2012 Free Agent and Trade Ideas Thread 17

[JBears79]

I don't mean this to sound rude but where the hell are you looking that Bauer is one of the 5 best prospects in baseball right now? He was #9 going into last year on BA's board and he's undoubtedly lost ground after his 2012.

I don't know why I was thinking #5. I meant to say #3-#10. Right now on the worst list MLB.com he's #5 right now, and I remember seeing him at #3 earlier in the year. You're right that he's #9 on BA.

That was my bad. My mind is in multiple places right now.

[NORTH10]

Getting a SS who has a very good chance to be a solid regular with a decent chance to be more for a great pitching prospect doesn't sound that crazy to me when you consider how bad SS is league wide and AZ's pipeline of young pitching.

The ceiling for Bauer is still much higher than Didi. If this deal means that the DBacks are not trading Upton, I wouldn't be THAT upset. However, it makes you wonder if Bauer's value could have gotten more in return. Additionally, who is to say that Didi's bat is capable of staying relavant in the MLB and be a successful player in addition to his defensive value. His minor league numbers are nothing but unimpressive, as is his scouting reports.

[TyrionLannister]

So guys, any thoughts on the Shark day-night splits or am I making too much of it?

[KyleJRM]

And it is tricky....but the point is this: Darwin Barney's bat is awful. There's really no way to argue that a .287 wOBA is anything else. That's really bad.

His glove is awesome. Beautiful. Golden...dare I say? But I just don't see much of a point to say his bat is anything other than really, really, really bad. He's not a bad player. Just his bat is bad.

It's kind of quibbling over semantics, but I don't think it deserves all the "really"s.

1/3rd of MLB got less than a .287 wOBA out of 2b last season.

[SenorGato]

Out of all MLB bats who qualified for the batting title, Darwin Barney had:

16th worst OBP
8th worst wOBA
9th worst SLG
5th worst wRC+
11th worst ISO

Out of the last two years....

5th worst wOBA
2nd worst wRC+
6th worst ISO
10th worst OBP
6th worst SLG


His bat is literally...awful. His glove is beautiful. But his bat....sucks. Lets not beat around the bush. I'm not even advocating Watkins. But Barney's bat is garbage. He's bottom 10 in almost every meaningful offensive category outside of BA, but really, he's a super empty BA.

Weirdly enough he's still produced 2.5 rWAR in the past 2 years, and he's a good baserunner. I just don't see him as a hole or problem in the lineup as it is. Ian Stewart's manning 3B offensively for me is a far larger issue than Barney's bat at 2B. Like a great deal of players in this era, I think he gets severely penalized because many have yet to figure out this isn't the late 90's/early 00's anymore as far as offense is concerned.

Also Kyle makes a great point as far as the PAs issue. Qualifying for the batting title eliminates a bunch of players who still had to start and be worked around. Right now Barney and 2B is just not enough of an issue, and replacements are just not readily available enough, for me to justify just tossing him aside.

[Tryptamine]

Is it time for the revisionist theories where Bauer isn't even a good pitcher and a terrible person and Didi is a hidden gem with amazing upside?

[Diehdcubsfan2]

I wouldn't mind taking a flyer on that Trout kid.

[1908_Cubs]

It's kind of quibbling over semantics, but I don't think it deserves all the "really"s.

1/3rd of MLB got less than a .287 wOBA out of 2b last season.

Right. Still 2/3rd of the MLB got better. And that's more indicative of how bad the position was as a whole last year.

Sure a few too many "reallys" but I was really just responding to Gato who said something along the lines of his bat being better than awful. The reallys were more for effect.

He's certainly not the problem. So no one take it that way. But his bat sucks.

[gocubs2118]

On the bright side, it looks like this trade stopped the DBacks from trading Upton again. Maybe the 4th time will be the charm when some of our prime prospects are closer to being ready.

[gaughan333]

I don't mean this to sound rude but where the hell are you looking that Bauer is one of the 5 best prospects in baseball right now? He was #9 going into last year on BA's board and he's undoubtedly lost ground after his 2012.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2012/

[JBears79]

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2012/

This list is by far the worst one as well but I consider it one of the major ones because I check it a lot.

[Jack the Ripper]

On the bright side, it looks like this trade stopped the DBacks from trading Upton again. Maybe the 4th time will be the charm when some of our prime prospects are closer to being ready.

Too many concerns with Upton for my liking. Both brothers are a bit overhyped to me. I'd be content to stay away. Here we go disagreeing again.

[SenorGato]

Could they?

That always seems to be the assumption. With prospects the possibilities are endless!

[RedHeadsRule]

I'm still not convinced Didi is any better than Cliff Pennington.

[gaughan333]

This list is by far the worst one as well but I consider it one of the major ones because I check it a lot.

yeah, just figured I'd post it because I remembered him being 5 on it.