Beerleaguer's coverage of the Bako deal continues

With the signing of Paul Bako, the Phillies have an overabundance of experienced catching inventory. It's enough to make you wonder.

Maybe it's just a minor move for catching depth. Or maybe it's more. Frankly, the Bako signing is so odd, it's hard to ignore. Consider this "what if?" What if they're planning on making Chris Coste strictly a right-handed bench bat? The Phillies need a right-handed hitter, and solving the problem internally by freeing up Coste isn't just an economic solution in the tradition of Phillies' quick fixes, it's likely the best they can do considering that sellers don't exist six weeks into the season.

As nomadic as his career has been, it's a little surprising that Bako hasn't caught on somewhere when experienced catching is at a premium. He's an atrocious hitter, but he's a bonafide backup, good enough to earn 338 plate appearances last season in Cincinnati. That's 33 more than Coste got in '08.

So when you consider where he might fit into the catching mix, it's hard to see an assignment to Double-A, or even Triple-A, considering he hasn't had a regular stay in the minors since 1999.

Notes: J.C. Romero surrendered a run on two hits in an inning of work in his first appearance with Lehigh Valley. He also struck out two. For those keeping tabs on Gary Majewski, he also pitched in the game, giving up a pair of runs over two innings. His ERA has ballooned to 4.22. Infielder Miguel Cairo has accepted a minor league assignment, according to a report on the Phillies' Web site. It is not yet reported which Phillies affiliate he will report to, but Lehigh Valley, which featured a Pablo Ozuna occupying the No 3 hole tonight, is a good bet.

Comments

[danger lad]

Was he ever Chan Ho Park's personal catcher?

[B-Mac]

I tend to view this as a move to give the Phillies decide to move Marson in a trade. With D'Arnaud, Gossewich, Valle, and Naughton sputtering in the lower levels, I imagine Ruben wanted to have a veteran presence in case of Marson's trade or a long term injury to Coste or Ruiz.

[Steve Jeltz]

I'm pretty sure the reason Twitter was created was so we can get continuous updates on the Paul Bako story.

[king myno]

If you look around the league, a lot of team have Paul Bakos of their own at backup catcher. The idea that he could be OUR Paul Bako isn't completely absurd, IMO.

[Andy]

Yeah. And now I can't get that stupid Gabriel song out of my head. Thanks, Rube.

[MG]

Thing that surprised me when I first looked at Bako - his 30% K rate last year. Guess Bako swing long . . .

[Goody]

I advocated for 3 catchers all during ST so that Coste(or Paulino at the time) could be the RH bench bat, and was shot down by everyone. It's not the long term answer, but it couldn't be worse than Cairo.

[Andy]

The only problem with Bako as the official back-up catcher, in order to free up Coste as the RHB off the bench, is that sometimes the back-up catcher has to bat, too. But I guess that means that when Coste started a game, Chooch would be the RHB.

Mackinin at some point: "No, Paul...they're actually saying 'Cheewwwww.' Really...."

[Andy]

Goody - If you had suggested keeping Cairo as the RHB off the bench, it would've been shot down faster/harder.

[Goody]

Maybe our bullpen catchers are getting burned out.

[J.R. King]

No one in the organization wants to bring up Mayberry to be the righthanded bat because it would stunt his development. Here's a question for the minor league scouts in the crowd: Is Mayberry really going to develop into anything?

Larry Anderson and the other mlb.com announcers seemed impressed with him during Spring Training. But I have doubts about his long term ability to play at the major league level for one reason: Texas sent him in exchange for Greg Golson, a guy who looked completely and totally lost at the plate.

If the guy isn't going to develop into an everyday player, but he's a better option off the bench than Chris Coste, what's the harm in bringing him up? Any thoughts?

[AWH]

"If you look around the league, a lot of team have Paul Bakos of their own at backup catcher. The idea that he could be OUR Paul Bako isn't completely absurd, IMO."

