The Reds and catcher Tucker Barnhart have discussed the possibility of him returning to Cincinnati, according to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.
Barnhart, of course, has spent the vast majority of his career in the Reds’ organization, having been drafted by them back in 2009. He made it to the big leagues in 2014 and stayed with the team through the end of the 2021 campaign. The club had a $7.75MM club option to keep him around for 2022 but flipped him to the Tigers instead, the lone season he’s spent in a different organization so far.
Sheldon notes that Barnhart, who turns 32 in January, is still looking for a job as a primary catcher, which would likely mean that returning to the Reds would only happen if he fails to find that full-time job he’s looking for. The Reds have Tyler Stephenson atop their depth chart, though he only played 50 games in 2022 due to various injuries, including a concussion, a broken thumb and a broken clavicle. The depth options that the club used in Stephenson’s absence have all since been jettisoned from the roster, meaning they will have to find a backup and some depth, either from their own system or via external additions. That makes their interest in Barnhart fairly sensible.
However, from Barnhart’s point of view, it makes sense that he would look for a starting job before settling for a backup role. His numbers mostly went in the wrong direction in 2022, but he has a long track record that combines quality glovework with a bat just a bit below league average. His career batting line of .221/.287/.267 amounts to a wRC+ of 80. That means he’s been 20% below league average overall but catchers generally hit at a lower level than the rest of the league. The combined batting line for all catchers in 2022 was .226/.295/.367 for a wRC+ of 89. On the other side of his game, Defensive Runs Saved has given Barnhart a 14 in his career. FanGraphs’ framing metric has given him a negative number overall but thinks he’s improved and has been much kinder over the past four seasons.
The free agent market contains a few names above Barnhart, such as Willson Contreras and Christian Vázquez. But then there’s a tier of flawed but passable options, including Omar Narvaez, Gary Sánchez, Austin Hedges, Barnhart and others. The trade market could feature Sean Murphy as well as the Toronto trio of Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk and Gabriel Moreno.
There are various teams who are either known to be looking for catching help or are sensible fits for it, including the Cardinals, Astros, Giants, Tigers, Cubs, Brewers, Twins, Diamondbacks, Guardians and more. Barnhart and his representatives will likely be reaching out to those clubs and assessing their interest first, but it seems like he could circle back to the Reds as a fallback option if that search doesn’t pan out.
Tyler Stephenson is Devin Mesoraco 2.0. There is no way he will ever be healthy enough to be a full time starting catcher in MLB.
He’s way better than Devin Mesoraco.
I think you might be forgetting just how good Mesoraco was. He was an All Star before his injury. Stephenson is not AS level yet.
Stephenson is All-Star level already, IMO. Problem is NL has some pretty good catchers at the moment. He’s not far below guys like Contreras, Smith, and Realmuto.
I agree. Alot of people forget that the Reds had both Mesoraco and Yasmani Grandal coming up at the same time. They thought enough of Mesoraco to trade away Grandal. For the first couple years they were correct until the injury ruined him.
He has had one full season of 2 WAR. 2022, he only played a third of a season. Yes he was “on pace” for a 5 WAR year, but he didn’t actually do it. I believe he has the potential to be an All Star barring injury, but he is not there yet. And with his injuries already mounting, it’s highly unlikely he ever reaches his full potential.
There’s not much support for your declaration that “it’s highly unlikely (TS) ever reaches his full potential “. Stephenson had a few fluke injuries in 2022, but the only one that has any real chance of impacting him going forward is the possibility of another concussion. It’s not like he has, for instance, recurring back problems. It’s more unlikely that there are any lingering effects from those injuries.
There is not much support for Tyler Stephenson already being at AS level either, but that doesn’t stop people from buying it.
He’ll be a first baseman after Votto retires, mark my words.
I would get Barnhart under contract and alternate the three of them between C, 1B and DH if Votto is healthy. If so, this is probably his last season anyway.
Stevenson to first is a lock. Reds need a catcher. I thought for sure they’d end up w hitter from blue jays system but took marte/arroyo package instead.
