The Padres have signed left-handed pitcher Buddy Baumann to a Major League contract and designated catcher Josmil Pinto for assignment, according to a team announcement. The Padres had claimed Pinto off waivers from the Twins earlier this month.
Baumann, 28, has spent his entire career to date in the Royals organization, having been Kansas City’s seventh-round pick back in the 2009 draft. The Missouri State product has never reached the Major Leagues, though he does have outstanding numbers at the Triple-A level across the past three seasons. In that time, Baumann has a 3.04 ERA with 9.1 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 in 216 innings of work. Baumann has worked in both the rotation and the bullpen at Triple-A Omaha, though he spent the bulk of 2015 in a relief role, with just six starts and 28 relief appearances. In 2015, Baumann held opposing lefties to a comically feeble .148/.225/.222 batting line. His 2013-14 numbers against lefties weren’t quite as dominant, but he still held same-handed opponents to an OPS around .600 in that time. Baumann could compete for a spot in the Padres’ bullpen, though he can also be optioned to Triple-A if he doesn’t make the club out of Spring Training.
Pinto, 27, was once viewed as Minnesota’s possible catcher of the future due to his outstanding bat in the minors and in his first September call-up back in 2013. Pinto raked at Double-A and Triple-A in ’13, hitting a combined .309/.400/.482 with 15 homers before earning a September promotion and announcing his presence with a .342/.398/.566 performance in that month-long audition. Pinto, however, was always viewed as a poor defender behind the plate, so when his bat began to slip in 2014 and 2015, his future was called into question. He hit just .219/.315/.391 in 57 games with the Twins in 2014, and his 2015 season was marred by concussions and poor performance at the Triple-A level, where he batted just .228/.304/.354 in 68 games.
AAAA guy and pinto has potential
Padres have too many catchers to experiment with Pinto.. esp since he has no minor league options left.
True I forgot about the options
Not a bad move. Pinto was gonna have to be DFA’d sooner or later anyway.
The Dodgers have Kershaw. The D-Backs sign Greinke. The Giants acquire Cueto. And the Padres get…Buddy Baumann.
We have Cashner Ross and Shields you idiot.
There’s always the chance one(or more) of them will be traded.
Also, that’s not a very nice thing to say.
First off, you are incredibly rude and obviously a very ignorant person. But you can’t fix stupid, I suppose. Second, Cashner was pretty bad last year and he really isn’t more than a 3. Shields the same (maybe a very low end 2 on his infrequent best days, but with what appears to be a declining skill-set). But more than that, the point is that the Pads and Preller spend their nut on Kemp and Shields last year (and maybe even Upton and Kimbrel – hello Melvin), and those bad moves have extremely hamstrung the organization from being able to make any substantive moves this year beyond addition by subtraction (i.e. like trading Ross, etc.). But really, how can I expect someone like you, with the IQ of a gnat, to get any of that?
Intended for Yougotpetcoed, of course.
A little defensive aren’t you? Other teams that finished ahead of us in our division are adding top-flight pitchers and the Padres are adding AAA LOOGY’s. People have every right to give the Padres a little grief.
That’s because, as Beyou was trying to explain, the Padres dot necessarily have the financial flexibility to sign someone like Grienke or Cueto right now.
Did you hear that swooshing sound? It was the point of my post going over your head.
No, I got the point. You are not happy that the Padres don’t sign a top flight starter and instead are having to go for AAAA guys like this one. I was just trying to say that there is a reason they can’t do that right now, and it involves money.
Thanks for the support guys. It just burns me up when people are offensive and condescending in here for no reason (like Yougotpetcoed was). There is just no need for that. Thanks again.
Lefty specialist that has never made it past AAA. OK. The roster is set now.
