North Shore Nine

MLB trade rumors speculated (link) on January 30th that Joey Bart could have played his way out of San Francisco and speculated the Pittsburgh Pirates could be a potential destination.  Now, the Pirates already have three catchers on the roster with Davis, Delay and Sanchez all in the fold.  Would a deal for Bart make any sense? It would greatly depend on a few things, how the Pirates feel about Bart and his previous performance, how much they trust the current trio? Finally, how much it would the cost be to acquire him?

To answer the last question first, not much.  Bart has fallen far from being taken #2 overall in the 2018 draft, at the age of 27 he has only logged 162 games spread across the last four seasons. He has not hit well during this time nor played good defense, hence why he is odd man out in the City by the Bay.  All of this points to him not being someone that you would need to break the bank for, a guess would say a simple swap of one of the Pirates 40-man for Bart. 

Based on that, someone like Alika Williams for example might work.  San Francisco does not have a lot of middle infielders on their 40 man, whereas the Pirates have a bevy of them, making this a potential easy to accomplish trade if the Giants see even a hint of upside in Williams.

The question is, how do the Pirates feel about Bart?  Based on the stats he has put together it might not be very highly.  Since his start in 2020 he has been slashing .219/.288/.335 with a .623 OPS with 16 doubles, 2 triples and 11 homeruns. To make matters worse in in his 457 at bats he struck out 178 times while only walking 32 times.  So far, all great selling points.  But he is a defensive whiz at least, right? Well, no, sadly he isn’t.  He started 134 games at catcher and subbed in over 18 more combining for a .990 fielding percentage and a 19% caught stealing. The cherry on top of this sundae is over that time he is also at -6 defensive runs saved above average, or in this case below average.  So not a lot to like when you look at the game play, it would be a bet on the change of scenery resurgence. But is it worth it for the Pirates to take a gamble on Bart or is the current crop good enough.

We know what we have with Delay, in his 127 games with the Pirates he has compiled a -.5 WAR while hitting .233/.293/.311 and a .604 OPS. Which is a similar offensive output to what Bart has done in his career, defensively is much the same in similarities.

When comparing the defensive metrics, Joey Bart for as much flack as he catches defensively is very similar to Delay. Now, we cannot as easily compare Sanchez or even Davis to Delay and Bart due to the lack of MLB experience, they both hold.  After many assertions that Davis will get a chance to catch, he did so for all of 2 innings in the 2023 campaign and is only scheduled to do more in 2024 due to the tragic Endy Rodriguez injury.  In the case of Sanchez, he has only played 41 major league innings at catcher, 32 of which came in 2020 with the New York Mets, and 9 the following year with the St. Louis Cardinals. Offensively between the two, Davis still projects to be a stronger offensive presence.   Whereas Sanchez, who projects solidly on the offensive side is as unproven as Davis or Bart.  Clearly, it appears the Pirates are not sold on Davis at catcher, and to be honest neither Bart, Delay or Sanchez probably tug their heartstrings much more.  So, what to do?
               

Make the deal, the upside versus the cost is too high. If Joey Bart can be acquired for a 40-man roster swap or less, a PTBL or low-level piece.  Then it is well worth the risk, especially when you look at one additional piece of information.  Over his career Bart generally slaps the ball into LF.  In 2022 he had a 38.3% pull rate, nearly 10 points higher than the MLB average.  PNC has a slightly shorter porch than Oracle and with the way it plays out in the gap in left center, it could be a good fit for Bart. It’s a gamble no matter what way you look at it, but it is a gamble worth rolling the dice on.