What would Barrett net for us?

[SAMMYWHO]

I would really like to know what we could realistically get for Barrett in a trade. I would like to see how well this team would do under a defensive catcher. I'm not sure how well a Blanco/Soto combo would do but I think that is the stem of our problem. I really am losing faith in how Barrett has handled this staff. I think he's a great team guy, helps the community, helps the Cubs with his bat, all that stuff but I want the Cubs to go back to a catcher who does what catchers are supposed to do. Any thoughts?

[sherwood921]

I would really like to know what we could realistically get for Barrett in a trade. I would like to see how well this team would do under a defensive catcher. I'm not sure how well a Blanco/Soto combo would do but I think that is the stem of our problem. I really am losing faith in how Barrett has handled this staff. I think he's a great team guy, helps the community, helps the Cubs with his bat, all that stuff but I want the Cubs to go back to a catcher who does what catchers are supposed to do. Any thoughts?

 

Unless you can get back someone who's able to help the offense a ton, there's no point. We have below average offense at almost every position. Losing Barrett would leave us with an even worse offense (unless he brought you back a stud hitter, which doesn't seem very likely IMO).

[SAMMYWHO]

That's the only reason you'd do it. Maybe upgrade short, 2nd or the outfield. We possibly could get a number 2 starter back I would think.

[SouthSideRyan]

Unless Barrett ritually beats our pitchers with fungo bats, I don't see how he's to blame for our pitching.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Replacing Barrett with Soto/Blanco would be suicide to our 2007 offense.

[Guest]

This might carry more weight if Barrett's CERA weren't half a point lower than Blanco's. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. They've caught different pitchers at different times. But it certainly doesn't tell me that Barrett is hurting the pitching staff with his defense/game calling.

[Rob]

This might carry more weight if Barrett's CERA weren't half a point lower than Blanco's. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. They've caught different pitchers at different times. But it certainly doesn't tell me that Barrett is hurting the pitching staff with his defense/game calling.

 

CERA is considered to be nothing more than a junk stat.

[Guest]

This might carry more weight if Barrett's CERA weren't half a point lower than Blanco's. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. They've caught different pitchers at different times. But it certainly doesn't tell me that Barrett is hurting the pitching staff with his defense/game calling.

 

CERA is considered to be nothing more than a junk stat.

I know that.

 

And it's primarily considered a junk stat because there's practically no evidence that a catcher's game calling has any impact on pitching success. (For instance, last year the situation I describe above was reversed. Blanco had a much better CERA than Barrett.) Since the autocorrelation of the stat is lousy (at best), it's considered to be a junk stat.

 

However, if Barrett's game calling was indeed hurting our pitching staff's success, as the original post posits, then Barrett's CERA would be consistently higher than Blanco's. Which it isn't. So I'm saying there's no real evidence that Barrett's game calling or defense hurts our pitching. And his offense certainly helps when compared to Blanco's or just about any other NL catcher.

[NorthsideAvenger]

I would really like to know what we could realistically get for Barrett in a trade. I would like to see how well this team would do under a defensive catcher. I'm not sure how well a Blanco/Soto combo would do but I think that is the stem of our problem. I really am losing faith in how Barrett has handled this staff. I think he's a great team guy, helps the community, helps the Cubs with his bat, all that stuff but I want the Cubs to go back to a catcher who does what catchers are supposed to do. Any thoughts?

 

I never understood why people think the Cubs would be better off moving Barrett to another position (3rd or LF are the two most common destinations for Barrett) and going after a defensive catcher.

 

First: Moving Barrett's above-average offensive numbers at catcher to another position, like 3rd or LF, would make them more average numbers for their position. In other words, taking an above average catcher, and moving him to an at best average 3rd base or LF weaknens not one position but two. Which brings me to.....

 

Second: Going after a defensive catcher, is not a smart thing to do, especially if it is to start 140 games. There is a reason why those kinds of players are considered a DEFENSIVE minded, because they simply couldn't hit little league pitching, much less major league pitcher. I don't mind a defensive minded catcher (like Blanco, etc) as a BACKUP---where a defensive minded catcher is more useful---but as a starter, no way.

