Archive for the “Brian Barden” Category

Today 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?

By now everyone has heard, but I’ll provide the link anyway: the US lost its opener to South Korea 8-7 (the details of Brian Barden‘s day will be included after the jump).

I love reading articles like this: Baseball America discusses the “rebirth” of the Cardinals minor league system as exemplified by the talent accumulating at Memphis [unfortunately the article is subscription only].

The Quad Cities Times has a profile of Adron Chambers.

The system had all six teams in action today and all the details are after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

We continue our way around the infield with a look at the shortstops in the Cardinals system. As with second base, shortstop has been a weak spot in recent years – the last shortstop of any signifigance that came through the system was Jack Wilson, who made his major league debut in 2001 with the Pirates. Brendan Ryan was with the big league club for most of the season and many hoped that he could become the everyday shortstop for the Cardinals, but his performance this season has made that possibility seem remote.

Unlike the keystone, however, the minor league system currently has talent at the position sprinkled throughout the levels. We’ve got a minor league trade acquisition playing at a high level in AAA (and now the Olympics), a first round draftee that has regained some luster in AA (and hopefully will continue to do so at AAA), a recent first round draftee that has been proving that he deserved such a high pick in A ball, and a 2008 high school draftee that has been tearing up rookie ball. We’ll take a look at them all after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

As mentioned in the comments to yesterday’s DFR, Derrick Goold reports that Colby Rasmus and Brian Barden have been selected to play on the US Olympic team. Barden is a little bit of a surprise to me, but I suspect that he is being valued as a bench player for his ability to play anywhere on the infield and provide a little pop with the bat. I am most surprised that Bryan Anderson didn’t make the cut.

Memphis is still off, with the AAA all star game being played tonight (Nick Stavinoha is Memphis’ lone representative – he went 1-2) so that leaves five teams in action tonight and they went 2-3 on the evening. All the details are after the jump.

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In our third installment of the Prospects by Position series we look at a position that has been a weak point of development for the Cardinals (unless you really like Bo Hart) in recent years. Adam Kennedy came up through the Cardinals system and he was a useful 2B for the Angels for a few years, although he was mostly a shortstop until his second year at AAA. Otherwise the Cardinals system has been (and still is) pretty thin at second base. Currently they’ve got a guy in AAA that many of us would like to see playing in St. Louis and then there are a whole bunch of question marks. The rundown of all the second basemen is after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »