Joey Bart has been a speculative trade candidate for at least a year. The Giants selected him with the #2 overall pick in the 2018 draft. A few months later, they changed front offices, tabbing Farhan Zaidi to lead baseball operations. Two seasons thereafter, the front office drafted another catcher in the top 15.
That player, Patrick Bailey, now seems the organization’s long-term answer. He reached the big leagues last year and impressed defensively. Bailey rated as a high-end framer and cut down an excellent 28.4% of basestealers. His bat faded after a hot start, but he was impressive enough behind the dish to secure a seventh-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year balloting.
Bart, on the other hand, has not performed at the level expected of such a high draft choice. He has rated as a below-average defender by most public metrics. In 503 MLB plate appearances spread over the last four seasons, he’s hitting .219/.288/.335. Bart has hit 11 home runs but has punched out in over 35% of his trips to the plate.
As a result, he hasn’t secured a lasting spot on the MLB roster. He spent most of last year’s second half on optional assignment to Triple-A Sacramento. Bart’s .248/.357/.393 showing in 244 plate appearances at the top minor league level was below-average. Having turned 27 last month, he’s running out of opportunities to establish himself.
With Bailey having clearly surpassed Bart on the depth chart, the latter was floated as a trade candidate last winter and in advance of the ’23 deadline. San Francisco never found an offer to their liking and held him as minor league depth. That’s no longer possible. Last season was Bart’s final option year. The Giants can’t send him back to Triple-A without first exposing him to waivers.
They have three possibilities: carry him on the MLB roster, waive him, or trade him. It’s unlikely they’ll choose the first course of action. The Giants added Tom Murphy on a two-year, $8.25MM free agent deal to serve as Bailey’s backup. Last year’s Rule 5 selection Blake Sabol is still on the 40-man roster, although he can now be optioned to the minors (which isn’t possible for a Rule 5 pick in their rookie season). Bart is arguably fourth on the organizational hierarchy. Unless San Francisco plans to carry three catchers, he’s not going to make the team barring a spring injury to Bailey or Murphy.
While there’s some chance that his stock has fallen to the point that San Francisco could simply run him through waivers, they’d surely prefer to recoup something in trade rather than risk losing him for nothing. While this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, we’ll highlight a few teams that might consider Bart an upgrade over their current backup catcher.
- Brewers: Milwaukee lost Víctor Caratini to the Astros in free agency. They already have their franchise catcher in William Contreras but could consider a depth addition. Milwaukee signed Eric Haase to a big league free agent deal. He’s currently penciled in for the job, but he signed for just $1MM and is coming off a dismal .201/.247/.281 showing in 89 games between the Tigers and Guardians. Haase is already 31 and not a highly-regarded defensive catcher, so the Brewers probably aren’t firmly committed to him holding the backup job. Bart’s mediocre framing metrics might not be a huge concern for a team that has done an excellent job developing the receiving skills of Omar Narváez and Contreras in recent years.
- Diamondbacks: Arizona is going into camp with a competition for the backup job behind Gabriel Moreno. The Snakes have added Tucker Barnhart and former highly-regarded prospect Ronaldo Hernández on minor league deals. They’re trying to push José Herrera, who is on the 40-man roster but only carries a .198/.272/.231 slash line at the MLB level. Herrera has one more option year.
- Marlins: New president of baseball operations Peter Bendix has made one addition behind the plate, acquiring Christian Bethancourt in a cash trade with the Guardians. He joins Nick Fortes, who hit just .204/.263/.299 last season, as the only catchers on the 40-man roster. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald wrote last week the Fish would be content with a Bethancourt-Fortes tandem, but they could jump on an opportunity to add Bart for a minimal cost. Fortes still has two options remaining.
- Pirates: Pittsburgh lost presumptive starter Endy Rodríguez for the season thanks to an elbow injury suffered in winter ball. Former first overall pick Henry Davis should get the majority of the playing time behind the dish. Pittsburgh’s backup options are Ali Sánchez (who is out of options but signed a major league deal in December) and Jason Delay. The Bucs would probably have to waive Sánchez if they add Bart. The question is whether they prefer the former’s defensive stability over the latter’s potentially higher ceiling.
- Rays: Tampa Bay is going to do something at catcher. Waiving Bethancourt left them with defensive specialist René Pinto as the only backstop on their 40-man roster. Rob Brantly and Alex Jackson are in the organization as non-roster players. The Rays typically emphasize defense behind the dish, so perhaps they’re not enamored with Bart, but no one has a clearer ability to carry him on the MLB team.
How would this be an upgrade for the brewers? Bart and Haase are the same bad player, right?
