St. Louis Cardinals DFA Dan Johnson, Recall Greg Garcia
The St. Louis Cardinals made several roster adjustments prior to Thursday’s game against the Colorado Rockies, necessitated by Thursday’s acquisition of outfielder/first baseman Brandon Moss and the move to put left fielder Matt Holliday on the disabled list with a quad strain. Infielder Greg Garcia was called up for his second big-league stint of 2015, while first baseman Dan Johnson was designated for assignment, which cleared a spot on both the 25-man and 40-man roster for Moss.
The 35-year-old Johnson had a rather unceremonious return to the big leagues, as he hit .158/.238/.158 over 19 at-bats. By far his most impactful game was his first with the Cardinals, when he started at first base and went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. The rest of his time on the roster was rather rough for Johnson, who has not spent the majority of a season in the majors since 2007.
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Johnson actually ended up exceeding his projected big-league stay by several weeks, as many thought that he would be up for several days following his recall earlier this month. Johnson had been brought up to provide extra depth at first as Mark Reynolds temporarily shifted to third base and Matt Carpenter to second as Kolten Wong dealt with concussion symptoms. Instead of being moved off the roster after that crisis was averted, he ended up displacing incumbent backup first baseman Xavier Scruggs and lasted another few weeks.
Johnson could be outrighted to the minors and stay in the Cardinals system, but with Moss, Reynolds, and Stephen Piscotty as potential first basemen at the major-league level and Scruggs at Triple-A, it doesn’t make much sense for Johnson to stick with the Cardinals’ Triple-A team. He’s unlikely to have difficulty finding another opportunity, as he’s played for eight different organizations (plus the Japanese Yokohama Bay Stars) over the course of his career and seems to be willing to take anything that comes his way.
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Garcia will likely become the Cardinals’ primary backup middle infielder once again, lessening the need for Mike Matheny to give starts to Pete Kozma (.380 OPS in 2015) and allowing him to be used exclusively as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner. Garcia, who appeared in 10 big-league games earlier this season, hit .417/.462/.750 with a homer in 12 at-bats for the Cardinals. Unfortunately, he drew the short end of the stick when the Cardinals opted to expand the pitching staff and recall Mitch Harris on July 4.