Call Him ‘The Breeze’: Padres Acquire Branyan
Fri, Aug 25, 2006
by Geoff Young
The Pads made a deal Thursday night, picking up Russell Branyan from Tampa Bay for Class-A right-hander Evan Meek and future considerations. I probably shouldn’t like this move, but I do.
For one thing, Branyan is one of the most fascinating players in baseball. Here are some of his freakish career numbers:
| BA | OBP | SLG | ISO | XB/H | AB/HR | BB/PA | P/PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .229 | .323 | .479 | .250 | .516 | 15.6 | .116 | 4.10 |
| Stats are courtesy of ESPN and are through games of August 24, 2006. | |||||||
Not that Branyan is anywhere near the complete package the guy I’m about to compare him to is, but the power numbers match up pretty well with those of Troy Glaus (.252 ISO, .477 XB/H, 15.5 AB/HR). Like Glaus, Branyan also sees a lot of pitches and draws some walks.
Flaws? Yeah, he’s got a few. Branyan’s strikeout frequency is epic. You’ll hear Rob Deer’s name invoked when folks talk about Branyan, but that doesn’t even begin to do the latter justice.
Deer had 4512 plate appearances during his big-league career. Over that period, he fanned 31.2% of the time. Branyan, meantime, has struck out in 35.0% of his trips to the plate. Give him the same number of plate appearances as Deer, and Branyan would have 170 more strikeouts. Heck, even plate appearances against Billy Wagner end in a punchout only 33.3% of the time.
Branyan is the active career leader in strikeout frequency. You know who’s second? Mark Bellhorn, at 29.1%.
Anyway.
I’ve added Branyan to the Padres organizational tree. No word on what impact Branyan’s arrival will have on our Will Play Third Base for Food T-shirts. The guess here is, none whatsoever.
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August 25, 2006 at 1:14 am
Finally, my prayers have been answered! Welcome to the era of the “new” killer b’s. Bard, Blum, Bellhorn, Barfield, AND Branyan? Too good to be true. In all honesty, I like it too Geoff. He’s like Bellhorn, except he mixes in homers with his strikeouts.
August 25, 2006 at 5:43 am
We traded Meek? I thought he was a good prospect!
I don’t know about this one, guys . . . I looked up his 3B fielding percentage on MLB.com — it’s lower than Walker’s. Didn’t look up his career numbers there, though.
Who is getting moved to make room for Branyan?
August 25, 2006 at 5:47 am
.944 career F Pct at third in like 300 games. I’ll take it.
The Rob Deer fan club sponsors his baseball reference page . . . that’s pretty funny.
August 25, 2006 at 6:19 am
If only he was righty, this would be a great move. But even still it’s not bad. The way I look at it, if you’re going to strike out a lot, you might as well go deep sometimes.
Speaking of striking out…hopefully he will replace Bellhorn, that stiff is of no use.
At least Branyan can “play” the corner OF spots as well, although I doubt we’d need him there other than in a pinch.
August 25, 2006 at 7:09 am
This makes all the sense in the world…
We got our legit major league 3 bagger…oh wait, nope.
We got a guy who can keep a rally going and move runners…oh wait, nope.
We did get a guy who profiles well for Petco. You know, right handed pull power with good Defense and Speed…oh wait, not here either.
Sorry Geoff, et al…I think you guys are wrong here…he might be a serviceable major league bat for a team like Tampa, but for a playoff run, no way.
This is the move that officially puts me on the Fire KT Bandwagon. I have been a big supporter…I have been a big fan…I have been a big defender….No more.
August 25, 2006 at 7:18 am
Is he coming in purely as a bench player? In that case, makes no sense, as a pinch-hitter with a high K rate is death to rallys. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but to my thinking 1 HR every 15 PH AB’s kills 14 rallys. If he’s being brought in to be an everyday player, is this an admission the Todd Walker Experiment is dead? Thought we were seeing some better returns there recently. In short, I have no idea why we would waste our time and waste one prospect, marginal or not, on this guy.
August 25, 2006 at 7:21 am
The roster move will come before tonight’s game. They have until game time to make the move.