Haase is 31, at this point he is what he is. I’m sure some people still look at Bart and think there’s some small smidgeon of hope that he can develop into a better version of himself, based on the first round status and that he’s ‘slightly’ youthful (at least compared to Haase)
It’s not a fit. The Brewers also have Jeferson Quero, the 35th ranked prospect and #2 ranked catcher in the minors, who will be ready as soon as this year. Already great defensively and pretty solid with the bat.
Odd that Gary Sanchez is still unsigned.
No. Its not odd that Sanchez isn’t signed.
There is just so much to consider when signing a catcher vs any other position player to a one year contract.
If it’s any other position, you really just have to worry about is a guy a fit in the clubhouse and is he better than your current option. Catcher you have to consider the entire pitching staff. You may have a guy that cannot hit at all but the staff love so it’s not as simple as is player a better than player b.
A lot of teams bring their catchers along slowly for that very reason, catch one guy for a bit, then add guys in slowly. For a guy to be given the keys to the rotation he has to be very very special.
I don’t see the Pirates going for him.
The Guardians love their catchers. Vogt on it.
I don’t either but I like the idea.
Rays make sense they will probably add 2 catchers he could be one. Phillies I think are thin at catcher off the top of my head.
The Fightin’s already have Joey Bart, only his name is Garrett Stubbs (and he is a little older)
And the Phillies are hopeful Rafael Marchán will bounce back from missing some of last season.
the kid has potential and JT won’t last forever
Correct and JT will probably move to 1b in the future and Harper back to OF once he is fully confident in his elbow.
At this point in Bart’s career a change of scenery may be exactly what he needs; especially since Giants have given up on him.
Rays probably best landing spot for Bart. Rays have a way of turning players around
The Rays are the best choice.
A larger deal with Bart and something else for a good prospect who isn’t on the Rays 40 man, that’s the ticket.
Bart’s value is just so low that I don’t know how the Giants swing it for a good prospect since their roster just doesn’t have much that gives…impact. Maybe J.D. Davis if they sign Chapman but that doesn’t seem very on brand for the Rays.
My guess is he’s gonna end being a middling throw in for a bigger deal that the Giants put together with somebody. It’s hard to have too much catching in your minor league system, but he’s also not about to be a significant part of any deal that he’s in.
I wouldn’t be surprised if both he and Ramos were packaged with a better prospect For Someone in a position of need or a better prospect in a timeframe that works better. This org has sorry of begrudgingly brought along both Bart and Ramos even though it seems clear that not only did they not draft then but if it were to happen today would never have
My guess is they ship him for a non roster lottery ticket.
Zaidi will trade him for a versatile utility player no one has heard of. Then move that utility player to the starting rotation
Agree
Dave M I have a pressing legal issue please respond immediately
You think the inventor of Law would just respond here?
It’s worth a shot.
Yes my son, speak with me
Where does the sun go when it rains
Also, I have a troll impersonating me after following me from another site. Can I sue him? His name on here is “Joel P”
The answer to both your questions is the same:
Don’t worry about it, find something that relaxes you and chill
Joey needs to start looking at Florida real estate. Rays or Marlins look to be the best bet.
AAA slash line: 0.274 / 0.357 / 0.434
Moving to the MLB they lose about 18% of their production:
MLB expected slash line:: 0.225 / 0.293 / 0.356
Actual MLB slash line: .219 / .288 / .335
Pretty much bang on. Guy’s not an offensive catcher.at the MLB level and not a great defensive catcher either. Giants should really try and trade him and get whatever they can for him. Can’t see them rostering him in 2024 and doesn’t make sense to waive him and get nothing back for him.
He should be able to get a lotto ticket back for someone that needs a backup catcher.
Surprised Guardians were not mentioned. Austin Hedges is the only catcher that’s a major leaguer there. And that’s as a game caller/defensive player. He’s actually less than Bart with a bat.
Bo Naylor is on the roster and played significant ML time last year
But Hedges is stratopheres above Bart defensively. If your both bad with the bat, and bad defensively, are you really a catcher? For all the reasons SFG thinks he is a bust, every other team will think the same. With no options, he’s just a throw away player now. No value at all.
Naylor will probably be good. At least offensively.
His defense was fine last season.
Red Sox? They only have Connor Wong and Reese McGuire. Bart also makes no money, which they seem to be prioritizing.
Maybe the Rays… if not them, I think Bart might be cooked
Cubs dodged a bullet by not taking Bart in the Bryant trade. All the giants fans and Fo held on. Why would any team take Bart and a high salary in a loss of a prospect? Could be a garbage to garbage prospect swap.
What kind of “high salary” are you talking about? There’s no such factor with regards to Bart.
