Comments on: First Pitch: There’s No Reason to Bring Back Barajas

By: John Lease

John Lease — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Thank God for small favors.

By: john.alcorn

john.alcorn — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:18:00 +0000

There is no right answer to that question. Every player is different and every organization has a different approach. That said he’s 24 and has 1332 plate appearances. the odds of him suddenly changing his profile at his age are slim.

By: Tim Williams

Tim Williams — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 06:01:00 +0000

There’s no buyout for his option. So he wouldn’t get anything if he left.

By: Tim Williams

Tim Williams — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 03:21:00 +0000

I haven’t had a chance to look at the free agents. But based on my post from a few weeks ago on the topic, I’m not big on turning to the free agent market for help at this point.

By: Stephen Brooks

Stephen Brooks — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 00:52:00 +0000

Martin is pegged at $7M for a one-year deal on MLB Trade Rumors. If you’re willing to spend $3.5 for 60 games of Barajas and his negative-WAR mongering, certainly another $3.5 to get 120 games of Martin – who is superior in every way except batting average – is a better investment. His defense alone is worth 1-2 wins, then you factor in the patience and power. Plus he’s the only guy on the board who would be a sure-fire upgrade over the incumbent. And he caught AJ in New York in 2011.
Also because I don’t buy into the Fort as a starter – his monster June/July could be a new level, or it could be a career hot streak never to be seen again. With another 100 PA we might just be getting the August-September Fort, which is not much to write home about.

By: John Lease

John Lease — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 20:44:00 +0000

Barajas does get a nice parting gift though as he leaves, right? Another brilliant contract. For some reason disqus isn’t taking my Twitter account, you can all look at my granddaughter from last year instead.

By: TonyPenaforHOF

TonyPenaforHOF — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:30:00 +0000

IMHO he hasn’t performed well enough in the minors to merit promotion. If he can do it in September needs to show it more during the year.

I don’t know the answer off hand but how many minor league at bats does he have? With the injuries he sustained earlier in his career has he had enough at bats to be fully developed?

By: Blaine Huff

Blaine Huff — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:58:00 +0000

I’m far from sold on McKenry as the top catcher in a tandem. His power numbers declined with every minor league promotion and I’m inclined to think the 2012 output was a fluke.

Sanchez is far from ready. Hitting in the mid .230s in AAA is, in no way, a reason to be promoted. He needs to be catching 100+ games in Indy to get his bat together and not 65 in the majors…unless the Pirates have totally given up on him becoming a legitimate starter.

Unless the Bucs swing a deal, catching is going to be a black hole in 2013. I’m intrigued by Ramon Cabrera, but that’s 2014 at the earliest.

By: leadoff

leadoff — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:24:00 +0000

Apparently the Pirates did have discussions with Barajas about the back up role in his season ending interview. No details about that discussion were revealed.
Catching is a big problem for the Pirates, but not their biggest, pitching is still their biggest problem, however pitching is an easier problem to solve for the Pirates than the catching problem because there are so few options available to them, no free agents, no one really ready from the minor league system ( that could change after the first month of AAA season if Sanchez gets hot), he can catch and he can throw very well right now. Throwing accurately is the biggest problem I see with both of the Pirate catchers.
At this point in time unless a good trade opportunity comes along I am inclined to bring back Barajas as a backup with the hopes that Sanchez takes that job part way into next season.

By: john.alcorn

john.alcorn — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:48:00 +0000

The FA market is terrible at C, David Ross at 37 or Russell Martin, who won’t be interested in playing here unless we overpay, are about it.
The trade route might work, Jesus Flores in WAS is still young and talented, but he hasn’t hit since he got hurt in 2010. Arencibia can’t really catch well but he can kind of hit, no thanks. Most available guys are glove first types and we have one of those at AAA.
Go with Fort and Sanchez.