Nick Johnson...? Rumor Mill Has DC Faithful Questioning Reports After Johnson's Late Scratch From Sunday's Lineup...
There was a link in Sunday's GameThread to an article at mlbtraderumors.com by Nat Boyle entitled, "Giants Shopping Matt Cain", in which Mr. Boyle wrote, citing an article by San Jose Mercury News' writer Andrew Baggarly, that:
"Brian Sabean has gone to market. The Giants G.M. is seeking a bat with Nick Johnson atop the list."
This was mlbtraderumors.com's second mention of the Giants/Johnson link, as mlbtr.com writer/founder Tim Dierkes had cited the same San Jose Mercury News' article a day earlier in a post entitled, "Giants Seeking A Bat", in which Mr. Dierkes had written that, (SF GM Brian), "Sabean is actively seeking a bat on the trade market," and the Mercury News' writer, Andrew Baggarly, Mr. Dierkes writes:
"...believes Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson has to be near the top of the list..."
Wanting to know what Mr. Baggarly had actually said, I followed the link to the San Jose Mercury News, where Mercury News' writer Andrew Baggerly had written, in an article entitled, "Brian Sabean evaluates team, talks about trade landscape", that the Giants' GM:
"...is actively looking for a bat on the trade market and acknowledged one big shift: he is now considering players who are impending free agents. (No names discussed, but Nick Johnson has to be near the top of the list.)"
So...
Mr. Baggarly writes:
"No names discussed, but Nick Johnson has to be near the top of the list."
Mr. Dierkes writes that Mr. Baggarly:
"...believes Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson has to be near the top of the list..."
and finally, Mr. Boyle writes that:
"Brian Sabean has gone to market. The Giants G.M. is seeking a bat with Nick Johnson atop the list."
So that's how rumors get started...Harmless right?...Unless you happen to be a fan of the Washington Nationals who's watching the game Sunday afternoon when Nick Johnson's removed from the lineup at the very last minute...after much scrambling a few emails and about an hour, it's announced that Nick Johnson was simply suffering from "stomach discomfort", but there's enough chatter about a possible trade that MLB.com's Bill Ladson actually posts a story on his blog entitled, "Nick Johnson update" which starts with Mr. Ladson writing:
"Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson has not been traded."
Glad that's settled...
DO NOT TRADE NICK JOHNSON!!!
eMb