I did not see a Joey Bart speculation article coming…
I think MLBTR knows what teams generate the most clicks, and it seems the Giants must be one of them because you see a fair amount of fluff articles concerning the Giants on slow news days.
This is about the most depressing kind of story that gets posted here. This is only one step up from the obituaries.
Obits are one step up from my obit, imho.
Fine with Bart leaving at this point, but surprising to see him leave the org before Ramos.
Ramos is only 24 and does hit the ball hard. He may still have upside.
Hmmm, perhaps Bart, Ramos and one of Harrison, Beck or Winn to the Rays for Randy Arozarena?
Probably not close. I’d imagine Giants would need to include someone like Eldridge or Arias to this package for it to be seriously considered by the Rays.
No chance. As a fan of SF, Harrison is untouchable. Due to injuries (and being thin at SP in general) Winn and Beck are likely to make the team out of Spring Training and be starters this season as well.
The Opening Day rotation should be Webb, Harrison, Beck, Winn and Stripling (barf) at least to start the year. They’ll get Cobb and Ray back near the ASG and we’ll see what happens.
Let’s not forget Jordan Hicks. I don’t expect him to go deep into games early this season or at all but SFG used the opener/bulk innings thing quite a bit last year.
Also, I’m cautiously hopeful Stripling has a good year as he will then enter free agency one more time.
they did the opener/bulk innings last year under Kapler..not too sure if Melvin would be inclined to follow
Obviously the Stripling part of your comment didn’t age well.
I don’t understand how the Giants think they will make Hicks a viable part of a Starting Rotation. He’s injury prone and when he does pitch its for an inning or two. Big time gamble.
“…one of Harrison, Beck, or Winn…” implies those 3 are of somewhat equal value. Nothing can be further from the truth. Harrison alone is worth more than Arozarena, because of his extra years of control. Giants wouldn’t make that trade.
I’ll amend my post to say that Arozarena, and Harrison are close to equal value. But I stand by my belief that the Giants would not trade Harrison straight up for Arozarena. As good as Arozarena is, Harrison is a potential #1, with more years of team control. As Zaidi himself said, he couldn’t imagine any scenario of him trading Harrison.
Don’t forget Arozarena is an arbitration player player with a lot of counting stats. The rays traded their most valuable player $$ wise already in glasnow to trim costs. Especially with the what if of WF scenario I could see the rays more motivated to move Arozarena who’s energy I love and think would be a great fit for any team especially in Latin heavy clubhouses.
5TUNT1N, Yeah, I’d love it if the Giants could acquire Arozarena, but not for Harrison, even straight up. I think the Rays would do that, but the Giants wouldn’t.
If you remove Bart from your proposal, it would look more enticing to the Rays.
Harrison is going nowhere. But something else could be worked out.
I think Bart, Ramos, and Winn could get it done
Bart for a bag of peanuts?
Maybe for the shells?
Pretty refreshing not to see a ton of shitposting on the Giants for having a washed up prospect.
Hi Andy, I stopped posting because the vitriol here towards Zaidi and anything Giants related was ridiculous.
I opened the comments with great trepidation tonight. Glad it’s mellow so far. I prefer intelligent discussion over the frothing at the mouth stupidity often posted here.
Poor Joey was a pick by the previous regime and then had an uneven development, I’d love to see him packaged in a trade. All the best to him in the future. Baseball is hard!
Agnes, please don’t let these chicken Littles keep you from posting. Yes, it has gotten bad, especially the disgusting attacks on anyone who chooses not to fall in line with the antiFZ vitriol. And the attacks on the man himself. I’ll converse with you anytime. Ignore the Teds and the Scotts. We can harken back to preFZ days of 98 losses, a bottom 5 farm system, and killer multiyr contracts. Who can forget the Melancon contract. And who remembers how FZ got Atlanta to take on Melancons albatross contract. The sad thing is that much of the FZ hatred is based on his looks, his name, and ultimately, believe it or not, his MIT level of intelligence. My post will encourage ignorant responses. Expect them. “what’s he done in 5 years”. All the halfwits will chime in. BUT, we can ignore them Agnes. We can talk about getting Snell and Chapman. Cuz that’s happening. We can listen to the “why no effort to sign Hoskins?”. Go Giants Gooch
Thank you Claude! You are the best! Omg, the Melancon trade! And don’t forget Pomeranz!
I’m still really stoked on our future, I think a few more kids will break out this year. It feels like forever since we saw a baseball game, pitchers & catchers report in about two weeks! Can. Not. Wait!!!!
They should trade Bart then get Sanchez (Gary). He’s inconsistent, but one of the better catching bats. The majority of catchers are utterly horrible with the bat for some reason. They can see it to catch the ball, but can’t see it to hit it.
