According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Braves are interested in signing former Met and former Brave Kelly Johnson.
If the Braves do indeed re-sign Johnson, it would mark the third straight offseason the Braves signed Johnson. As many Mets fans will joke, this could lead to the third straight season the Mets make an in-season trade for Johnson.
In 2015, the Mets acquired Johnson and Juan Uribe in exchange for then minor leaguers John Gant and Robert Whalen. In 2016, the Mets acquired Johnson in exchange for minor league reliever Akeel Morris.
Over the past two seasons, Johnson has played in 242 games hitting .256/.310/.414 with 24 homers and 81 RBI. With the Mets, he has hit .260/.319/.441 with 14 homers and 37 RBI.
If Johnson was to re-sign with the Braves, it is possible the Mets look in-house for the last spot on the bench as they did entering the 2016 season with Eric Campbell making the Opening Day roster. If the Mets do go in-house, the likely candidates for the spot would be Ty Kelly, Matt Reynolds, and T.J. Rivera,
O’Brien also noted that in addition to Johnson, the Braves are interested in signing former Met and former Brave Jeff Francoeur.
