Blue Jays' Johnson done for the season
Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Josh Johnson will not pitch again this season.
Johnson met recently with Dr. James Andrews, who examined his strained forearm and recommended that the Blue Jays shut him down for the rest of the year. However, Andrews also indicated that Johnson does not need surgery.
The 30-year-old Johnson has not pitched in three weeks and made just 16 starts this year after he came to Toronto as part of a big offseason deal with the Miami Marlins. He finishes 2013 with a disappointing 2-8 record and a 6.20 ERA.
"We expected a lot, he expected a lot -- it just didn't happen," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said, according to MLB.com. "He had the best spring of our staff; he looked better than most guys we faced on other teams."
Johnson will be a free agent after the season. The Blue Jays could make a qualifying offer that would cost the team approximately $14 million, but general manager Alex Anthopoulos was noncommittal.
"I think you wait because you see how he recovers and responds," Anthopoulos said. "They want him to get up off the mound at the end of the season, so that will tell us a lot as well. The fact that we don't have to make a decision today, why not take the time to get more information? Who knows? Along the way, maybe he does great. Maybe there's -- obviously we hope not -- a setback. So we'll take the full time."
