Mets Chasing After Rod Barajas To Be Starting Catcher
Now, [Josh] Thole is vying to become the Mets' No. 1 catcher. Still, the organizational preference is for the rookie to get more seasoning at Triple-A while being mentored by ex-Phillie Chris Coste. The hope is for Omir Santos to emerge as the regular backstop with Henry Blanco his backup. Ex-Rays catcher Shawn Riggans also will be in camp.
Since then, though, the situation has changed, and according to both Ken Rosenthal and Jon Heyman, the Mets have set their sights on free agent Rod Barajas:
The Mets are making "a hard push" for free-agent catcher Rod Barajas and negotiating with him on a one-year deal, according to major-league sources.
Barajas, 34, likely would get the bulk of playing time for the Mets, whose other catchers — Henry Blanco, Omir Santos, Chris Coste and Josh Thole — are either backups or unproven.
#mets offer barajas minor-league deal at low $. al scout: "right now they have 4 backups."
As Rubin notes a little later, Barajas isn’t going to get a big deal, because he isn’t much better than what the Mets already have. However, in the event that he does sign with New York, he instantly becomes the favorite to take over the starting job, as Thole could use more seasoning, Blanco and Coste are reserves, and Santos is bad.
Rod Barajas has a career OBP of .284, and he’s at .275 over the last two seasons. There are few teams for which that kind of production would represent an upgrade, but the Mets are currently thinking about giving a lot of playing time to Santos, who has a career minor league OPS of .652. Santos did open a few eyes with his performance in the bigs last year, but given his track record, he can’t be counted on to repeat, and that’s where Barajas’ lousy ability to get on base but plus ability to hit for power come in handy. Despite his poor OBP and poor batting average, Barajas is capable of hitting double-digit home runs while playing decent defense, making him an uninspiring yet reasonable option for the short-term.
Read more on the topic at Mets blog Amazin Avenue.
