For a fleeting moment, Braves minor-league infielder (who is on the 40-man roster) Micah Johnson thought he had been designated for assignment.
You see, Friday is September 1 and with teams being able to expand their rosters, there was some shuffling going on all day. If a team wanted to bring up a player who was not on the 40-man roster, they'd have to clear a spot on the 40-man for him.
It appeared for a bit that had happened with the Braves' DFA of Johnson, as they needed to add catcher Tony Sanchez to the roster. He was the player they got back for Brandon Phillips, who was traded to the Angels. Johnson found out, at the time, on Twitter:
Welp this was news to me considering this tweet is how I just found out... https://t.co/eS8eDpz4oL
— Micah Johnson (@Micah_Johnson3) September 1, 2017
Not so fast, though. It appears someone messed up:
#Braves did not DFA Micah Johnson despite earlier announcement from team. It was a miscommunication, move had previously been considered.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) September 1, 2017
They told reporters the move had been considered! Oh man.
Worse yet, it turns out the Braves already had an open spot on the 40-man, so they didn't need to take anyone off.
So this was close to a "normal" job scenario where you find out you were fired from someone from a different company but then your company says, "No, that was a miscommunication. We thought about firing you but decided against it."
We'd all definitely feel job security after that exchange, right? Cue the laugh track.
Johnson is still with the Braves, but we can't be sure that'll last too much longer.
This isn't a good look for the Braves front office and it comes just a few days after a report suggested there were issues within said front office.
