Brewers Sign Zaun to 1-year deal plus option; Latest: Audio Interview

[jjkoestler]

I just checked out Zaun's webpage. I hate Greg Zaun with every fiber of my being right now. He better be one gritty gamer.

[crewcrazy]

You mean you're not a member of the Zaunbie Nation yet?

 

http://www.greggzaun.com/images/img_zaunbie.jpg

 

He's already 10 times cooler than Jason Kendall.

[hawing]

Dude has a superfluous third G in his first name. How can he not be gritty?

 

And I'd just noticed the Zaunbie Nation thing on his website. That sounds merchandisable.

[davemakovec]

My first thought on seeing this was that it means the end of the Jason Kendall Era in Milwaukee. That thought filled me with such a radiant, all-consuming joy that I have had no other thoughts since then.

 

Yeay!

[JoeHova]

Chad Moeller made $800K with the Orioles last year.

I know. They just re-signed him too, albeit to a minor league deal.

[PeaveyFury]

I think with Escobar still getting his feet wet hitting MLB pitching, it was probably necessary to find a catcher that could hit even at the expense of defense so that we didn't have three (or 4 depending on Gomez) slots in the lineup that could struggle.

[craigharmann]

It's cheesy, but it works.....Zaun and Braun....get up, get up, get outta here GAUN!!!

[logan82]

Marginal improvement over what we already had much like Gomez. Mid 700's OPS maybe. .729, .825, .752, .700, .761 the last 5 years. If he can keep up his .340is OBP he won't be to bad. Still a bottom of the order hitter. Just another move in a string of unimpressive move for this offseason. Seems unnecessary.

[PeaveyFury]

If he can keep up his .340is OBP he won't be to bad. Seems unnecessary.

 

What catcher already on the roster are you predicting a .340 OBP from if Zaun wasn't signed, out of curiosity?

[logan82]

None honestly. He doesn't seem like much of an improvement over some combination of Salome, Lucroy, and Rivera though. Like I said, "if" he can maintain a .340 OBP. He is pretty old and he might only play half the time. That is the thing about spending to improve at the catching position. The improvements are always diminished somewhat by less playing time than most other positions.

[PeaveyFury]

He doesn't seem like much of an improvement over some combination of Salome, Lucroy, and Rivera though.

 

One of them (Rivera?) probably plays half the time anyway, as you mentioned. Zaun could be a huge upgrade or a small one over Salome/Lucroy, depending on how they adjust to the majors. I'm guessing with question marks already at SS and CF offensively, catcher wasn't one to be left to chance, as I said before.

[Funketown]

Just read on MLBTR that Kendall wanted 5 million to stay with the Crew for another year. Perhaps it was 5 million Vietnamese Dong.

[danzig6767]

He doesn't seem like much of an improvement over some combination of Salome, Lucroy, and Rivera though.

 

One of them (Rivera?) probably plays half the time anyway, as you mentioned. Zaun could be a huge upgrade or a small one over Salome/Lucroy, depending on how they adjust to the majors. I'm guessing with question marks already at SS and CF offensively, catcher wasn't one to be left to chance, as I said before.

That's why i like this signing. Maybe Lucroy could have handled the main catcher duties without struggling significantly, but he also could have struggled quite a bit as many rookies do. Zaun didn't cost a lot of money and is insurance in case Lucroy struggled. If though Lucroy plays pretty well, then maybe we could end up with some split where Zaun catches 100-110 games while Lucroy catches the rest and next year assumes the main catcher role.

[Mr Southpaw]

Being it the National League, you have to like that he is a switch hitter. Anybody have his splits between right and left hand hitting?

[Invader3K]

Just read on MLBTR that Kendall wanted 5 million to stay with the Crew for another year.

I wonder if Melvin laughed when he heard that one.

[Ennder]

This system thinks he is pretty average defensively... http://www.drivelinemecha...efense-filling-in. It has Kendall as one of the worst in baseball last year which I agree with actually.

 

This one has him above average... http://www.beyondtheboxsc...o-capture-catcher. It also has Kendall as one of the worst in baseball.

 

I'd say this is a significant upgrade over Kendall but might just be a side grade to the other options. I can't see how it is a bad thing though given the inexperience of the other options.

[Invader3K]

One theory floating around is that free agent pitchers will want to see that the Brewers will have a respected veteran catcher behind the dish. So I guess that part could make sense with this signing too.

[liveforoctober]

One theory floating around is that free agent pitchers will want to see that the Brewers will have a respected veteran catcher behind the dish. So I guess that part could make sense with this signing too.

ooh, I didn't even think about that aspect. Whether that is valid or not, it does make a little sense and can't hurt the cause when trying to track down arms.

 

I'm cool with the signing for the price, considering with the young fellas coming up it is much better to have a fall back if everything goes wrong with the others. Also, he will be able to shorten the learning curve for Lucroy and Salome... and I'm happy it's him to teach and not Kendall. I don't want Kendall teaching our young guys anything.

[crewcrazy]

Being it the National League, you have to like that he is a switch hitter. Anybody have his splits between right and left hand hitting?

The past two years, it's not very good:

2009

vs RHP - .269/.347/.454 (216 AB)

vs LHP - .217/.333/.572 (46 AB)

 

2008

vs RHP - .255/.347/.388 (196 AB)

vs LHP - .163/.317/.245 (49 AB)

 

To his credit, he was a lot better against lefties in 2007 and 2006, and it's not like he has a ton of ABs for us to look at. His career numbers are pretty even, but he's been around so long that his career numbers aren't exactly indicative of his current ability (sort of like Kendall being a career .300 hitter when he came here).

[PeaveyFury]

That's still a nice OBP vs. lefty's in 2009 though considering his position. Hopefully the slugging is more like 2009 than 2008 as well.

[Mr Southpaw]

Thanks for the information, CC.

 

Maybe we can have him platoon with one of the young righty catchers. It doesn't look like he should be playing 4/5 of the time.

[WV Brew]

Too down on Kendall. It's not his fault he played too many games. Had he played 100 games or so last year, his offensive numbers would undoubtedly have been better. If Zaun catches 80% of Brewer games next year, look for his offense to drop off precipitously too. In addition to the natural decline with age. If Lucroy/Salome/whoever go into a zig zang (whatever Macha called it) this may well happen. With a major league manager I might like this deal but I'm deathly afraid Zaun will become one of Macha's pet players like Kendall was.

[Ennder]

Another link to catcher's defense.

 

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/fx_visualizatio_1/

 

Zaun rated as the best C in baseball at blocking pitches in the dirt over the past 3 seasons.

[PeaveyFury]

If the metrics are showing Zaun to be a better defensive catcher than Kendall, this should be viewed as a definite upgrade.

[Flood Pants]

I'm very happy with Zaun/Rivera at catcher. I'd actually like to see Lucroy and Salome spend time in AAA next season.

 

I'd bet one of Salome/Lucroy is on the trade block, otherwise they have three catchers lined up for AAA with Kotteras. Wow, that's some good catching depth.