Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 20, 2007
Vow of Silence

The Cubs dumped Michael Barrett, trading him to the Padres:

The Cubs received catcher Rob Bowen and minor-league outfielder Kyler Burke.

The Padres, eighth in the National League in runs, have been searching for more offense. They are second in the league in on-base/slugging percentage at catcher, but Barrett would be an offensive upgrade over Josh Bard and Bowen.

I'm not sure "upgrade" is the right word. Bowen was having a good year offensively, and the tradeoff between Bard and Barrett is on-base average vs. power. Burke is very young (19) but so far has shown no power in the minor leagues. Not really what you want from a rightfielder.

This seems to me like the Padres helping out the Cubs, and maybe improving their offense at catcher a little.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:13 AM | Trades | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Come on... Barrett us a huge upgrade offensively.

Sure, he has slumped offensively early this year, but he has come on of late.

You have to remember that over the last three years Barrett was one of the best offensive catchers in baseball.

Posted by: dave at June 20, 2007 10:28 AM

Barrett kills lefties:

2005: .320/.415/.624
2006: .313/.396/.663
2007: .262/.340/.548

Bowen, not so much...

Posted by: Geoff Young at June 20, 2007 12:07 PM

See ya, Punchy!

Posted by: Joseph J. Finn at June 20, 2007 12:07 PM

Plus the Padres get a draft pick if/when Barrett leaves at the end of the season.

Posted by: Theron at June 20, 2007 12:27 PM

I think the last comment is one of the main reasons that the Padres traded for him. Barrett is an upgrade on Bowen, but he's not that much better so why would you upset the clubhouse for a small upgrade? Although with the way the Padres draft, maybe having another draft pick isn't that great of a bonus.

Posted by: Tom at June 20, 2007 02:06 PM

Adding on to the last comment - if the Cubs lost him to free agency, do you think they could draft better than getting Rob Bowen and Kyler Burke?

I don't think it's that bad of a trade for the Cubs.
http://homerderby.com/archives/773

Posted by: Richie Rich at June 20, 2007 02:13 PM
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