The Shortstop Problem: Part Three

     If you missed parts one and two (and judging by the pageviews, you have), you can find them here and here. To recap briefly, in part one, I looked at the offensive incompetence of Brewers shortstops this season and decided the team's only defensible solution was to acquire a shortstop via trade. In part two, I looked at possible trade candidates on other teams' rosters, which, without further ado, is exactly what I'll do here.
Jason Bartlett

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+	TB
2004	24	MIN	8	14	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	.083	.154	.083	-36	1
2005	25	MIN	74	252	33	54	10	1	3	4	0	21	37	.241	.316	.335	73	75
2006	26	MIN	99	372	44	103	18	2	2	10	5	22	46	.309	.367	.393	99	131
2007	27	MIN	140	570	75	135	20	7	5	23	3	50	73	.265	.339	.361	89	184
2008	28	TBR	128	494	48	130	25	3	1	20	6	22	69	.286	.329	.361	83	164
2009	29	TBR	137	567	90	160	29	7	14	30	7	54	89	.320	.389	.490	132	245
2010	30	TBR	135	532	71	119	27	3	4	11	6	45	83	.254	.324	.350	90	164
2011	31	SDP	74	332	29	71	8	3	1	15	5	27	51	.242	.309	.300	76	88
8 Seasons			795	3133	392	773	137	26	30	115	32	242	449	.277	.341	.377	94	1052

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/3/2011.

     Bartlett is similar to Jose Reyes in that his winding up a Brewer is a bit of a long shot (he's signed through 2012 with an option for '13), but as far as performance goes, he's much more similar to Yuniesky Betancourt and Craig Counsell than Jose Reyes and (park-inflated) JJ Hardy. You could argue that playing in roomy Petco Park is depressing his numbers, but home runs aren't a big enough part of his game to have much of an effect, and Bartlett's history of productive hitting really only includes one season. (In 2009, he parlayed a big and unsustained increase in almost every statistical category into a nice pay raise and a spot in the dreams of big-league executives who hope he might, just might, be able to do it again.)

     Another issue that is nearly as damning is Bartlett's defense. Despite a very solid reputation that includes former status as a pirhana in good standing, and then taking his glove act to Tampa Bay, where he received a lot of credit for their defensive turnaround, most defensive metrics suggest he left his leather in the dome:

     Advanced defensive metrics often fluctuate year-to-year and have been known to disagree amongst themselves, but they seem to have reached a sort-of consensus that Jason Bartlett isn't the fielder he used to be. In fact, Baseball Reference's dWAR ranks him as half a win below sabermetric whipping boy Yuni Betancourt. (Which is something, considering some of the nastier defensive metrics have been known to send each other photos of Betancourt's head photoshopped onto pictures of Justin Bieber.) Although Bartlett certainly outmatch the meager offensive contributions of Yuni B, there are better options available that would likely come cheaper. Cross your fingers and hope he ends up in St. Louis.

Clint Barmes

     The second Houston shortstop mentioned in trade talks, Barmes is following the JJ Hardy path of hoping a couple of hot months at the plate with a bad team will land you a couple of months with a good team. Like Hardy, Barmes is a well-regarded fielder (4.2 UZR this season), albeit one who was pushed into a superutility role with Colorado, who settled for some guy named Troy Tulowitzki.

     However, the issue is with Barmes' lumber. Like JJ Hardy's batted-ball splits and Jason Bartlett's defense, Bartlett's hitting has jumped up and down wildly from year-to-year, but unlike the former two, Barmes has never been accused of any brilliance at the plate. In 2005, 2008, and (so far) 2011, he has hit at a level just below league average, which equates to a acceptable shortstop. In 2006 and 2007, he failed to post a .600 OPS. Whether he hits or not if he ends up in Milwaukee, his glove will carry his bat, and even the non-hitting version of Barmes would essentially match the meager production of Betancourt and Counsell. By trading for Barmes and calling up Taylor Green, the Brewers could improve on both sides of the ball over their horrific left side of the infield even if Barmes' bat flops, but if he holds onto his gains, look out.

Jack Wilson

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+
2001	23	PIT	108	425	44	87	17	1	3	25	1	3	16	70	.223	.255	.295	40
2002	24	PIT	147	586	77	133	22	4	4	47	5	2	37	74	.252	.306	.332	67
2003	25	PIT	150	615	58	143	21	3	9	62	5	5	36	74	.256	.303	.353	70
2004	26	PIT	157	693	82	201	41	12	11	59	8	4	26	71	.308	.335	.459	104
2005	27	PIT	158	639	60	151	24	7	8	52	7	3	31	58	.257	.299	.363	74
2006	28	PIT	142	594	70	148	27	1	8	35	4	3	33	65	.273	.316	.370	77
2007	29	PIT	135	535	67	141	29	2	12	56	2	5	38	46	.296	.350	.440	106
2008	30	PIT	87	330	24	83	18	1	1	22	2	2	13	27	.272	.312	.348	76
2009	31	TOT	106	402	37	95	23	1	5	39	3	1	21	48	.255	.292	.362	74
2010	32	SEA	61	211	17	48	11	1	0	14	1	2	7	35	.249	.282	.316	67
2011	33	SEA	47	134	18	28	3	0	0	6	5	1	5	17	.226	.252	.250	45
11 Seasons			1298	5164	554	1258	236	33	61	417	43	31	263	585	.266	.307	.369	77

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/3/2011.

     As part two of this series began with a quick paragraph on Jose Reyes, part three will end with a brief word on a player who is in many ways his opposite. While Reyes is an offensive weapon who has the potential give the Brewers the upper hand in in what will surely be a close playoff race, Wilson hits as well as most Brewer pitchers and could only really be valuable in a bench role. Reyes is likely the best talent available on the trade market and will command a price tag far higher than Milwaukee can muster, Wilson could likely be had for the promise that Doug Melvin pay next time Melvin and Jack Zdurencik go out for coffee. If nothing else, he could contribute as a backup, but any team who trades for him and then puts a bat in his hands for more than 100 PA should be investigated by the commissioner's office. I personally think that Wilson could be used as a defensive replacement for Jeff Keppinger late in games, giving Milwaukee an effective shortstop tandem that could be acquired cheaply and allow the club to focus its' resources on patching the team's other holes, which would play to each player's strengths and allow Ron Roenicke to occasionally play Jack Wilson and Josh Wilson on the same side of the infield.

*Fielding metrics are from Fangraphs, all other stats are from Baseball-Reference, the fielding graph was made using ChartGo, and contract information was obtained from Cot's Contracts.