Pittsburgh never learns...

[NAHSTE]

Two years, $10 million for Clint Barmes?

LOL.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Houston must be gutted. They wanted him back badly. For some odd reason.

You know how some guys just look old when you watch them play? Well, I go to my fair share of Astros games, and Barmes just looks old. I hate the shitty jumps he gets on balls, and his bat looks slow.

[Lanteri]

Houston must be gutted. They wanted him back badly. For some odd reason.

You know how some guys just look old when you watch them play? Well, I go to my fair share of Astros games, and Barmes just looks old. I hate the shitty jumps he gets on balls, and his bat looks slow.

That's not old. That's called suck.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I just glanced at his b-r page, and Barmes is exhibit A why I don't like defensive stats.

His defensive WAR last year was 1.5. Brandon Phillips was 0.1.

[Villain]

Supply and demand, I guess. The market for FA infielders is so shitty this year outside of Reyes, Phillips, and Rollins.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Supply and demand, I guess. The market for FA infielders is so shitty this year outside of Reyes, Phillips, and Rollins.

Not on the market, one year option was picked up.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Unless you meant Tony Phillips. If so, apology given.

[NAHSTE]

I just glanced at his b-r page, and Barmes is exhibit A why I don't like defensive stats.

His defensive WAR last year was 1.5. Brandon Phillips was 0.1.

Barmes had the highest UZR among NL short stops last year. Ronnie Cedeno was up there too, if you needed any more anti-defensive metrics ammunition.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Barmes had the highest UZR among big league short stops last year. Ronnie Cedeno was up there too, if you needed any more anti-defensive metrics ammunition.

See, from eyeballing it, I would think Cedeno was better than Barmes.

I looked up some numbers.

-Both Barmes and Cendeno had identical fielding percentages (OMG evil stat, I know), coming in .007 over league average.

-The league RF/9 was 4.41, and the league RF/G was 4.40. Cedeno checked in at 5.04/4.70, while Barmes was 4.48/4.32.

This kind of supports my "Barmes gets bad jumps" theory, because these both guys played a nearly identical amount of innings and Cedeno had significantly better range.

It's players like Barmes that make me take defensive stats with a grain of salt when looking at players from the past i've never seen. Some guy will look up Barmes and Phillips 50 years from now, and think Phillips was average and Barmes was some sort of slick fielding glovesman.

[Goober]

I wanted Barmes on the Brewers, but I'm glad we didn't give him this kind of money.

[NAHSTE]

I wanted Barmes on the Brewers, but I'm glad we didn't give him this kind of money.

Same here with Atlanta.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Keith Law KILLS the Pirates and buries Barmes:

Removing his nine intentional walks -- and really, the managers who saw fit to walk Barmes should be sent back to Remedial Managing 101 -- Barmes has a career road line of .230/.272/.361. And at 33 years old in 2012, he's much more likely to get worse on offense and defense than he is to get better. I wouldn't want to give him a spot on the 40-man roster, let alone guarantee him over $10 million for two seasons of outs. The Pirates declined a one-year, $3 million option on Ronny Cedeno; even if they think Barmes will be better in 2012 than Cedeno (I disagree), they would have been better off with the shorter, less expensive commitment.

Total rip job, but the bold had me rolling.

And I agree with Law, I think Cedeno is a better option anyway all things considered. He's a better glove and the batting numbers are surprisingly similar.

You guys who wanted Barmes should just hope your teams get Cedeno on the cheap.

[Guest]

Keith Law KILLS the Pirates and buries Barmes:



Total rip job, but the bold had me rolling.

And I agree with Law, I think Cedeno is a better option anyway all things considered. He's a better glove and the batting numbers are surprisingly similar.

You guys who wanted Barmes should just hope your teams get Cedeno on the cheap.

At this point, they might as well have signed Cesar Izturis- get a better defender but a lighter bat.