SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Padres announced today that the club has signed right-handed pitcher Josh Johnson to a one-year Major League contract for the 2015 season. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Padres designated infielder/outfielder Jake Goebbert for assignment. Executive Vice President/General Manager A.J. Preller made the announcement.
Johnson, 30, signed with the Padres as a free-agent on a one-year deal on November 20, 2013, but did not appear in a regular season game for San Diego last season after he underwent Tommy John Surgery on his right elbow on April 24, 2014.
A two-time National League All-Star (2009 and 2010), Johnson has compiled a 58-45 record with a 3.40 ERA over 170 games (160 starts) with the Florida/Miami Marlins (2005-2012) and the Toronto Blue Jays (2013). Originally signed by the Marlins as a fourth-round selection in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft, he placed fifth in the N.L. Cy Young Award voting in 2010 after winning the ERA title with a 2.30 mark and recording an 11-6 record in 28 starts for the Marlins. Over three seasons between 2010 and 2012, his cumulative ERA of 2.87 was the fourth-best in baseball. Since 2006, his first full season in the Majors, Johnson has allowed just 0.68 home runs-per-nine-innings, the fifth-best mark in baseball.
Goebbert, 27, split the 2014 campaign between Triple-A and the Majors, posting a combined .296 batting average with 20 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs, 60 RBI and 58 runs scored in 79 games between Sacramento and El Paso and a .218 batting average with a double, three triples, one home run, 10 RBI and 12 runs scored in 51 games with the Padres in what were his first big league stints. The Hoffman Estates, Ill., native joined the Padres organization on May 15 of last season in the trade that sent Kyle Blanks to the Oakland Athletics.
