The San Francisco Giants made a major change to their roster, trading starting catcher Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Giants. The move immediately creates space for recently called up Jesus Rodriguez to take over in San Francisco.
As for the guards, it adds depth to a team that already had three starters in David Frye, Austin Hedges and Bo Naylor, but Naylor's struggles this season kept him off the roster. He was sent to Triple-A in an effort to improve Cleveland's defensive issues behind the plate.
Is Bailey's best behind him?
This is a fair question. Backstop, some of the best (if not the best) games though. Best in the game) defensive metrics, has never been a particularly powerful bat. Bailey has a career .224 batting average and has hit only 22 home runs over three seasons in MLB.
However, the thing is. For a catcher, that's not terrible production. This is about average. For any other offensive player, this is a terrible mark. But catchers in baseball exist in a strange place. As long as their defense and their ability to manage their pitching staff is solid, most teams are willing to attack aggressively.
That being said, it's always great to have a catcher who can rake. Look at guys like Will Smith, Cal Raley or even former Giants catcher Buster Posey. They are assets to their teams in many ways besides defense, but they are anomalies when it comes to catching groups in MLB.
Underlying metrics hint at potential change
Bailey has struggled at the plate for a long time, but behind the dish he is ahead of everyone else. He has won two gold medals, has a lifetime .992 fielding percentage and is ranked in the 100th percentile via Statcast in framing and pop time (1.86 seconds). He is a key catcher for whichever team he is on.
But can he kill? It is possible. Bailey has had a disappointing start with San Francisco this season. So far, he has put up a .146/.213/.183 slash line. This resulted in a ridiculously poor 16 wRC+ (where 100 is average). But, despite that line, there is hope here. Bailey's weighting on base average (wOBA) is .190, but his expected weighting (xwOBA) is a more respectable .283 mark.
this is one Big Difference. It's possible that Cleveland is betting on Bailey's bat to play out as the underlying metrics suggest. Either way, the club receives an elite backstop to handle its pitching staff.
san francisco building for the future
It's safe to say that this season hasn't started as well as it could have for the Giants. In the first year of new manager Tony Vitello's tenure, the club has a record of 15–23 and are in fifth place in the National League West entering Saturday. It's hard to see a club as talented as this one struggling so much.
But the recent call-ups of top prospects Bryce Aldridge and Jesus Rodriguez have signaled a change for San Francisco. It seems the group now wants to use this moment to give their young players time to acclimate to MLB. Barring injury or an unexpected trade, they could benefit next season with Aldridge and Rodriguez joining the roster.
Wilkinson's stint in the minors offers hope
It's not a perfect reconstruction, but it's something like that. The trade of Bailey for Matt Wilkinson and a draft pick further adds to this argument. Wilkinson is a very talented young pitcher at the Double-A level in the Minors. So far this season, he has a 1.59 ERA in 28 1/3 innings. That performance could soon get him promoted to the Triple-A level in the Giants' system.
It's also possible that, if San Francisco falls even further out of contention, Wilkinson could be called up late in the season to get some big league reps. The possibility of this still remains to be seen, but it is certainly a possibility.
Either way, this is a move that should be encouraging to Giants fans, not the other way around. It's not like President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey is saying he has already quit the year before, it's a move that seems prudent. San Francisco is expecting its young players to step up and prove themselves. Only time will tell if that strategy pays off.
