D. Johnson, Hernandez join Rays

Posted Sep 9, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Sep 9, 2008 at 02:38 PM

BOSTON—The Rays shored up their depth by adding a couple of veterans from Durham today.

They purchased the contracts of IF/OF Dan Johnson and C Michel Hernandez and cleared a spot on the 40-man roster by designating IF Joel Guzman for assignment. The Rays needed some extra bodies with both B.J. Upton (strained left quad) and Shawn Riggans (bursitis in right knee) expected to miss the next few days.

Johnson, 29, was an offensive force for Durham after being claimed off waivers from the A’s in April. He hit .307 with 25 homers and 83 RBIs for the Bulls after spending most of the last three seasons in the majors with Oakland. The Rays, incidentally, are listing him as an outfielder even though he has never played anything but first base in the majors. He has spent a bit of time at third and in the outfield in the minors.

Hernandez, 30, was acquired from the Pirates last week to add depth after Mike DiFelice was released. Hernandez, who hit .266 in 76 games for Indianapolis this season, also spent time with Durham last year.

In other news, it’s been raining in Boston since around noon and the forecast has it continuing through this evening. The radar, though, looks like it might clear through within a couple of hours, so we’ll see.

Updating on the weather front—the Red Sox have issued a press release that makes it sound like it shouldn’t be a problem to play tonight. Courtesy of the Boston Herald: