Brian Schneider: why would the Brewers have interest?

[JoeHova]

I just saw an article in the New York Sun that speculates that the Brewers would have interest in Brian Schneider. It is beyond me to figure out why that would be the case though.

 

Here is the passage:

 

But teams like the Phillies, Brewers and Angels lack the catching options that the Mets have. Should one of these teams overvalue catcher defense, as the Mets have so far, a deal of Schneider for some young talent is one the Mets need to consider.

 

Obviously the Brewers appear to value catcher defense because we have heard no end of discussion about how great Kendall is back there. However, if they thought Kendall wasn't actually that great, would they be playing him so much? He's playing at a pace that is sure to trigger his option for next year, and Schneider is also signed for next year. Schneider is an even worse hitter than Kendall, so it's not clear why the Brewers would want to pay $5 million for Kendall's backup to play 15-20 times when they could have Rivera do it for near the minimum. Not to mention the fact that Angel Salome is having a pretty good year at AA and may be ready to come up at some point next year.

 

Link: http://www.observer.com/2008/mets-trade-deadline-options

[Brian the Automator]

I think it's just misinformed speculation ... I suppose if the Mets offered up Brian Schneider for free, I'd consider his defense an upgrade over Rivera's offense, but even that would be a toss-up to me.

[JoeHova]

I think it's just misinformed speculation ... I suppose if the Mets offered up Brian Schneider for free, I'd consider his defense an upgrade over Rivera's offense, but even that would be a toss-up to me.

 

 

maybe. I would rather keep Rivera though. He has 9 home runs in his 190 ABs with the Brewers. I like having a back-up catcher with at least a little bit of pop.

[splitterpfj]

I see no possibility here, the Brewers are fine at the major league level, and they suddenly have catching depth filtering through the organization.

 

Maybe if Kendall got hurt, and they didn't want to call Salome up this year.

[JohnBriggs12]

Schneider makes starter money: $4.9 million in 08, and again in 09. Once Kendall starts 110 games (which should be around the 120th game the way it's going), his option for 2009 is automatically picked up.

 

By the way, one reason Kendall wants to start every game is that he's got escalator clauses in his contract and needs 130 starts to max out his deal.

 

Schneider to Brewers makes zero sense. Just another example of how bad reporters are. All the info is out there if they want to look but most are just lazy.

[endaround]

Yep, sounds like a reporter who looked at rosters, saw the Brewers didn't have one of those known crappy backups and thus must want a catcher.

 

If Kendall got hurt it'd be Rotino

[jwill535]

I like how the reporter also makes it seem like any team is going to give the Mets prospects for him. If anything I could see a low A ball guy and cash.

[hauser42]

Yep, sounds like a reporter who looked at rosters, saw the Brewers didn't have one of those known crappy backups and thus must want a catcher.

 

If Kendall got hurt it'd be Rotino

End you are saying Rottino would be the backup if Kendall got hurt. Right now the way he is hitting I would rather see them do with another option. If Munson is healthy he would most likely get the call.

[endaround]

I'm pretty sure they'd use Rottino as the back up since they hated Munson behind the plate and its not like Munson is going well. They brought back Iribarren despite his struggles.

[dadofandrew]

Schneider is certainly an upgrade over Rivera, so it makes some sense. It'd make a lot more if Jason were banged up.

[Weirdos19]

Has anybody seen who the Mets have catching? I believe Robinson Cancel and Raul Casanova have worn a Mets uniform this year.

 

They make it sound like they have too much talent at the catcher's spot. Typical NY media garbage.

 

The reason the Mets stink isn't because of Randolph. It's because they have 5 really good players ( Santana, Wagner, Reyes, Wright, and Beltran) and everybody else pretty much stinks. Church has been decent, but he isn't great either. They overrate their own like nobody else outside of Chicago.

[endaround]

Not sure why you think Schneider is an upgrade over Rivera. But given the 20-30 games over which Kendall's backup looks to play there just isn't enough PAs there to make any move worthwhile.

[dadofandrew]

Schneider is a competent MLB starting catcher, Rivera is not. Look at their big league time.

 

I think the backup would play more if they were as good as Schneider. He certainly is not a star, but he's a below average starter, but that would still make him an outstanding reserve.

 

Rivera has cleared waivers several times. He's a generic backup who gets out 70% of the time.

 

EDIT: Glancing at his career stats, I might have been too tough on Schneider.

 

Ave C------.318/.395

BS career--.324/.373

 

If he is an above average defensive catcher, calling him "average" seems fitting. Granted, he's 31 and seems to have lost his pop (partially affected by RFK).

 

Add in he's a LH hitter, I can't imagine a much better reserve. Now, is he worth a lot of cash for playing 25-33% of the time...probably not, but it would be an upgrade for the 25 man.

[JohnBriggs12]

Al, can we end this nonsense that Rivera is not a competent MLB catcher?

 

Amazing how you break down stats to two but what is wrong with Rivera (at virtual ml minimum salary) .293/.392? As a Brewer Rivera's hitting: .278/.322/.471, with 9 HR and 34 RBI in 191 AB's. Sure he doesn't have a great arm, but he's not 07 Estrada either. Pitchers like throwing to him too. Sheets comment from the other day "Mikey and I had a great rhythm going" and Parra glowing how Rivera helped him the night he had the perfect game.

 

Is Schneider better overall? Sure. but you don't pay backup catchers $4.9 million.

[dadofandrew]

Rivera's "competent" Briggs, as are most all AAA catchers in that same role. Rivera is a virtual twin of them, as the difference between them is minimal...if they can hit and play defense, they'd be starters. The bar is set pretty low for reserve C's, if you can catch, throw, call a game, and not fall down at the plate when you swing, the odds are you can get a job in AAA or playing a day game after a night game in the bigs. If you need proof of that, you haven't noticed Chad Moeller, Raul Casanova, and many others are still gainfully employed, and not performing at a lower level than the rest.

 

Rivera at $325K is a better deal than Schneider at $5M, especially if they are only playing once a week. As I said above, however, if money is not an object, and/or Kendall is not 100%, there's no doubt in my mind I'd rather have Schneider.

 

EDIT: I see what you meant Briggs, I had left out "starting" in my previous post. Now fixed.

[endaround]

The fact Schneider got to spend his career years in the major leagues and Rivera in AAA is the only difference here. If Rivera was on an Expos team that couldn't care less he could have had his age 28 year in MLB too.

[dadofandrew]

End, I'm not even sure what you're saying. Schneider, as shown above, is very close to an "average" MLB C, Rivera gets out 71% of the time. One has a $5M contract, one would probably clear waivers tomorrow even though he makes near minimum.

 

I won't argue Schnieder is overpaid, but welcome to a world where even mediocre catchers are prized.

[kramnoj]

Rivera's OPS+ has been higher than Schneider's since 2006. It's true that OPS+ doesn't weigh OBP ideally, but Rivera's recent power advantage over Schneider should not be ignored when assessing their value. It's not clear to me in any way that Schneider would be an upgrade.