Rod Barajas hopes to play the rest of his career with the Dodgers, the catcher told Steve Dilbeck of the L.A. Times. However, Dilbeck says the Dodgers are considering going cheap behind the plate next year with a tandem of Tim Federowicz and A.J. Ellis.
Federowicz will be a 24-year-old rookie next year, while Ellis will be a 31-year-old with less than a hundred games in the Majors. Typically teams prefer someone more seasoned as the backup, although Ellis did catch 515 games across nine minor league seasons.
Barajas, 36, has played to expectations after signing for $3.25MM in December. His standard good power/low on-base line comes to .236/.289/.445 in 289 plate appearances this year. Barajas noted that his comfort level is playing four or five times a week, which probably leaves more than 60 starts for the other catcher. Barajas has earned approximately $12.5MM in his career, and one way to increase his chances of staying with the Dodgers would be to drop his asking price by a few million dollars.
As Dilbeck notes, letting Barajas leave could be a way for the Dodgers to save $3MM this offseason. The Icon Sports Group client projects as a Type B free agent, but I wouldn't expect the Dodgers to offer unless they want Barajas around next year.
If it weren’t for their ownership mess, they would almost certainly be in the Pujols/Fielder hunt. They might be anyway. If they are, they can probably hold off on Barajas until afterwards, and sign him to a 1-year deal if they haven’t spend every dime they have on a 1B.
With Furcal and Kuroda’s money coming off they should be able to resign him but who knows what that cheap punk McCourt might pull next.
A bunch of that money will go to the arbitration eligibles (including Ethier, Kemp, and Kershaw). Still, they have a number of other contracts coming off the books (Barajas, Blake, Garland, Broxton, etc.), so there should be some cash to throw around if MLB doesn’t cut their allowance.
I think Ethier shouldn’t even be tendered a contract. Hes the most overrated player in the league.
WHAT A MESS! IF WE CANT AFFORD A CATCHER! HOW CAN WE SIGN ALBERT!!!!!!!!
So if the headline was that they were looking to bring Barajas back at around the same salary then you’d have been more comfortable that the money would be there for the Dodgers to sign Pujols? Pretty funny.
VERY FUNNY
You’re mom on her knees is very funny.
she must have hit the caps lock button while she was down there
Ellis is a prototypical backup catcher and I don’t think Federowicz is anywhere near ready to be a regular major league starting catcher. 2011 was his first season playing above A+ ball.
I wouldn’t mind another season of Barajas, considering how little else there is available in the market. The Dodgers should focus upgrading the offense at 1B and in LF. With the talk of finishing his career with the Dodgers, and being from L.A., it doesn’t sound like he’d be strongly opposed to shifting into a backup role when Federowicz is ready.