Chris Snyder Gets Extension

No more need to sweat. You're rich!

The DBacks and Chris Snyder agreed on a contract that would cover his three arbitration years and possibly two of his free-agent years. He's not a particularly well-known guy. He plays in Arizona, and the young talent takes some of the attention away. Snyder, however, is a good player.

Last season, he hit .237/.348/.452, so he gets on base and hits the ball pretty hard. In 334 at-bats, he hit 16 HR and 22 2B. He walks 14% of the time, but the troubling thing might be that he struck out 30% of the time as well. His BABIP was .290, so last year was probably around what he'll do normally. A .240/.350/.460 line might be the best you'll get, but for a catcher, that's not bad. Supposedly, he's a good defensive catcher, so that adds on some value as well.

There are a few things, however, that give me pause about this move. First, the DBacks are trying to cut costs, or at least keep them down. Does it make sense to spend so much on a catcher (granted, he'll probably only make $2-3M this season -- I'm not questioning the money paid per se but that they're spending it with a good replacement available) when Miguel Montero waits in the wings? Wouldn't Snyder have more trade value? Second, he doesn't play that much. He has never played more than 115 games in a season. For a guy you're paying full-time, wouldn't you like to see him play 130-140 games? Third, Miguel Montero.

Last season, Montero hit .255/.330/.435, which makes him roughly as good as Snyder. Granted, he did it in half the at-bats, and he could very well have flat-lined afterward. However, he already had 16 2B and 5 HR. Montero is also much cheaper and two years younger. I don't know how good of a defensive catcher he is, but I'm guessing he's not horrible. One of the points of the article mentioned that the DBack pitchers like Snyder. How do you put value on that and do they hate Montero? If they like Montero but just like Snyder more, I think Snyder is pretty dispensable.

If the DBacks get a good, young starter for Montero, then this deal makes sense. But if they go into next season with both, I'm not so sure. They could also trade Snyder. Teams now know exactly what he'll be paid, so they might go ahead and make the deal knowing he could be their catcher for 5 seasons.