Phils Acquire C Ronny Paulino

by dajafi on Dec 10, 2008 9:25 PM EST Comment 14 comments

Earlier this evening, the Phillies beat writers announced that a trade was "imminent," setting pulses racing throughout the blogiverse of the world champs. Well, we all can calm down: the swap, at least in itself, is about as inconsequential as you can imagine. Scott Lauber has the news:

So, it seems the "small trade" mentioned by Ruben Amaro Jr. will be a swap of catchers. The Phils will send Class AAA catcher Jason Jaramillo to the Pirates for Ronny Paulino, a .278 hitter in parts of four seasons.

Paulino, 27, is a major-league-caliber catcher, so this figures to fuel the speculation that Chris Coste will be packaged in a trade, perhaps the multi-team deal that would bring Mark DeRosa to Philly.

As Lauber says, the real story here has to do with the next shoe to fall: the team now has a surplus of catchers, with starter Carlos Ruiz, backup Coste, backup Paulino, and top prospect Lou Marson. On its face, this seems like a bit of an upgrade: Paulino is decent as reserve catchers go, and obviously Jaramillo--whom the Phils at one time liked so much they drafted him twice, signing him the second time as a 2nd round pick in 2004--had fallen out of grace when Marson was promoted ahead of him in September. But he can't match Coste's bat (or backstory), and Marson is no more than a year away, probably less. So something else must be afoot.

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This evokes memories of the earth-shattering Gary Bennett for Todd Pratt swap that Ed Wade pulled off in 2001.

Seriously though, good deal. Paulino’s a decent backup catcher, which as I said on Phuture Phillies, is pretty much what we hoped Paulino would become. It’ll just be interesting to see what happens to Coste, as you said.

by PhillyFriar on Dec 10, 2008 9:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I don’t think it’s impossible that Paulino would be a piece for another trade. It’s not out of the question that the Pirates had a higher estimation of Jaramillo than the Padres, who probably would want a guy with more experience given what an abortion their catching situation was last year (their catchers as a group hit .204/.269/.297 last year).

Otherwise, it’s Coste or Ruiz on the move….you simply can’t carry Coste as a dedicated PH, he doesn’t hit enough to justify it.

by bugbear on Dec 10, 2008 10:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Ok – I’m confused – Catcher for catcher – if paulino is that much better than jaramillo – why do the pirates make this deal – if he’s not how is there a surplus of catchers when there wasn’t before?

by jemagee on Dec 10, 2008 11:47 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Ok – rereading things i guess i’m less confused – i had an 11 hour day so a bit silly right now

by jemagee on Dec 10, 2008 11:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I was wondering about that too. Maybe it’s that they wanted to pay their backup C the minimum instead of whatever Paulino will get—probably 2-3x as much?

by dajafi on Dec 11, 2008 12:06 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Here’s the thing for me – Coste doesn’t make a lot of moeny – but if you’re a believer in ‘chemistry’ (which i’m not really), don’t you think a guy like Coste is one of those ‘clubhouse guys’ a winning team needs, 35 year old rookie all that rah rah nonsense?

by jemagee on Dec 11, 2008 10:16 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

But can he play left field?.........

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix

by philly420pdxhilo on Dec 11, 2008 5:43 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

....and hit 30 HRs (and make the ladies swoon).....

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix

by philly420pdxhilo on Dec 11, 2008 5:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I dunno. Are there any ladies on here who can comment?

by taco pal on Dec 11, 2008 12:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

only concern for me is the depths to which Pirates fans—of all people—seem to hate him. rotoworld in one of its updates called his defense brutal last year, and there’s lots of talks about poor work ethic….hopefully the change of scenery and guiding hand of Charlie Manuel work wonders. only thing that strikes me as odd is that if he’s a “brutal” defensive catcher, or even a poor one, doesn’t that make him completely redundant of Coste? I mean, I guess that just reaffirms that Coste is likely gone, but considering Coste has hit better than Paulino each of the last three years makes it a minor downgrade unless Paulino can get back on track.

by bugbear on Dec 11, 2008 9:02 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I’ve heard good reports on his defense. CS rate is solid—better than Ruiz’s—and whether he’s a good handler of pitchers or not, how could you even tell? It’s the Pirates…

by dajafi on Dec 11, 2008 11:31 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Jason Varitek calls a good game – allegedly (keith law loves to rip the ‘calling a good game’ thing every chance he gets, makes me laugh when he does, i have no idea if he’s accurate or not)

by jemagee on Dec 11, 2008 1:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Defense

Paulino’s defense is supposed to be excellent., At least it was when he was coming up.

by smitty99 on Dec 11, 2008 5:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Keith Law ranked 25 moves at the winter meetings – but as separate moves

On Jaramillo

Also a backup, although like Paulino before him, he may be asked to shoulder too much of the load in Pittsburgh. He’s a better defensive catcher and shouldn’t have Paulino’s mental lapses, like forgetting the number of outs.

On Paulino