John Bowker vs. Xavier Paul

The Pirates claimed Xavier Paul earlier this week, and because of the fact that Paul has no options left, the Pirates needed to get him on the 25-man roster to keep him. We have now found out that the Pirates are DFA'ing John Bowker to make room.

The problem with this is that Bowker is also out of options. So we are now faced with the scenario that if Bowker is claimed by another team, the Pirates essentially swapped him for Paul. If he is not claimed, the Pirates added Paul without losing anything. I don't know if this move was worth the risk of losing Bowker. Let's compare the two players.

Bowker MLB Career (4 seasons, 227 games): .238/.289/.391, 17 HR, 2 SB, 129 K, 39 BB
Paul MLB Career (3 seasons, 62 games): .233/.280/.329, 1 HR, 3 SB, 33 K, 10 BB

The story is this. Bowker has decent power but really has never had an extended chance to start in the majors. He's never really shown enough in the minors to suggest that he could be a big league starter, but the power is certainly enticing. He hasn't been good in his time in the majors, but the power he brings is what keeps him around. He doesn't play great defense, and he can only play the corner spots (and pretty much only right field in PNC Park).

Paul is almost the opposite. He doesn't have much power (although he does have a little more than his 1 career HR suggests, he's hit 10+ HR 3 different times) but has some speed and can play good defense at any spot in the outfield. He is also 2 years younger than Bowker (he's 26).

The decision came down to what the Pirates wanted for their bench. A decent power bat with limited defensive versatility, or a more athletic guy with better defense and base running ability. They've chosen the latter, and Paul will be on the bench tomorrow.

Bowker now has to clear waivers for the Pirates to retain him. If you're asking me, I don't think Bowker makes it. Power hitting outfielders aren't easy to come by in today's MLB, and although Bowker certainly is a huge question mark and probably not a big league starter, he's enticing enough for some team to give him a chance.

If Bowker makes it through waivers and the Pirates get to keep him, I'll like the move. If he doesn't make it through, I don't like it. To me, Bowker has more upside than Paul. I do agree that with the outfield the Pirates have, Paul is a better fit for the bench, I just don't think he's worth risking possession of Bowker for.

All that said, neither of these guys is going to have any real effect on the big league team, unless there are injury issues down the road. We'll see how Paul performs in a Pirate uniform, he'll probably be the primary pinch hitter against right-handed pitching, much like Bowker was, and I doubt we see him making any starts unless somebody gets injured.

Maybe I can convince Xavier to add a "Mc" to the front of his last name, then I'll like him a little bit more.