Two updates on the shortstop front from today:
–Jennifer Langosch reports that Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan has drawn “mild interest” from the Pirates. Ryan is expendable by St. Louis after the Cardinals acquired Ryan Theriot from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The main appeal Ryan has is his defense. He has a career 11.4 UZR/150 at the shortstop position. The downside is that his offensive numbers have been poor. He has a career .259/.314/.344 line, although his individual seasons have been one of two outcomes. In 2007 and 2009 he had an OPS in the .740-.752 range. In 2008 and 2010 his OPS was below .600.
Ryan would be an upgrade defensively at shortstop for the Pirates, although his defensive value could be negated depending on which offensive version shows up. He does have three years of control remaining, and is entering his first arbitration year. He would be a great addition if the .750 OPS version showed up, but wouldn’t be much of an overall upgrade over Ronny Cedeno if he showed up as the sub-.600 OPS shortstop.
–Jen Royle of MASN reports that the Tampa Bay Rays wanted a package that includes Nolan Reimold in exchange for shortstop Jason Bartlett. Reimold is a year removed from a .279/.365/.466 line in 358 at-bats during his rookie season. His second year wasn’t as good, with a .207/.282/.328 line in 116 at-bats. It’s hard to place a value on him, as we don’t know if the 2009 version was a fluke. Reimold was a top prospect heading in to the 2009 season, which gives the numbers some credit. As for the Pirates, if the Rays are asking for Reimold and more for Bartlett, that’s less of an incentive to trade for a guy who is declining defensively and has just one good year offensively.
