Just Say No To Jason Bartlett

Recently it's been reported that the Pirates are interested in Jason Bartlett of the Tampa Bay Rays. Sure this team could use an upgrade at SS, but would Bartlett help? I seriously doubt it.

Bartlett is about $4 million this year, Cedeno is a little over a million.

Bartlett and Cedeno literally had just about the same year last season.

Bartlett - .254/.324/.350
Cedeno - .256/.293/.382

Neither is a great base stealer but Cedeno is better. I don't disagree that he is better than Cedeno, but he sure as shit isn't 3 million better.

Especially defensively.

Bartlett was part of 58 DP last season, Cedeno was part of 68. Cedeno also had the added "Bonus" of having half his DP combo learning the position on the fly at the ML Level. Not to mention that Ronny Cedeno was just around league average in RF for the league (RF/9 of 4.43, RF/G of 4.15 for Cedeno, average was 4.31 and 4.27 respectively) and solidly better than Bartlett head to head (RF/9 of 3.76, RF/G of 3.52). Bartlett's RF has gone down 4 consecutive years. In fact I question if he can adequatley play the position at all.

Cedeno does get a bit bad rap, and rightfully so, he is a very mediocre player. He does have some good qualities. He flashes his tools from time to time, and has some decent power potential for his position. Bartlett has also been good, but he's also 30 years old. The chances of him improving, while not impossible, are very remote. The chances of him bouncing back more than a guy like J.J. Hardy are even lower.

He's just not worth the $3 million extra and any player we would have to give up.