Giant don’t need Sanchez. They’re fine with Bailey, Murphy and Sabol.
Sanchez was on the Giants before and opt out, pretty hard for both parties to even think about a reunion
@Andy,
The trolls are literally exhausted from shitposting about street poop. You can’t make this poop up.
Shhhhhh !
The trolls are sleeping.
Please don’t wake them up it’s been nice.
Brewers also signed Austin Nola
He’s A’s future cleanup hitter that R Albuquerque.
Another example of how difficult scouting can be. Bart was a polished college player. Checked all the boxes.
He may still be polished skill wise. Possibly getting drafted that high got in his head/psyched him out. Get a fresh start with another organization. That said, IMO, too risky to trade for thus waiver wire candidate.
I 100% agree, I think mgmt messed up huge bringing him up in 2020 instead of letting him go with the top prospects to their C19 training. He wasn’t ready, he came up to a fan base that was expecting the next Posey and he never got a real shot. I think he starts fresh somewhere else and has a solid career. TB would be great for him, no expectations of him becoming a HOFer there and he can work his way up in the lineup.
I think this whole non-story is non-sense. Regarding the Dbacks as a possible trade partner? First, although Barf wouldn’t move the needle for any team, it would still be a trade within the same division, which is often frowned upon. Second, in Arizona Barf would compete with three other non-descript catcher for the backup role to Moreno, and would definitely place last in that competition. So where is there any upside or rationale for the Dbacks to even get involved? The answer is there is absolutely zero likelihood the Dbacks are a possible trade partner or landing spot for a flyer on Barf. The Dbacks are competing for a postseason berth not participating in sign with the hope to trade someone at mid-season or in this case take on a reclamation project in the hopes that a pile of s#!? Becomes a diamond by the all Star break. Move on to a real rumor.
Wouldn’t it be funny if Barf ends up having a better year than Morono?
Then Morono would have to sing that song from the Simpsons: Do the Barf Man!
Barf? That’s some funny stuff especially the “pile of s#!?” reference. Good work Scattaz. Geez, I’m sorry for the typo calling you scatt when your name is scatt. Damn. Sorry, did it again. I accidently called you scatt. I’ll stop now. Again, sorry for the typos.
Joey Bart is a bust.
I think having to follow Posey got in his head. He has some tools. Has some power and a cannon for an arm. Maybe with the right coaching he could turn it around. Has to stay healthy though and that’s been a problem.
I think that would add some pressure but posey opting out of 2020 forcing Bart to be called up likely didn’t help him at all either. People always seem surprised that the giants catcher from a decade ago didn’t pan out, which I can understand being a #2 but it’s more fun to watch the guys who are drafted in late rounds rise and shine in MLB. More fun and surprising for me than a #2 that didn’t make it as a starter, seems like a guy who could be a nick hundley type if he’s lucky.
BART seems like a good fit with the White Sox, who have nothing to lose!
BART doesn’t go further east than Antioch.
I don’t see any of these 5 teams being realistic trade partners for Bart. This is a real reach for a posted article. Credibility is easily lost when such ridiculousness is posted.
The Rays and Marlins make a lot of sense, why wouldn’t they take a shot on him? He’ll come cheap, he’s only 27, they have no one there that’s any better. You give him a chance in a new place away from all the idiots that expected him to be the next Posey and maybe he gets to have a nice solid career.
I’d say his expiration date is coming. Sucks for him but he will get opportunities. What’s Sixto Sanchez up too? Swap of what could’ve beens?
When your highest hope is to be Gary Sanchez with less power, its not much of a hope.
If Bart goes to Tampa Bay, he will probably be top 5 in Cy Young voting.
I’d take Bart on the Pirates in a heartbeat. Give him time at full tome catcher, Davis takes his days off and plays RF. When Endy returns then you can make a decision then.
Bart to Pitt let’s go.
A’s.
Texas seems like a good fit. With Garver gone they need a backup and Bochy always liked Joey.
Boch can sign Belt and trade for Bart, get the boys back together and go fishin’
I’ve said it since they were thinking of doing it in 2020, bringing Bart up was a mistake, he wasn’t ready, barely had a few hundred Minor League ABs at that point and should have been left to work it with the other top prospects in AZ thst year and most of 2021. The fact that so many Giants fans expected him to be the next Posey but unrealistic expectations on him. I think trading him to TB and giving him a clean slate somewhere where there isn’t HOF Catcher expectations would be great for him. Potentially adding Hunter Bishop (who also probably needs a change of environment) in the trade maybe they get back a decent lower level prospect.