Stephenson isn’t moving to first base. When healthy, he is a top five catcher, as a first baseman, he would be in the bottom third.
Spot on. The TS to first base talk is nonsense. It would only happen as a last resort.
They need to keep the kid healthy, so I do think he gets moved to 1st.
He also has experience playing 1st. I like the rotation idea with Votto.
Would you have moved Johnny bench to third base in the prime of his career? I would hope not. You don’t convert a stud catcher into an average first baseman. You just don’t do it.
Better he moves than be lost completely due to multiple concussions.
Johnny Bench didn’t have multiple concussions in the early part of his career.
Besides, there was only one Bench. I wouldn’t put that kind of pressure on any young man to try to compare them to the greatest all around catcher ever.
Before you get, Nostradamus, can I get the lotto numbers, please?
Sure. Go spend your entire savings account on every combination with the numbers 3, 8, and 31. You’ll not regret it.
Hiflew, does this work for the Fantasy 5 in CA as well? If so let me know. I got about 3 hours to go grab a ticket.
Sorry, my predictions are not applicable in California or Oregon. Silly state laws.
Oh please he had a couple of injuries last year.
That’s why they are probably going to move him to first
The Reds have exactly ONE catcher on the 40 man roster: Tyler Stevenson. He’s not moving to first anytime soon.
Another year of nagging injuries in 23 for TS may change your mind about moving to 1B
I was for bringing back Tucker until I read he is looking for a starting role. I don’t blame him for that, I would do the same. Only sign him if he understands it’s a backup gig. We don’t need drama in the clubhouse.
No it wouldn’t. Would Yadier Molina be a potential Hall of Famer at any other position but catcher? Nope.
When you have a stud catcher you keep them at the position as long as they want and as long as you can.
Easy answer, Molina shouldn’t be considered a potential HOFer. His career OPS+ is 96. He was below average for his career. His closest career comps are AJ Pierzynski, Benito Santiago, Bob Boone, and Jason Kendall. All fine catchers, but I don;t anyone is advocating them as HOFers. The only thing he really has going for him is longevity and staying in one place his whole career.
Offense isn’t the whole story in baseball, especially at the up the middle positions.
Offensive stats geniuses tend to forget that.
It’s not the whole story, but it is a BIG part of it. There are very few players in the Hall that are there primarily for defense that probably didn’t have the offensive numbers otherwise. Ozzie Smith is probably the most glaring example. I just don’t think Molina is in that class. Great player, definitely a Cardinal HOFer, but not a national HOFer in my opinion.
Thank you for considering me a genius as well. Made my day better.
Just another bang up trade job by Avila
They gave up a guy that OPS’d under .700 in AA in 2022. I think it was a good deal for Detroit.
Barnhardt ops was .554 this year, .696 in previous aa.
Stopgap starting C candidate for WSox as well who need professional defense there. They can eat half of Grandal’s salary in a cash dump trade.
I seriously doubt that eating half of Grandal salary would be enough for anyone to take him. Talking about seriously flawed players – he’s the poster boy.
No chance they get him, I think another team will be willing to pay him a little more than the Reds would be comfortable with.
Makes a lot of sense. I was expecting it actually.
The problem will be the contract and how much or rather, how little he will take.
Exciting times in Cincy.
He was highly highly overrated. His performance in Detroit stunk.
He’s far from being a quality catcher
Sign Tucker and Casali. Move Stephenson to first base. India to LF.
India to LF for what reason? To move Votto to 2B???
India is not moving anywhere, nor should he.
Barnhart and Casali would be a good combo. Votto and Stephenson can man 1B and DH until Votto retires, probably after next year.
Concussions are nothing to sneeze at. They need to be proactive in that so they don’t lose that talented player in Stephenson.
India is a bad defender and will be even worse next year when they can’t over shift. I’ve been advocating moving him to LF as well, esp considering the glut of infielders coming up
That middle infield is going to be busting at the seams with talent over the next 3 years.
