Diamondbacks Linked to Tucker Barnhart

As reported here at Inside the Diamondbacks in early November, the team has a need to shore up their catching depth.  During the General Managers meetings last month Mike Hazen confirmed this is an area he would be looking to add.  While starting pitching remains the number one priority, the organization can and will do more than two things at once. Accordingly, it's been reported by a credible source that the D-backs have shown interest in veteran catcher Tucker Barnhart. 

Barnhart spent nine years with the Cincinnati Reds, the last seven as their primary starter.  During that time  Baseball-Reference rated him as a strong defender, piling up +26 WAR fielding runs and 7.1 dWAR. He typically threw out baserunners at a well above average clip. The one caveat is that his pitch framing numbers have run in the negative throughout most of his career.  While defense was his calling card he was close to league average at the plate for a catcher,  hitting .248/.324/.371,  .696 OPS,  83 OPS+

Barnhart has bounced around a bit the last couple of years. Traded to the Tigers prior to the 2022, he spent one full season in Detroit before gaining free agency. He was signed by the Cubs to a two year, $6.5 million contract as the back up to Yan Gomes for. 2023. Both his defense and hitting clearly entered decline however. After batting .202  with a .541 OPS in 123 plate appearance and throwing out just seven of 37 base stealers he was released in August. Picked up by the Dodgers on September 1st, he did not play in the divisional series and was granted free agency once again in November. 

While his better days are clearly behind him, Barnhart is still just 33 years old and could possibly provide valuable experience as Gabriel Moreno's backup. How much he has left in the tank is questionable perhaps. Clearly the Cubs didn't think he had much, as the walked away from over a year's worth of salary to let him go. The Diamondbacks can probably sign him for considerably less than he earned with Cubs, taking little risk should he fail to bounce back.