Your Majesty,

I have been posting that very thought for over a year. The lack of depth at the catching position at the MLB level is matched only by the lack of pitching depth, and may, in fact, be worse.

This is why I have said that we fans should count our blessings in that the Phils have both Chooch and Coste. Neither one is a superstar, but both are better than just about any MLB backup out there.

AAMOF, I posted before that Coste was #27 in RBI among ALL mlb catchers last season despite getting only limited playing time. That's pretty good for the guy you thought was your BACKUP.

And I emphasize: BACKUP.

The Phils are pretty fortunate. Both of their catchers can get hot from time to time (Chooch's OPS the last 5 games is 1.216; Coste's May OPS is 1.233[6 games]) and really help the team. If they get good defense out of the catchers then maybe they can live with the streakiness.

There has been, however, much speculation here as to whether Coste has "lost" it. By the end of the season we should have a pretty good idea.

[Mac Tonight]

Ruiz, Coste and Bako in "The Three Amigos"

"In a way, each of us has a Paul Bako to face. For some, shyness might be their Paul Bako. For others, a lack of education might be their Paul Bako. For us, Paul Bako is a big, dangerous catcher who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Mac Tonight, the people of Beerleaguer can conquer their own personal Paul Bako, who also happens to be the actual Paul Bako..."

[J.R. King]

I don't think they intend to add Bako to the major leaguer roster. This quote from assistant GM Scott Proefrock says it all: “Paul has ... gives us the opportunity to add greater catching depth to our system.”

That sounds like minor league inventory rather than a way to allow Coste to be the elusive righthanded bat.

[bay_area_phan]

Paul Bako's "role" with the Phillies is to be the organization's #4 catcher. The only way he will ever see the major league roster is: (1) as a September call-up; (2) if Marson is traded in July and Coste or Ruiz subsequently gets injured; or (3) if Ruiz & Coste are having tea together and someone puts poison in the tea, causing both to fall ill for 2 weeks.

I know we like to dissect minutiae at Beerleaguer but, even in that context, I'd say this move is being seriously over-analyzed. The assistant GM said that they acquired him for organizational depth. This is one time that I think the Phillies actually mean what they say. If they have bigger plans for Paul Bako, then I shudder for the future of this organization.

[tg082]

Church should have just scored the go ahead run for the Metropolitans in the 10th, but was thrown out on an appeal to third base. You have to love this team.

[denny b.]

The Mets just blew a game in LA, with awful defense.

That is an advantage, that the Phils certainly have on them (along with several intangibles).

"Is Mayberry really going to develop into anything?"

Well, why don't we be proactive for once with our young players, and actually give him a shot, to sink or swim? This organization's ULTRA conservative mindset with young players, is maddening at times.

Here is one thing for certain....Mayberry would be a immediate upgrade over Miggy Cairo on the Phils bench. Of course, that is not saying much.

Bring him up for interleague play, and give him some time as a DH, against lefties. He certainly has shown in ST and in LV, he can hit the ball out of the park and drive in runs. He runs pretty well. He has a plus arm too, for defenisve purposes. Why not, at this point? He's 26 years old. Give him a shot.

[J.R. King]

Out on an appeal to first? Wow. Just wow.

Phillies now have a percentage point lead in the National League East with 2 games in hand. For all the pre-season talk about the East being a tough division, it's been weak thus far.

[J.R. King]

Edit: appeal to third

[J.R. King]

The Mets also lost the game on a throwing error by new firstbaseman Jeremy Reed. Mark Loretta was a dead duck at home but Reed threw low and outside and handed the game to the Dodgers.

Rooting against the Mets is its own reward.

[acewpk]

This is why MetsBlog is weak: an awful loss by the team, the fans on the comment boards are predictably unhappy... and MetsBlog shuts off the comments.

I'm a Mets fan, btw.