Yep. It’s entirely reasonable to assume that’s the front office’s thinking. At least in comparison to a lot of the ridiculous things you write. Still waiting for a response on the you-vs.-sentient baseball analyst side-by-side. Or the comparison of your “thoughts” on Kershaw to the thoughts of Fangraphs writers, Neyer and others. Or your brilliant insights on giving Kennedy a QO. Or…
The Padres just filled a 40 man spot with a 28-year-old guy that at best is a LOOGY and he has never pitched above AAA.
I am hoping that like the Pinto situation, the Padres will be adding more bullpen pieces in the months to come and will DFA Baumann or another of the AAAA pieces we have on the roster today, but I am not going to hold my breath. It’s obvious from the picks ups and four Rule V draft picks that we have no money to work with and Preller is grasping at straws hoping for a miracle. That may be why Sports Future Books around the world, guys that have hundreds of million on the line not to mention their jobs, are predicting the Padres to be one of the 5 worst teams in baseball as of today.
Since you don’t know why I am or what my qualifications are, it only makes you look bad when you attempt to hurl insults. Instead, maybe you should ask nicely for input and discuss the points intelligently.
It’s not like the regular season starts tomorrow. There’s still plenty of time left for them to make more moves and/or signings.
For someone who calls themselves a Fan, you seem quite cynical. It’s understandable up to a point, but it gets excessive.
ya i dont get it – cant imagine watching a game with him
Very true. The season doesn’t start tomorrow. I am being realistic based on the comments of three people, Preller, Dee, and Fowler.
As of right now, the team has taken a huge step backward from the 74 win team we got to watch on the field last season. Let’s go over some of the key points.
Let’s start with pitching. Our closer, one of the top 2-3 in the game, and our best setup man are both gone in trades. Another of our setup men, Kelley, left in free agency. Our bullpen which was weak last year, 13th in the NL, has lost its 3 top pitchers with no major league quality replacements. All of our returning pitchers had regressions in performance with Norris behind the plate last season.
In the outfield, our situation is better but nearly as confusing as last year. We have an $18.25 million RF that was barely above replacement level overall because he played the very worst defense in baseball at the position. We have 2 CF that will make a total of $22.3 million and neither is above league average and one is coming off a serious injury that typically takes hitters two seasons to recover from. Our starting LF is up in the air. We have either no starting 1B or no starting LF, depending on where Myers plays. We may just have a Rule V draft pick manning LF on opening day if we take what Preller has said publicly at face value.
Myers has never played a full season in the majors because of injuries and we are counting on him to carry a huge part of our offense in 2016. Our infield defense which was bad with Alonso, who is one of the best fielders at his position in baseball, is worse today. 2B and 3B are being manned by utility players, neither of which would be a starter on any other team. We still don’t have a shortstop and will have to give up an important piece of our team to get one, making a weak team weaker at another position. We just traded pitching for a second backup catcher who can’t hit.
We have 4 Rule V draft picks, a record amount since it was instituted, two of which Preller has said will compete for starting positions on the team and both of which he has said he expects to make the 25 man roster coming our of spring training.
And now we signed a LOOGY on an MLB contract, taking up a 40 man roster spot, that has never pitched above AAA even though he is 28 years old.
Have I pretty much summed up how our 2016 season looks as of today? Please clear up for me what about the facts of our current situation is being cynical?
Well, congrats. You managed to say only three patently absurd things (Alonso as a great defensive first baseman; Spangenberg as a utility player who wouldn’t start elsewhere; and the voices in your head you mistook for Preller’s non-existent comments on two of the Rule 5 guys being starters) in this one, so you’re certainly doing better than most of your writing.
Aside from that, the major hole in your overarching approach is thinking that the roster today is what it will look like on February 12 when pitchers and catchers show up in Peoria, or April 1. But you’ve seemed to be much more interested in self-certitude than understanding either the business or sport of baseball, so there’s probably not much to be done on that front.
Top 10 name in baseball. Up there with Buddy Boshers (ironically another lefty specialist)
Its gonna be ok. A J is not finished yet
Jos MEEEL!