This morning brings news that the Phillies are on the verge of signing Rod Barajas, formerly of the Rangers, to a one year deal with an option for a second year. Speculation is that the deal will amount to between 5 and 5.5 million dollars over the possible two years.
Barajas had originally agreed to a two year deal for almost $6 million with the Toronto Blue Jays in late November, but backed out of the deal after switching agents in the middle of the negotiations.
Phillies phans should be happy about the signing as it provides depth at a position where the Phillies had a certain degree of uncertainty. It was expected that the Phillies would use Carlos Ruiz as a primary catcher and Chris Coste as a back-up to enter the season. There are no questions, however, that Barajas is an established big league catcher. He has a decent arm behind the plate and hits for occasional power, though his plate discipline could certainly be a bit better. His career batting line is .240/.282/.410 and has thrown out 33.4% of would-be basestealers.
More specifically, fans of Chris Coste should be troubled by the signing. At the age of 33, Coste certainly isn't someone the team can build around, but on the other hand, he certainly played well enough last year to receive a fair amount of playing time in 2007. His OPS+ was 121, and his PrOPS of .860 and line drive rate of 28.7% (league average of 20%) indicate he wasn't getting by on seeing-eye grounders and bloop doubles.
The Phillies will certainly add depth with the signing of Barajas, but you have to wonder just what this means for Coste, one of the better stories of the 2006 baseball season.
