Give Brian Barden a chance
Posted by erik in Brian Barden, tags: Brian Barden, Chris BurkeToday at VEB, DanUp makes a well-reasoned case for signing former top Astro prospect Chris Burke to be the team’s utility man. Dave Cameron is arguing for Burke as well. While the team could do worse than Burke, I think it would behoove the Birds to first take a look in their own backyard, particularly at Brian Barden.
Neither player is anything flashy with the bat, and Burke was particularly awful last year, hitting for a .582 OPS. Burke’s Marcel projection has him pegged for a .303 wOBA, while Barden a .316. While Barden is expected to be the better with the bat, that’s a whole lot of meh for both batters…
What makes either of these players an asset to a major league team is their glove….or should I say gloves? Dave takes a look at Burke’s UZR numbers and notes that he is a very good 2B and corner outfielder. We don’t have UZR for the minor leagues, but if we did, I’d be tempted to do a naked jig in the 2 degree temperatures I am experiencing in Iowa right now. What we do have is Baseball Prospectus’ FRAA on their translations page, and they tell us that Barden was a +7 at SS last season, one of the best defensive SS in the league. We also have Dan Fox’s Simple Fielding Runs from last year, and with his former team Tucson, Barden was +11 at 3B. All of this goes with positive scouting reports. When Baseball America polled PCL managers and coaches in 2005, they voted Barden the best defensive 3B in the league.
With Barden you have someone who is a little younger, a little better of a hitter or at least equal, more defensively versatile and available at a cheaper rate. Seems to me that he is the definition of a utility man, so at age 27, why not give him a shot already?
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Agree whole heartedly. A huge part of running a team is making wise use of the assets you have at any one time. Barden has absolutely no trade value but his defensive prowess at three positions and projectable pop in his bat make him potentially very useful to the Cardinals. I do not think Tyler Greene has a future and even if he does he’s not ready now. Barden is. Freese is the better prospect but he’s limited in where he can play,has too much competition at his position, and he does have trade value that we should be exploring. The Twins are crying for a solid third baseman with some power and they have lots of middle of the rotation young pitchers such as Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey. They also need a DH and an offer of Freese and Duncan could net the pitcher the Cards need. I’ve got a feeling aobut Barden that, if given the chance, he’ll be around for several productive years. He’s versatile, cheap, ready and already here.
So basically, Barden is a useful Brendan Ryan? :)
I am with you as well. Barden is the classic solid but not spectacular middle infielder that LaRussa seems to get the most out of. While Barden should be confined to 2B and SS I could see LaRussa playing him all over the diamond sans pitcher and catcher. Barden seems to be the younger cheaper version of Miles.
If you have Barden as the MIF backup and Freese as the master of corners then you have a bench with decent pop. The only downside with Freese is the lack of playing time. If someone really wants him I would trade him along but my guess is there will not be anyone who is willing to pay the price for a AAA slick fielding 3B with a 900 OPS and less than 1,000 MILB ABs. If you looked past his age he would easily be a top prospect…
I’m with ya 100%.
I agree too.
I doubt he’ll get a fair shot unless Miles signs somewhere else but I’d love to see Barden, Ryan or T. Greene fill that spot on Opening Day.
Well, P-hit-8th, Brendan Ryan’s Marcel wOBA is .317, which is (slightly) better than both, and it’s hard to believe that Ryan isn’t better at SS/2B. Of course, I think this is a case of the algorithm being skewed by his lucky 2007.
I think they both have a very low chance of achieving their marcels.
Yeah, what you can get with Barden you might be able to get out of Brendan Ryan. This ain’t nice, but Ryan is a bit of a doof and he seems to be in TLR’s doghouse. He was also pretty miserable last year and I think he’s worn out his welcome.
Thanks for giving us the rundown on Barden. I think Ryan and Barden are the serious contenders for the UT spot. But really we don’t have to decide. Let them go to ST and contend for the spot. If one sputters, we can bring the other up.
We do have to decide whether to offer a contract to Miles before spring training. But here are two candidates who show promise in a utility role.
Barden’s stats are blown up from his time in Tucson and playing whole career in hitters leagues.
2007:
H: .315
A: .233
2006:
H: .326
A: .271
2005:
H: .345
A: .267
2004:
H: .300
A: .267
Tucson Electric Park is a large ballpark with tons of wind, Its a great place to hit the 2008 Sidewinders hit .314 with a .826 OPS at home on the road it was .282 and a .783 OPS, thats a major drop off for having such great hitters park on the road.
Barden did all his damage away from Memphis this year with a .684 OPS at home and a .851 OPS on the road, His D is nice but with him being a product of great hitters environment and lacking speed, Chris Burke is the way to go especially when you looking at the costs being close to even.
Trade for Brian Roberts, then whoever is in this utility role will not be playing much anyway. Include Skippy in this deal or have him in another. This will then open up playing time for Rasmus and provide a true everyday leadoff asset.
Rasmus is the #10 prospect in the league according to MLB.com. Off topic, but I thought I would drop it in case someone hadn’t seen it yet.
Keep Miles @ $1.5 mil
shane069,
read the commenting rules. advocating Miles is a bannable offense. or at least it should be.
j/k kind of
I think that Brian Barden should make the team- When is he going to be given a fair chance???
Memphis 25. That’s good information that I wasn’t aware of. I still think that defensive versatility in a utility player is a great value and Barden has that in spades. With only five subs on a team it allows you to have at least one of them to be a one position offensive force that can be used to pinch hit at three positions and stick a good defensive replacement in for them. I will revise my offensive expectations for Barden downwards but Burke’s real offensive numbers have been going down for years. Since utility guys aren’t hard to pick up during the season I’d still like to see what Barden could do.
Well the debate is meaningless now since the signed Joe Thurston to a minor league deal, Burke is the type of player who would do good under TLR style of getting his bench guys steady AB’s, and he’s proven he hits LHP good at the big league level and has legit speed.
Barden gets the edge as a better the defender even though both can play all over the field, but I personally feel the difference in defense, isn’t going to makeup for the difference that Burke can bring with his bat playing under Tony’s style of working his bench.
I’m behind Barden over Thurston now that Burke seems out of the running, I just would hate to see a rival team sign him cheap and get a talented player fall into their hands and watch him come up with clutch hits against us like he did during the 2005 NLCS.