According to the St. Pete Times, Reid Brignac has been called up. The cited reason was DH Pat Burrell going on the disabled list. Reid has been doing a fine, even exceptional, job here in Durham this year, so on one level his choice makes sense. I wish him all the best. Don’t take this wrong Reid, unless it’s to help us win the Governor’s Cup, I don’t want to see you back here again. On the other hand, if we need a shortstop early next month, how about stopping by?
The move also brings up what may be my third management/executive issue up (down?) there on the Gulf Coast. I mentioned two in my post about Jon Weber yesterday. Here’s the third — Pat Burrell.
If you buy the idea that the key stat you’re looking for in a DH is OPS, Burrell’s is .699. The rest: BA .220, OBP .324, SLG .375.
Down here in Durham we’ve got 8, count ‘em, 8 regulars with better OPSs. Mateo (.712), Ruggiano (.734), Brignac (.775), Johnson (.797), Joyce (.819), Richard (.885), Weber (.886), and Hughes (.894). Ruggiano, Brignac, Johnson, and Joyce are on the 40-man.
So, does it make sense to bring Reid up for a while? Sure it does. Even though Jason Bartlett is having a career year, this adds even more flexibility and keeps some decent bats in the Longoria, Bartlett, Aybar, Brignac, Zobrist combination of 2nd, SS, 3rd, and DH. Even when Iwamura returns, I’m not sure it makes sense for Burrell to hang around — but that gets into the the business of baseball and not the winning of games.
It’s a good move. And it shows what a bad move the original multi-million dollar deal for Burrell has turned out to be.
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Burrell was a bad move, no doubt. I will be curious if this makes the front office a bit more gun shy about big offseason signings.
ReplyDeleteThe Rays are going to have to shed payroll this offseason. They own Burrell 9 million next year, and I don't see any way they are going to be able to get rid of him.