The Tigers have agreed to a minors deal with veteran catcher Brayan Pena, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (via Twitter). It is not known at this time whether he’ll receive an invitation to MLB Spring Training, though that certainly seems likely.
As things stand, Detroit seems fairly likely to enter the season with John Hicks backing up James McCann behind the dish. But the organization now has a pair of veterans that could push for a job in camp, with Pena joining Derek Norris as non-roster options. (As regards Norris, those interested in learning more about the team’s somewhat controversial decision to sign him will want to read this piece from Katie Strang of The Athletic.)
As for Pena, he’ll be looking to break back into the majors after a 2017 season in which he failed to earn any MLB time for the first time since his debut year of 2005. Pena spent last season at Triple-A with the Royals organization, where he hit .274/.308/.298 in just 134 plate appearances.
Previously, though, Pena enjoyed a rather lengthy history in the majors. After functioning as a fairly heavily utilized reserve for a few seasons with the Royals and Tigers — the latter of which received one of his best overall seasons in 2013 — Pena signed a two-year deal with the Reds. He ended up receiving extensive action in 2014-15 in Cincinnati, but managed only a .263/.313/.339 batting line there and has not received meaningful MLB time since.
In 1,950 total trips to the plate in his career, he has turned in a .259/.299/.351 batting line with 23 home runs. That’s not an immense amount of offensive output, to be sure, but he has obviously long been valued as a steady contributor in a backup role and will at least represent an important depth piece for the Tigers.
Love this move. You can never have enough quality at Catcher. Dude can thump and is one of the best framers in the bigs.
Bryan? Is that you?
Brayan*
Is that thump when he falls down?
“Dude can thump”? Dude’s never hit more than 10 homers in a season, minors or majors.
Or high school or little league.
Framing is a nonsense stat.
Not to a pitcher !
Brayan Pena can ‘thump’ when he gets it going? Low-risk deal, but I doubt he’ll get it going and ‘thump’.
The Athletic = $$
Nothing to do with this signing
I’d like to throw something out for debate. It goes for ANY team and ANY hitter. The bunt!
I think every hitter 1 through 9 should be able to lay down a sac bunt to move a runner from 2nd to 3rd when a runner is on second with none out and those hitters who cannot should be forced to practice it until they can do it. How many games are lost by 1 run through the course of a season? It could mean a team getting into the playoffs or not.
A .300/30HR/100RBI hitter would be in any teams lineup but they fail to produce 7 out of 10 at bats so why don’t more teams have everyone tow the rope so to say and give themselves up to advance a runner where a sac fly or simple ground ball could score a run? It seems like a pretty easy way for any team to add 7-10 games to their record.
Thoughts? Am I out to lunch or does this make sense to you? Thanks
Depends on the situation, really. There’s been a fair amount of research on bunt use, and the numbers effectively say it creates less run value than traditional hitting – something in the range of a couple of percent, which across a large sample size is quite a lot. However there is still some justification for situational bunting, maybe.
Fangraphs have some great research on bunting and it’s top value, worth a look.
exactly…there is no way that bunting gets you 7 to 10 more wins.
I do agree, though, even the times when it should be used, along with bunting for hits is a lost art
No one walks off the island. And I don’t think too many have bunted their way off either.
Not out to lunch, but generally speaking the only situation where a sacrifice improves your chance of scoring is when men are on first and second and no outs. In every other situation, giving up an out actually lowers your chance of scoring and lowers the overall runs you are likely to score. At least that is what the run expenctancy tables show.
Old school vs the new math. Old school is all about not striking out, having productive outs, moving runners along, bunting them over, etc. New math has guys swinging for the fences not caring whether or not they strike out and few if any managers have their guys bunt on a regular basis (save for pitchers) because the math tells them that is what works the best.
Is his weight below 275. He can barely move!
If this is the same Bryan Pena, and I think it is, without hesitation during his time with the Cardinals he was the worst major league catcher I have watched in 50+ years of watching/playing baseball.
Good guy, but his ship has sailed.
He got really, really heavy that year he was in STL as I remember, and he did look terrible. He was a good backup when healthy and in shape. Now? Worth taking a look at, but it’s doubtful he finds a fountain of youth or lays off the buffet… but who knows?
When Brayan was young he was a Plus Runner from home to first.
Now he stretches those doubles into singles on a regular basis. (That is when he’s not on the DL)
Remember in 2011 when Pena saved Comerica Park and the entire world from a Praying Mantis invasion? That was cool!
Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/royals-brayan-pena-defends-earth-from-praying-mantis-invasion?urn=mlb,wp17725
Per bobbleheadguru He will be a real garden hire for the outfield planting expected this spring.
Why wouldn’t you just get another burrito Todd?
A while ago he said he was going to serve the country…. what happened to that?
What a coup!. These signing grantees a pennant and a trip to the world series. The children of Carlos Peña and Chuck Norris will help the Tigers pitch and hit this season. Good Work!!!!