 

Moving Barrett weakens two positions, offensively, and right now the Cubs can't afford to weaken an already weak offense. I can leave with Barrett being an "Average at best" catcher defensively, then a defenisvely minded catcher who is "crappy at best" offensively.

[SAMMYWHO]

I didn't mean to move Barrett to a different position. I just think possibly we could net another offensive weapon that plays a different position. One of the only common factors in the last two years is Barrett. All of these injuries is unbelievable. Everybody wants to shake it up and I'm just taking someone who's valuable to most teams and wondering what we'd get for him. Who knows maybe nobody would want him. Let's face it, Wood and Prior are not the only one's who have been hurt. All these young guys, Rusch, Eyre, almost every pitcher has been hurt. It's unbelievable.

[fromthestretch]

I didn't mean to move Barrett to a different position. I just think possibly we could net another offensive weapon that plays a different position. One of the only common factors in the last two years is Barrett. All of these injuries is unbelievable. Everybody wants to shake it up and I'm just taking someone who's valuable to most teams and wondering what we'd get for him. Who knows maybe nobody would want him. Let's face it, Wood and Prior are not the only one's who have been hurt. All these young guys, Rusch, Eyre, almost every pitcher has been hurt. It's unbelievable.

 

You know who else has been around at least the past two years? Rothschild and Baker.

 

If you want to improve the pitching staff, get better pitchers or at least a better pitching coach. Getting a new catcher isn't going to make pitchers stay healthy and really shouldn't help them improve any more than a good pitching coach would.

[Rob]

This might carry more weight if Barrett's CERA weren't half a point lower than Blanco's. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. They've caught different pitchers at different times. But it certainly doesn't tell me that Barrett is hurting the pitching staff with his defense/game calling.

 

CERA is considered to be nothing more than a junk stat.

I know that.

 

And it's primarily considered a junk stat because there's practically no evidence that a catcher's game calling has any impact on pitching success. (For instance, last year the situation I describe above was reversed. Blanco had a much better CERA than Barrett.) Since the autocorrelation of the stat is lousy (at best), it's considered to be a junk stat.

 

However, if Barrett's game calling was indeed hurting our pitching staff's success, as the original post posits, then Barrett's CERA would be consistently higher than Blanco's. Which it isn't. So I'm saying there's no real evidence that Barrett's game calling or defense hurts our pitching. And his offense certainly helps when compared to Blanco's or just about any other NL catcher.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love Barrett.

 

Having Barrett behind the plate instead of a guy like A.J. Pierzynski is like having Bill Hall instead of Yuniesky Betancourt. It should be a no-brainer.

[goonys evil twin]

Oh, wait, you said net. Nevermind.

[SAMMYWHO]

I didn't mean to move Barrett to a different position. I just think possibly we could net another offensive weapon that plays a different position. One of the only common factors in the last two years is Barrett. All of these injuries is unbelievable. Everybody wants to shake it up and I'm just taking someone who's valuable to most teams and wondering what we'd get for him. Who knows maybe nobody would want him. Let's face it, Wood and Prior are not the only one's who have been hurt. All these young guys, Rusch, Eyre, almost every pitcher has been hurt. It's unbelievable.

 

You know who else has been around at least the past two years? Rothschild and Baker.

 

If you want to improve the pitching staff, get better pitchers or at least a better pitching coach. Getting a new catcher isn't going to make pitchers stay healthy and really shouldn't help them improve any more than a good pitching coach would.

 

I'm not saying they're not part of the problem too. I'm just trying to make some sense of all these injuries. How many more years do we have to go through this injury excuse. Let's try to fix the problem somebody.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I didn't mean to move Barrett to a different position. I just think possibly we could net another offensive weapon that plays a different position. One of the only common factors in the last two years is Barrett. All of these injuries is unbelievable. Everybody wants to shake it up and I'm just taking someone who's valuable to most teams and wondering what we'd get for him. Who knows maybe nobody would want him. Let's face it, Wood and Prior are not the only one's who have been hurt. All these young guys, Rusch, Eyre, almost every pitcher has been hurt. It's unbelievable.

