Cubs catcher Michael Barrett was traded to the Padres on Wednesday, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.
HOLY CRAP. I’d feel really stupid if I was just on the radio yesterday talking about how they were stuck with Barrett and had to just deal with it during the season…
Is San Diego trying to corner the market on defensive indifferent catchers? And why?
Edit 1: I would’ve bet you a million dollars Jacque would’ve been gone first. This is why I don’t gamble!
Edit 2:
C Michael Barrett + CASH ($3 mil-ish?) = C Rob Bowen + Super Duper Awesome Prospect if the radio people are to be believed. Well, maybe not actually super duper.
Rob Bowen is San Diego’s second catcher, but played most of last series because their #1 is out hurt. He’s 26. hitting 268, 371 OBP, 439 SLG (12 doubles, 2 home runs). All those are above career highs.
Everyone’s under the impression that because he’s not Barrett, he’s a defense catcher, but he’s only catching 8% of runners stealing on him, and teams are averaging a steal a game against him. Barrett is getting 6% of runners this year. League average is around 20%
He’s got slightly better numbers for Wild Pitches/Passed Balls per game, but still…
There’s talk this might be a white flag trade. I don’t buy that – if you trade Z, you’re giving up. If you trade Barrett, you’re trying to fix things. They’re going to most if not all of the $3 mil in contract in order to get a good prospect back from the Padres, but who it is hasn’t been determined. Bowen’s not expected to make it to Texas tonight, so it’ll be Koyie Hill and Ryan Theriot catching if anything happens.
Edit 3:
Sounds like the prospect could be Kyler Burke. 211/268/305 RF. He is only 19, but…not blown away here.