Paul Bako’s short stint with the Royals came to a close today when Royals’ GM Dayton Moore traded a player to be named later to the Cincinnati Reds for Jason LaRue. He’s in the second year of a two-year contract. According to The Baseball Cube, he made $3.9 million last season. That seems a bit pricey to me for a 32 year-old catcher who had knee surgery before last season. Positives:
—He has a little pop in his bat. He’s had five double-digit home run seasons in his career.
—He’s been one of the best throwing catchers in baseball. He’s thrown out 36.9 percent (143-for-388) of attempted base-stealers in his eight year career—good for fourth-best in baseball over that span.
Negatives:
—He hit .194 last season and he’s a .239 career hitter.
—He strikes out way too often: 51 times in 191 AB last season, 101 times in 361 AB in 2005, and he’s been in triple digits five times in his career.
—Known to be a “free-swinger” and that’s the absolute last thing we need on this roster right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment