Nick Punto Signs 1-year Deal with Cardinals

[Funketown]

http://www.mlbtraderumors...-to-sign-nick-punto.html

 

That's one more guy that won't be replacing Yuniesky.

[Baldkin]

Darn it... makes them better and us worse.

700 K!!! Doug! PONY UP A MILLION!

[Cracked Bat Collector]

Friend of mine is a diehard Twins fan and couldn't be happier to get rid of this guy and from all he's told me about Punto we should be glad we didn't get him...he's just 1 of those good fielding, crappy hitting "gritty battlers." That's about it.

[trwi7]

Friend of mine is a diehard Twins fan and couldn't be happier to get rid of this guy and from all he's told me about Punto we should be glad we didn't get him...he's just 1 of those good fielding, crappy hitting "gritty battlers." That's about it.

Better than the bad fielding, bad hitting shortstop that we have.

 

[TooLiveBrew]

Darn it... makes them better and us worse.

700 K!!! Doug! PONY UP A MILLION!

The main problem is that the 40-man is full. Of course I wouldn't mind a flat-out release of Betancourt, but it sounds like it's a bit more complicated for DM the GM.

[brewmann04]

I think we add one or two Minor league contracts before opening day.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

As a lifelong twins fan... i definitely would have been thrilled to have Punto back for $700K. We were paying him $5m the past few seasons. I wouldn't play $5M for CC, but definitely think CC/Punto are a good deal at anything less than $2M

 

Punto might be the second coming of David "Grit" Eckstein in StL

[kramnoj]

The main problem is that the 40-man is full. Of course I wouldn't mind a flat-out release of Betancourt, but it sounds like it's a bit more complicated for DM the GM.

 

That wouldn't really be the best move. The best move would have been to release Cruz and pay Punto a couple hundred more thousand, if Punto would have taken it. Betancourt has at least been close to the quality of a starter, which would be incredibly tough for Cruz to reach.

[TooLiveBrew]

Ah, of course. Betancourt's white knight to the rescue! He actually hasn't been close to starting caliber since 2007, but I'm sure '11 is the year he finally turns it around. I would much rather have seen the Brewers eat Betancourt's salary if it meant getting Punto this cheaply.

[Viva La Grinch]

Friend of mine is a diehard Twins fan and couldn't be happier to get rid of this guy and from all he's told me about Punto we should be glad we didn't get him...he's just 1 of those good fielding, crappy hitting "gritty battlers." That's about it.

Read that statement real quick and saw that last line as "girly battlers" Made me remember when my my girlfriend went with her girlfriend to a Twins game and she was quite excited when she came home after the game. Puzzled that she would show any interest in the game as she is not a sport fan by any means, I questioned her what was so great? She then showed me about 20+ pictures of Nick Punto's butt while he was stretching out pregame. My traitor girlfriend even got a Punto shirt. Not sure if I would feel comfortable watching Punto in a Brewers jersey bending over for grounders.....

[kramnoj]

I would much rather have seen the Brewers eat Betancourt's salary if it meant getting Punto this cheaply.

 

Punto has never started more than 60 games at SS in a season, and is going to be 33 years old.

 

I'm not happy that Betancourt looks to be our SS, but I don't have much confidence that Punto can resume playing 100+ games well.

[JohnBriggs12]

Nick Punto drove in one run every 12.6 AB's in 2010. Betancourt drove in one run ever 7.1 AB. Punto accounted for .175 runs (RS and RBI) per AB to Betancourt's .248 runs per AB.

 

That is a pretty substantial difference. When you consider Punto was in the Twins lineup selectively and Betancourt played virtually every day in a weaker Royals lineup, the difference is even more profound.

[RockCoCougars]

Nick Punto is a younger Craig Counsell without the street cred of a championship ring and a Wisconsin boyhood. We already have one, I don't see the need for two. Going further, I'm not even sure he's as good as Counsell, as my Twins fans friends seem to universally detest him- apparently Gardenhire had a Yost-Kendall manlove thing going on with him.

[endaround]

He's 7 years younger than Counsell and could play much more often. Yeah playing him at 3B is stupid but that isn't what we are talking about.

[greeg35]

Nick Punto drove in one run every 12.6 AB's in 2010. Betancourt drove in one run ever 7.1 AB. Punto accounted for .175 runs (RS and RBI) per AB to Betancourt's .248 runs per AB.

That is a pretty substantial difference. When you consider Punto was in the Twins lineup selectively and Betancourt played virtually every day in a weaker Royals lineup, the difference is even more profound.

Using RBI and run rates is probably not the best way to go about comparing players. I thought Punto would have been a good/cheap option as depth and a stopgap compared to Betancourt. I can confirm that twins fans do universally dislike him as a player though.

[Baldkin]

Nick Punto drove in one run every 12.6 AB's in 2010. Betancourt drove in one run ever 7.1 AB. Punto accounted for .175 runs (RS and RBI) per AB to Betancourt's .248 runs per AB.

 

That is a pretty substantial difference. When you consider Punto was in the Twins lineup selectively and Betancourt played virtually every day in a weaker Royals lineup, the difference is even more profound.

So, you don't consider if there were guys on base at all? It's nice you're making up your own rate stats, but you can't pull them out and not take into account the context.

 

Betancourt had 294 ABs (52%) with no one on and 262 (48%) with runners on, 152 (27%) of those with RISP. Punto was 63 with RISP (21%), 166 (57%)with no one on and 122 (43%) with men on base.

 

So, Betancourt had WAY more opportunities percentagewise than Punto did.

[MJLiverock]

I'm not going to miss getting Punto. He really isn't very good, hasn't played a lot of games in a season at SS and these projections cited have enough variance built in that any difference over Betancourt is likely negligible and far from the automatic win or two that are assumed given how shaky defensive metrics are to begin with. We aren't talking about adding a player like Tulowitzki at SS vs. Betancourt we are talking about adding another bad player who could just as easily stink or not be able to play everyday at SS anyway.