fan during his time in Memphis. His intangibles were lauded throughout the organization and likely played a major role in his promotion to the big leagues. Having Yadier Molina go on the DL didn’t hurt either. (Well, didn’t hurt Johnson. Molina might have felt something.)
Negatives: The problem with intangibles is, well, they aren’t tangible. What we tangibly saw from Johnson was a weak bat and glove work that was lacking when you are used to a potential Hall of Famer behind the plate. Few will also forget him calling 21 straight fastballs from Trevor Rosenthal, who wound up blowing a close game. It’s not often a group will start deriding pitch selection, but that night Twitter was lighting up.
Outlook: Johnson was released after the season. If he thinks that his time is up, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start into the coaching ranks and do so with the Cardinal organization. It’s possible he’d resign with the club on a minor league contract, which wouldn’t be a terrible thing for depth and veteran leadership in the minors.