[mikes77phillies]

As i said in the last thread, I think Paul Bako will be on the Major league team when interleague play starts. I can see him being called up Saturday. The Phillies will use Matt Stairs as the DH on Friday against AJ Burnett. They'll use Chris Coste as the DH on Saturday vs Petite and Sunday vs Sabathia. Bako just needs to serve as a warm body in case of injury to Carlos Ruiz. Evidently Hoover, in AAA, is'nt showing enough for even that.

FWIW, I would rather they call up John Mayberry, play him in LF and bat him 9th, and use Raul Ibanez as the DH.

[mikes77phillies]

As i said in the last thread, I think Paul Bako will be on the Major league team when interleague play starts. I can see him being called up Saturday. The Phillies will use Matt Stairs as the DH on Friday against AJ Burnett. They'll use Chris Coste as the DH on Saturday vs Petite and Sunday vs Sabathia. Bako just needs to serve as a warm body in case of injury to Carlos Ruiz. Evidently Hoover, in AAA, is'nt showing enough for even that.

FWIW, I would rather they call up John Mayberry, play him in LF and bat him 9th, and use Raul Ibanez as the DH.

[AWH]

acewpk, you are right about metsblog being weak, but not for that reason alone. They will also edit out certain posts, especially posts with links imbeded. That happened to me once.

Cerrone seems to have sold his soul with the affiliation with SNY. He probably cannot let the board get to negative or his bosses will scold him or cut the cash flow.

Actually, when you think about it, the difference between metsblog and BeerLeaguer really is a microcosm for the difference in the mental toughness between the two teams:

The Phillies, tried and tested by the crucible that is Philly - represented by BL, are mentally tough and up to the challenge.

The Mets.....well, despite the underserved reputation NY has as a tough place to play, just like metsblog or a college campus with a speech code, the Mets have lived in an insulated little world of sugar plum fairies and new age motivational tapes.

As a result, when it's "Cash Money Time" and they have to gut something out, they fold and take the last of their money home rather than doubling down.

If you can play in Philly, you can play anywhere. If you can post and survive on BL, you can do it anywhere.

If you play in Ny or post on metsblog.......

[EastFallowfield]

Those mEts blog comments are pretty reasonable, before they were turned off.

All they said was that Church and Castro should be released and Manuel fired.

[Dickie Thon]

Can some of you baseball gods explain me this? I think it was last year that Golson was tearing up spring training - in the few games i looked in on he seemed to be doing well in the field and was getting on base. Yet you experts insisted that he wasnt ready and couldn't hit. From what I see from his MLB stats, he has now had a total of 7 MLB at bats - and zero hits and is undergoing reassignment (presumably the baseball sort). Texas apparently gave him one AB in the show. So, my questions are:

1. what could they possibly have hoped to get from his one AB? Even if it was a bunt homerun, what exactly is the point of a sample size of one AB? (Ok, a bunt jack would be impressive).

2. how is it that even though he seemed to be doing well in ST, you guys insisted that he couldn't hit. certainly his 7 MLB at bats are not evidence for much of anything, but yet this consensus seems to be somewhat universal. Where are the conclusions drawn from?

Thanks

[NEPP]

Short answer on Golson: Scouting reports and decades of experience with players that the coaching staffs have.

[loctastic]

i'm on the edge of my virtual seat with this paul bako coverage, keep up the good work!

[clout]

Put me down as someone who says there's no way the Phillies will carry 3 catchers. To do that would make Eric Bruntlett both the 4th outfielder (Stairs is really a DH) and the backup infielder at SS and 2B.

Ain't gonna happen.

[JB]

Another conspiracy theory is maybe he is a good game manager as a catcher to help develop the young arms.

It was highly reported that the F.O. brass was at Reading recently and maybe they noticed a need for a more polished catcher to get these guys more show-ready.

Or perhaps he has some pictures of Jr on his I-phone from Vegas.

[EastFallowfield]

Yo, new thread

[Phylan]

Personally I hope this is an indication that Rube plans to get rid of Coste and call up Marson long-term but I have no reason to be optimistic about that.