Comments on: Give Brian Barden a chance

By: Memphis25

Memphis25 — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:03:16 +0000

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.

By: Easy

Easy — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:14:06 +0000

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.

By: ashley

ashley — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:01:06 +0000

I think that Brian Barden should make the team- When is he going to be given a fair chance???

By: TimJ

TimJ — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:33:18 +0000

shane069,

read the commenting rules. advocating Miles is a bannable offense. or at least it should be.

j/k kind of

By: shaneo69

shaneo69 — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:46:48 +0000

Keep Miles @ $1.5 mil

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:20:14 +0000

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.

By: baseballatc

baseballatc — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:06:45 +0000

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.

By: Memphis25

Memphis25 — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:43:48 +0000

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.

By: tom s.

tom s. — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:30:41 +0000

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.

By: erik

erik — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:08:54 +0000

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.