The Cardinals and catcher Tres Barrera are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports FanSided’s Robert Murray (via Twitter). The Ballengee Group client will receive an invitation to big league camp in Spring Training, where he’ll vie for a backup job to offseason signee Willson Contreras. The Cards announced the signing not long after Murray’s initial report.
Formerly a sixth-round pick by the Nationals, Barrera is a 28-year-old right-handed hitter who’s spent his entire career to date with the same organization. He’s appeared in parts of three big league seasons with Washington, batting a combined .231/.317/.315 in 162 trips to the plate. He spent the bulk of the 2022 season in Triple-A Rochester, where he batted .254/.338/.424 in 206 plate appearances.
Barrera sports a solid 25% caught-stealing rate in his minor league career, though he’s somewhat surprisingly thrown out just nine percent of attempted thieves in the big leagues. That’s come in a small sample, of course, and Baseball Prospectus has generally rated Barrera as solid or better in terms of both pitch framing and blocking balls in the dirt throughout his time in the minors and the big leagues.
The starting gig behind the plate is obviously spoken for in St. Louis after Contreras inked a five-year contract, and as things stand, Andrew Knizner is the presumptive backup. Barrera can team with top catching prospect Ivan Herrera to form a Triple-A catching duo and give the Cards some experienced depth in the upper minors.
Maybe Herrera is on the move?
Looks that way.
Lopez to the Twins so that makes me think Herrera moving is less likely.
I would say Knizner on the move if anyone.
I imagine this is a depth move in the event they need to burn Knizners last option vs it being any foreshadowing to a trade.
I could be letting Molinas history sway me but I don’t think Contreras is the Cardinals long term solution behind the plate unless they think their coaching staff can get Contreras to speak pitcher. He isn’t quite as bad as Michael Barrett as far as having no rapport with the pitching staff but he’s pretty bad.
I’ve been reading Herrera is the person to be dealt the organization is in love with Bernal.
Setting up to trade Herrera?
Makes sense to me.
Cards are really high on Bernal, and Hererra probably brings a greater return. Shumaker’s input in play here!
I hope Barrera’s nickname is Yogi.
It’s actually “Tres” because he shares Felipe with his father and grandfather.
3 barriers, better than 2.
He could be the spokesman for Russ Hanneman’s Tres Comas Añejo Tequila.
Just when you think the cards are done for their off-season, they drop a bombshell like this
Well done, sir
Doesn’t hurt to have another catcher on hand before Spring Training. I don’t think this indicates any kind of impending trade. I would hold on to Knizner and Herrera.
Knizner’s numbers from last season look pretty bad on paper, but his playing time was inconsistent. I thought he was starting to show some signs of life offensively just about the time Yadi came back and assumed the bulk of the playing time. The entire lineup went cold in September. Defensively, I thought he was solid even if the metrics weren’t impressed. The pitchers seemed comfortable throwing to him. He’s the perfect back up for Contreras.
Herrera looked overmatched in his brief call up last year. Another year splitting time between Memphis and St. Louis is probably best for everyone.
I agree with your assessment. Solid defensive catcher to share the load in Memphis with Herrera and can be added to the 40 man if Kniz or Contreras are banged up. Kniz had a high 70 something wRC+ which horrible anywhere but catcher wasn’t terrible for the position and basically 30% better than Yadi was with th3 bat last season.
I’ve been wondering if the Cards should carry three catchers on the roster, as Contreras will often DH. A third catcher would all for a pinch hitter or injury replacement without giving up the DH for the remainder of the game.
I’ve been wondering if the Cards should carry three catchers on the roster, as Contreras will often DH. A third catcher would uh all for a pinch hitter or injury replacement without giving up the DH for the remainder of the game.
If there was still a catcher out there offered anything at all with the bat, maybe. But likely that Contreras won’t DH for us as much as he did with the Cubs with Gorman and Yepez on the team
Cardinals offseason has been dull.