The Orioles are close to signing first basemen Nick Johnson to a minor league deal, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports.
Johnson, 33, has a career batting line of .270/.401/.443 in nine seasons with the Yankees, Nationals, and Marlins. He last played in the majors in 2010, when he posted a .167/.388/.306 batting line in only 98 plate appearances for the Yankees.
Johnson has always been known as an on-base machine, as indicated by his career .401 OBP. However, he has always been an injury prone player. He has only played over 135 games in a season once (147 in 2006 with the Nationals).
