But I thought the Wilpons were fresh out of money!!
Per Ken Rosenthal. Read: Rod Barajas is going to sign with the Mets. There is little standing between these two parties at this point in time. Ken Rosenthal even tweeted the story as "the #Mets FINALLY might get a catcher."
Rod Barajas is nothing to get excited about and is kind of a buzz kill, since this move surely makes Thole AAA bound. As a hitter, Barajas makes poor contact, perennially posting a bad batting average, but has good power. His batting average hovers so low, a Paul LoDuca-esque BABIP swing could bring him to .260 and it would mark a career year. Not exactly the ideal skills for Citi Field, but when has that ever been a consideration?
Catcher defense is nearly impossible to grasp, but Barajas carries a good reputation and a good arm. He ranked second in the AL last year with 29.3% CS. Most attempts to quantify receiving skills give him high marks.
Most importantly, though, he is not Omir Santos. While their skills are disconcertingly similar, Barajas projects almost certainly a little bit better, without Santos' downside of reverting back to an awful AA catcher. Sure, like most Mets' moves, you could try to follow the internal logic, along the way realizing frightening things like Brian Schneider is better, but that would kill my optimistic Spring Training buzz. The Mets are close to making themselves a little better and added some stabilizing depth at a very uncertain position.