Pirates Ink Rod Barajas

In some sort of under the radar, some might say surprising, news the Pirates signed catcher Rod Barajas for the 2012 season with a club option for 2013.

Barajas will play for his sixth team when he suits up for the Pirates he played for the Dodgers in the 2011 season where he hit for a .230/.287/.430 line with a .307 wOBA, a 97 wRC+ and a 1.3 WAR. Barajas hit for a .240/.284/.447 line in 2010.

Barajas has some pop in the bat with 19 home runs in 2009, 17 in 2010 and 16 in 2011. He will bring some average defense, better than Doumit and he will bring more to the plate than McKenry. Overall I am pretty 'meh' on this signing but I am willing to give it a chance.

Pat from WHYGAVS said it best when he said in a tweet today that Barajas is just a stop gap for the next year, maybe two, until Tony Sanchez can reach the big club. The Pirates still have Jason Jaramillo and McKenry with Eric Fryer down in AAA so yes there are internal options but none of them really intrigue me a lot. I think Fryer has the best chance of those three but I am OK with having Barajas here.

I guess I am OK with this because it is a one year deal at most for a team that isn't going to content in 2012. The money in the deal is supposidly for $4M this year and $3.5M for the option year.

Here are some of Barajas' lines:

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB
1996	20	DET-min	Rk,A+	78	275	249	53	71	12	3	10	58	2	1	19	45	.285	.338	.478	.816		119
1997	21	-min	A+	57	209	199	24	53	11	0	7	30	0	2	8	41	.266	.297	.427	.724		85
1998	22	ARI-min	A+	113	481	442	67	134	26	0	23	81	1	1	25	81	.303	.345	.518	.863		229
1999	23	ARI-min	AA	127	548	510	77	162	41	2	14	95	2	0	24	73	.318	.354	.488	.842		249
1999	23	ARI	NL	5	18	16	3	4	1	0	1	3	0	0	1	1	.250	.294	.500	.794	96	8
2000	24	ARI-min	AAA	110	446	416	43	94	25	0	13	75	4	3	14	65	.226	.253	.380	.633		158
2000	24	ARI	NL	5	13	13	1	3	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	4	.231	.231	.462	.692	66	6
2001	25	ARI-min	AAA	45	176	162	23	52	13	0	9	32	3	1	9	23	.321	.366	.568	.934		92
2001	25	ARI	NL	51	110	106	9	17	3	0	3	9	0	0	4	26	.160	.191	.274	.464	15	29
2002	26	ARI-min	AAA	5	17	16	2	7	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	2	.438	.471	.688	1.158		11
2002	26	ARI	NL	70	172	154	12	36	10	0	3	23	1	0	10	25	.234	.288	.357	.645	62	55
2003	27	ARI-min	AAA,A+	7	30	28	5	12	1	0	1	7	0	0	2	3	.429	.467	.571	1.038		16
2003	27	ARI	NL	80	239	220	19	48	15	0	3	28	0	0	14	43	.218	.265	.327	.592	49	72
2004	28	TEX	AL	108	389	358	50	89	26	1	15	58	0	1	13	63	.249	.276	.453	.728	80	162
2005	29	TEX	AL	120	449	410	53	104	24	0	21	60	0	0	26	70	.254	.306	.466	.771	97	191
2006	30	TEX	AL	97	371	344	49	88	20	0	11	41	0	0	17	51	.256	.298	.410	.708	80	141
2007	31	PHI-min	A,AA	8	24	21	0	7	2	0	0	2	0	0	3	6	.333	.417	.429	.845		9
2007	31	PHI	NL	48	146	122	16	28	8	0	4	10	0	1	21	24	.230	.352	.393	.745	90	48
2008	32	TOR	AL	104	377	349	44	87	23	0	11	49	0	0	17	61	.249	.294	.410	.704	86	143
2009	33	TOR	AL	125	460	429	43	97	19	0	19	71	1	0	20	76	.226	.258	.403	.661	71	173
2010	34	NYM-min	A+,Rk	5	21	21	2	5	0	0	1	5	0	0	0	3	.238	.238	.381	.619		8
2010	34	TOT	NL	99	339	313	39	75	14	0	17	47	0	0	13	54	.240	.284	.447	.731	97	140
2010	34	NYM	NL	74	267	249	30	56	11	0	12	34	0	0	8	39	.225	.263	.414	.677	82	103
2010	34	LAD	NL	25	72	64	9	19	3	0	5	13	0	0	5	15	.297	.361	.578	.939	153	37
2011	35	LAD-min	A+	4	19	18	4	7	2	0	1	2	0	0	1	2	.389	.421	.667	1.088		12
2011	35	LAD	NL	98	336	305	29	70	13	0	16	47	0	0	22	71	.230	.287	.430	.717	97	131
13 Seasons				1010	3419	3139	367	746	176	1	125	449	2	2	178	569	.238	.284	.414	.698	80	1299
162 Game Avg.				162	548	503	59	120	28	0	20	72	0	0	29	91	.238	.284	.414	.698	80	208
ARI (5 yrs)				211	552	509	44	108	29	0	11	66	1	0	29	99	.212	.257	.334	.591	48	170
TEX (3 yrs)				325	1209	1112	152	281	70	1	47	159	0	1	56	184	.253	.294	.444	.738	86	494
LAD (2 yrs)				123	408	369	38	89	16	0	21	60	0	0	27	86	.241	.300	.455	.756	107	168
TOR (2 yrs)				229	837	778	87	184	42	0	30	120	1	0	37	137	.237	.275	.406	.681	78	316
NYM (1 yr)				74	267	249	30	56	11	0	12	34	0	0	8	39	.225	.263	.414	.677	82	103
PHI (1 yr)				48	146	122	16	28	8	0	4	10	0	1	21	24	.230	.352	.393	.745	90	48
NL (8 yrs)				456	1373	1249	128	281	64	0	48	170	1	1	85	248	.225	.281	.392	.673	75	489
AL (5 yrs)				554	2046	1890	239	465	112	1	77	279	1	1	93	321	.246	.286	.429	.714	83	810

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/10/2011.