August 25, 2006 at 7:32 am
no way the Todd Walker experiment is dead. he is still worth a lot more offensively which is also sacrficing what goes out there at third. I think Branyan is here to spell Walker for defense and also because of the fact that Mark Bellhorn isn’t that great either.
August 25, 2006 at 7:38 am
Bellhorn has got to be gone. Walker can play 3b (kind of), 2b & 1b. He’s a better hitter than Belly.
August 25, 2006 at 8:10 am
Is Branyan REALLY an upgrade over Bellhorn? Or more of the same for the cost of a pitcher?
August 25, 2006 at 8:20 am
As far as how Branyan profiles in PETCO, I believe we have quite a few more road games left than home games.
If that matters.
August 25, 2006 at 8:38 am
I can’t understand why someone wants to fire KT for picking up a power bat for a Single A pitcher. It’s not like we sent Linebrink over to Tampa Bay for the guy. Branyan may turn out to be a terrible player for us. He may end up being very productive. But for the SMALL price of a Single A pitcher with an ERA above 5, I don’t think we hurt ourselves too much by giving Branyan a shot.
August 25, 2006 at 8:41 am
Two Words: Wilson Betemit
August 25, 2006 at 8:47 am
Branyon is a pretty decent 3B, actually. He’s no gold glover, but he is a defensive ugrade over Walker, as a natural 3B I know his fielding percentage may not be the best, but he moves naturally over there, has real good hands and has an accurate, not particularly strong, but accurate arm. He’ll make all your plays for you, and hit you an occaisional bomb. Been nice knowing you Mark Bellhorn. BTW, Sweeney was called up the other day when Stauffer was sent down, so…I think it’s pretty clear a pitcher won’t be going down to open a spot for Branyon, especially heading into Denver.
August 25, 2006 at 8:50 am
chase…it has more to do with the body of work. Branyan is just the straw that broke the camels back.
how does this help us, low A prospect or not?
August 25, 2006 at 10:09 am
Which body of work? Give some examples. Ashby for Eaton? Eaton and Aki for Agon, CYoung and Sledge? Linebrink for free? Nady for Cameron? Carlos Hernandez for Ben Johnson? Taking a chance on Piazza? KT’s body of work is very solid. OK, Vinny didn’t work out, but don’t hold a guy’s feet to the fire for trading Woody for Ray Lankford. KT is the first to admit that one didn’t work out.
August 25, 2006 at 12:22 pm
Rays Index wasn’t impressed with Branyan during his stay in Florida:
http://raysindex.blogspot.com/.....id-of.html
Amusingly, Tampa Bay has recalled ex-Padre Kevin Witt to replace Branyan on the roster.
August 25, 2006 at 1:01 pm
From BP’s Transaction Analysis:
I’ve been a Branyan fan for years, considering he’s a minor deity among the pantheon of Three True Outcomes stars. (Those are strikeouts, walks, and home runs to those of you uninitiated or happily ignorant of the Rob Deer Fan Club’s belligerent belief that putting the ball in play short of the fences is a Deadball Era anachronism.) I’m particularly pleased that he’s a Pad person, though, in that Branyan gives them insurance at all four corners, infield and outfield, while also providing prodigious power off of the bench. If Todd Walker’s defensive problems at third become too much of a distraction, they can play Branyan in his place. If Adrian Gonzalez or Brian Giles or Dave Roberts need a day off, Branyan’s a good fallback position.
August 25, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I’m a big Branyan fan and quite happy that we have him.
August 25, 2006 at 8:40 pm
You guys are SO deluded. You have got to be kidding. He fields like he needs a crutch and is clueless. What’s worse is that he could produce windmill movement with his multitude of whiffs. He is a strikeout king, especially when it counts. To compare him to Glaus is outragous. If he hits .200 after your honeymoon you’ll be lucky. He was NOT your answer to the playoffs. BIG MISTAKE.
August 25, 2006 at 9:20 pm
Thanks for the note, Bob. We have a pretty good handle on Branyan’s weaknesses. We’ll see what happens.