Barmes

[Burgh Sports Rule]

The Pirates, have reportedly reached a two yr agreement with FA SS Clint Barmes.

2 yrs, 10.5M for Barmes. I had gotten this from two places, Bucs Dugout & Inside Pittsburgh Sports. Is anyone else surprised by this move?

We won't pick up a 3M option for 1yr on Ronny Cedeno, yet, we will give 2yrs & 10.5M to Clint Barmes, who when the contract is up, I believe will be 35yrs old?

Shakes Head.

Does anyone actually consider this an upgrade to the SS Pos. & to this team?

Thoughts...

Burgh

 

[Illinest]

I think that the fo believes its a defensive upgrade at the very least. I think thats probably gonna turn out to be true. I never thought much of cedeno even when the metrics were looking good. As for the bat, a lot of barmes value seems to lie in pulled homeruns that arent necessarily going to leave the park at pnc. I think its likely that hell be about as bad as cedeno was. The one thing that doesnt make sense to me is why we would pay so much for barmes. I think hes an upgrade but i dont think hes a five mill plus player. If were going to throw money into the position id rather take a shot at one of the old guys and pray that he has a miracle season at the plate.

 

[magnumo]

Does anyone actually consider this an upgrade to the SS Pos. & to this team?

Thoughts...

No.

 

[element1286]

Does anyone actually consider this an upgrade to the SS Pos. & to this team?

Yes, defensively for sure. Offensively, he has a higher upside than Ronny and a lower downside. Small upgrade, but I think he clearly an upgrade.

 

[element1286]

I think that the fo believes its a defensive upgrade at the very least. I think thats probably gonna turn out to be true. I never thought much of cedeno even when the metrics were looking good. As for the bat, a lot of barmes value seems to lie in pulled homeruns that arent necessarily going to leave the park at pnc. I think its likely that hell be about as bad as cedeno was. The one thing that doesnt make sense to me is why we would pay so much for barmes. I think hes an upgrade but i dont think hes a five mill plus player. If were going to throw money into the position id rather take a shot at one of the old guys and pray that he has a miracle season at the plate.

Probably wanted to get him signed before the Reyes/Rollins sweepstakes is over. Barmes was probably plan B for a bunch of teams that didn't get either player.

 

[Darkstone42]

If we get offensively good Barmes, .


If we get offensively bad Barmes, :nonod:





The latter is more likely given PNC Park and, you know, being the Pittsburgh Pirates.

 

[thedddd]

His bat will be worse since from reports I read his power is dead pull.

I hope his defense is that much better to justify older and more money.

Now this report I wish would have had the Pirates involved. Braves Interested In Trading For Eduardo Nunez: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

Yeah the defense is suspect but higher ceiling and could be a SS for more years to come. Then bringing in a Santiago would make sense as a defensive replacement

 

[thedddd]

Keith Laws comments: Pittsburgh Pirates make a bad decision in signing Clint Barmes - ESPN

I hope the Pat Meares comparison doesn't come true but I have a bad feeling it will be.

Anyway checking his career states at PNC Park (granted very small sample) he hits better there than most parks (not counting Coors).

 

[element1286]

Law's comments seem a little over the top. Especially about his defense, I never seen anyone say he is anything less than excellent at shortstop up until now. Whether he declines or not is another question.

Barmes To The Buccos | FanGraphs Baseball

 

[thedddd]

Law's comments seem a little over the top. Especially about his defense, I never seen anyone say he is anything less than excellent at shortstop up until now. Whether he declines or not is another question.

Barmes To The Buccos | FanGraphs Baseball

Good point and thanks for that article. Funny though it still mentions Wood as a Pirate.

 

[smokeyburgess]

The signing of Barmes brings back memories of many previous infielders the Pirates have acquired since 1993 who subsequently contributed little or nothing to the team:

Tom Foley
Dale Sveum
Nelson Liriano
Kevin Elster
Doug Strange
Pat Meares
Mike Benjamin
Luis Sojo
Enrique Wilson
Pokey Reese
Jose Hernandez
Bobby Hill
Chris Stynes
Joe Randa
Cesar Itzuris
Chris Gomez
Luis Cruz
Akinori Iwamura
Bobby Crosby

And the beat goes on......

 

[TheBurgh88]

Did Barmes get more than Grady Sizemore?

 

[thecrow124]

As far as Keith Law's comments go, when he actually starts going to games and watching players then maybe I'll pay attention to what he says. Until then I will just tend to believe what I can see with my eyes.

 

[stillmatic32]

I look for Barmes to be much better over the course of a season than Cedeno. Cedeno has a hot month or two and is pretty much dead to rights the rest of the season. I've never followed Barmes closely, but hopefully he doesn't have .500 OPS months regularly like Cedeno.

 

[magnumo]

The link below is an article at ESPN.com which provides some analysis of 3 recent acquisitions, including the Pirates' signing of Barmes. The section on Barmes makes three main points:

- Barmes' contract is the biggest FA deal given out by the Bucs in 20 years (since Steve Buechele during the 1991-1992 off-season).

- Barmes should be slightly better than Cedeno on defense.

- Barmes' power should be inhibited by PNC Park.

As a whole, the analysis doesn't say much one way or the other..... but the first section of the article (on Joe Nathan) is interesting.

A closer look at Nathan, Barmes, LeBlanc - tmi-mlb Blog - ESPN