 

You know who else has been around at least the past two years? Rothschild and Baker.

 

If you want to improve the pitching staff, get better pitchers or at least a better pitching coach. Getting a new catcher isn't going to make pitchers stay healthy and really shouldn't help them improve any more than a good pitching coach would.

 

I'm not saying they're not part of the problem too. I'm just trying to make some sense of all these injuries. How many more years do we have to go through this injury excuse. Let's try to fix the problem somebody.

 

You're putting blame for the pitchers getting hurt on Barrett? That's ridiculous!

[SAMMYWHO]

Vance I'm not putting blame on anyone. I wanted to know what Barrett would net in a trade. As far as injuries are concerned I'm just trying to figure out all of these young guys getting hurt. I can understand a couple (Wood and Prior) but all of these is absolutely ridiculous.

[NCCubFan]

Vance I'm not putting blame on anyone. I wanted to know what Barrett would net in a trade. As far as injuries are concerned I'm just trying to figure out all of these young guys getting hurt. I can understand a couple (Wood and Prior) but all of these is absolutely ridiculous.

But you said you wanted to make sense of the injuries in the same thread you mentioned trading Barrett. That implies you think Barrett might be a cause of the injuries.

[abuck1220]

I would really like to know what we could realistically get for Barrett in a trade. I would like to see how well this team would do under a defensive catcher. I'm not sure how well a Blanco/Soto combo would do but I think that is the stem of our problem. I really am losing faith in how Barrett has handled this staff. I think he's a great team guy, helps the community, helps the Cubs with his bat, all that stuff but I want the Cubs to go back to a catcher who does what catchers are supposed to do. Any thoughts?

 

you think the "stem" of the problem for a team last in all of baseball in runs is the defense of the catcher?

 

i'd like to say that a lineup with cedeno, izturis, murton, jones, pierre and blanco would be the worst offense in the league, but since the cubs had an offense better than that for much of the season and are already the worst offense in baseball, i'll just say that they'd be, by far, the worst offense in baseball.

[baseball7897]

Barrett for Vernon Wells was mentioned before. Then sign Bengie molina.

[RammyFanny]

Barrett for Vernon Wells was mentioned before. Then sign Bengie molina.

I'm not sure where it was mentioned, but that' pretty intruiging to me. Sign someone like Molina, draft someone like Weiters, and you're looking at very nice scenario.

[SAMMYWHO]

Barrett for Vernon Wells was mentioned before. Then sign Bengie molina.

I'm not sure where it was mentioned, but that' pretty intruiging to me. Sign someone like Molina, draft someone like Weiters, and you're looking at very nice scenario.

That's the post I wanted for a response. What could we net for Barrett? I like Barrett and in my original post I said he's a great team member and brings offense to the table. I wanted to know what we could get for him and then I implied if we got a Vernon Wells for him we might be a better team.

[sethuel1]

We'd have to throw in a testicle to make things even out.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Barrett isn't that bad behind the plate and more than makes up for any defiecencies with his bat.

 

If we want to go into rebuilding mode, then certainly trade Barrett. If we're tooling for a run in 2007, I doubt there's many deals out there that make sense and would make us better by trading him.

[neely crenshaw]

an average outfielder or corner guy adds more offense than barrett.

he is a great offensive catcher but his stats pale campared to a good 3b like aram...so moving positions isn't a great move.

 

anyway we have a leftfielder that basically matches barretts stats right now.

[Geech]

an average outfielder or corner guy adds more offense than barrett.

he is a great offensive catcher but his stats pale campared to a good 3b like aram...so moving positions isn't a great move.

 

anyway we have a leftfielder that basically matches barretts stats right now.

 

Do you ever bother to check stats before posting? Barrett's .307/.368/.517 line this year is easily above average for a corner spot, and is significantly better than anything any of our outfielders.