Jason Kubel vs. Garrett Jones

Jason Kubel is a name that the Pirates are reported to have a lot of interest in as we near the Sunday deadline. The consensus from twitter is that he would be a good get for the Pirates and would help the offense a lot. But hold on a minute.

Here's Kubel's line from 2010:
143 G, 582 PA, 23 2B, 3 3B, 21 HR, .249/.323/.427

and here's Garrett Jones 2010 line:
158 G, 654 PA, 34 2B, 1 3B, 21 HR, .247/.306/.414

Now much difference there eh? Sure, Kubel played 15 less games and had a really good year in 2009 when he hit .300/.369/.539 with 28 homers, 35 doubles, and 103 RBI while receiving some MVP votes, but he hasn't looked great since then. This year Kubel missed a good amount of time with injury and has only 6 home runs in 59 games, but is hitting .308/.359/.463 compared to Jones' .235/.322/.412, so there's no doubt that he's an upgrade, but it is substantial enough to warrant the price? The advanced metrics make the difference between Kubel and Jones seem more significant in Kubel's favor (2011 wOBA: Kubel - .360 vs. Jones - .323), and the career numbers do the same, but we're only talking about 2 months of baseball here. I'm not saying it's not a serious upgrade, but I think the Pirates can do better.

There's also the issue that the Twins might not even be willing to move him. They aren't convinced that they are out of the division race as they sit 6.5 games out of first in the American League Central. Also, there have been talks about a trade involving outfielder Denard Span, which would rule out a Kubel trade since the Twins wouldn't want to trade 2 of their starting outfielders.

The Pirates will have to give up some prospects to get him, although they won't have to give up any of the top tier guys that the fans are most worried about, but they will also have to pick up the remaining portion of the $5.25 million he is owed this year, which wouldn't be less than $2.5 million I'd think, which isn't a horrible price to pay, but I'm just not sure if that plus prospects is worth the upgrade from what we already have.

Kubel is a free agent at the end of this year so the Pirates can forget about keeping him until 2012, and Alex Presley still deserves playing time in the outfield this year. Jose Tabata will also be working his way back to health before too long, and adding another outfielder just creates even more of a traffic jam than we already have.

Sure, there is immediate need for a power bat and it doesn't really matter what position that bat plays in the field when you're considering making a run for the division this year, but I'm not completely sold on this move. If Kubel does come in, I'm sure the Pirates will think about giving Jones more playing time at first than Overbay, because he has just been awful recently and is hurting the team in the middle of that order. Jones hasn't been much better but has at least shown some good streaks this year, and you can't say that for Overbay. Steve Pearce will also continue to get starts at first against lefties.

I'm still on the belief that the Pirates need to add a power bat before Sunday's deadline, and I'd certainly rather add Kubel than do nothing, but he just isn't as attractive to me as a guy like Carlos Pena.

The rumors will be flying all Saturday and Sunday, so follow me on twitter for the latest rumors mixed in with a bunch of dumb jokes.