It’s not India’s fault he got moved off 3B, we had Suarez and Moustakas blocking him. Let him play somewhere on the field where his glove & arm can play up.
Just posted this very thing just now before I saw your post. Agreed 100%.
India to LF absolutely. But no chance Stephenson should move out from behind the plate.
India shouldn’t move necessarily either. All these so called prospect infielders have yet to prove anything in MLB, in fact, most are far from it, and none have been touted as great defenders. The one who was, Barrero has proven not to live up to the billing on routine plays and can’t swing the bat at all.
Reds could make some moves and create some buzz if they chose too. Sign Barnhart, bellinger and Wil Myers. Lorenzen and clevinger. Clevinger may be a tuff sign but rest should consider cincy. This would create a lot of buzz. Add 25/30 mil in payroll and they’d still be below that 120 mil mark so they’d still be profitable.
Some young pitchers come around and they could compete in central. If not, sell all your bounce back guys off at deadline like drury.
Reds would still be profitable if they had the Mets payroll. And all of those guys are retreads, not sure how much buzz being back Mikey Biceps would create
Better than Larry, Curly and Moe. Face it, they can only afford retreads or folks trying to make a comeback. The curse of a small market club.
All the free agent talk is centered around Yankees, Mets, Braves, Dodgers, Red Sox after all. You know why and it is the elephant in the room MLB refuses to fix.
Twins signed Correa and they’re “small market”. St Louis isn’t that much bigger than Cincy and they spend freely. Small market is BS, only teams willing to spend vs teams banking money
Year after year after year. Same 3-5 teams in on conversation about the elite free agents. So boring. If baseball was not such a great game I would stopped watching long ago.
Nothing will change until they join all of the teams into a national tv contract, and eliminate the local tv deals. That way they all will be working with essentially the same revenue. Stadium revenue will differ, but not enough to effect competitiveness of the teams.
Only someone from a large market would claim it is BS. You will notice Correa is a free agent again so that is not the best example.
Also that is just one large contract which is about all the small markets can handle.
Clevinger isn’t happening. The White Sox decided to overpay for one year.
Barnhart did a serviceable job in Detroit. His offense, including his attempt to switch hit again, was abysmal. If Detroit brings him back, I’m sure Haase gets more than 50% of the playing time. Barnhart worked well with the young pitchers, but on a team that didn’t hit, his not hitting stood out.
Tucker would be a nice pick up for the Reds.
IMHO Stephenson should be at 1B and DH 50/50 with Joey Votto. Stephenson is too good a hitter to be taking the punishment of a catcher. Already concussion protocol and broken collar bone etc. I know no guarantees he will not get hurt at 1B but much less likely. Further he is I think 6’4″ I think. Much better suited for 1B. I think it would help Votto’s hitting as well in his last year to 50% DH. Go ahead and sign Tucker for main catcher and get a backup. I know the Reds will not do this but if I am the GM I would do it in a heartbeat.
He is a good hitting catcher and maybe an average hitting 1B. I’d still rather have a good hitting catcher, knowing the risk of future concussions. He switched his mask to one that is designed to reduce the risk of concussions, so I think he’ll be fine. If he does get another one, especially early to mid season, then I’d DH / 1B him.
If the Reds are even remotely considering a move of Stephenson to first base after Votto leaves, then they need to be really aggressive and go after one of the three excellent young catchers the Blue Jays have. The last thing they’ll want to do is have a journeyman catcher hitting .217 behind the plate in ’24 and ’25 when the future arrives from the farm, and they have the minor league talent to get it done..
I am expecting the Reds to sign some guys early next year who are looking to have a good year and go back in the market next off season.
Bellinger probably will still be there. I actually think DeGrom will too because his expectations are ridiculous not staying on the mound but he is WAY out of their price range. But I do expect them to bring in a veteran starting pitcher.
They might get something out of them before next trade deadline like Pham and Drury after all.
This is where we are, Reds fans.