As the Cubs long, lumbering, two step progression towards 81 wins (four more than I expected, and just enough to make MLB Betting interesting) continues lots of things are surprising about this team. The starting pitching was supposed to be a strength, but other than Carlos Zambrano it’s been pretty bad. The bullpen, as long as you can get to the Marshall-Wood-Marmol end is pretty stout. The expensive guys are actually hitting (E-ramis for average and Alfonso Soriano for power), except for Carlos Pena…he just sucks.
But even a bigger surprise than how awesome Starlin Castro already is, is that Darwin Barney might actually be good.
Seriously.
First off, let’s address the inevitable comparisons to Ryan Theriot.
Both played shortstop on College World Series winning teams. Theriot at LSU (did you know he played there with Mike Fontenot? Crazy!), Barney at Oregon State.
They’re basically the same size. Theriot’s listed at 5’11, 180 (he’s 5’2, 110) and Barney at 5’10, 180.
But that’s where the comparison should end. Barney made it to the big leagues faster (he was 24 when he played last year…Theriot was 26 when he got his first real run) and is playing a position he can handle (second base as opposed to shortstop).
Barney’s got a far better arm than Theriot. He has shown situational awareness that Theriot never has. He dekes runners on the bases, he takes aggressive, but not reckless turns on the bases, he doesn’t blindly throw towards first when the runner has already easily beaten the play. He doesn’t get picked off repeatedly on the rare occasions he’s on first base. And…he has yet to be out by 15 feet blindly running from second to third on a routine grounder to the shortstop.
Granted, in Theriot’s first extended playing time as a Cub, he was a pretty good player.
In 2006 he hit .326 with a .934 OPS (135 OPS+). He went 13-15 in stolen bases.
So we’ve fallen for this before. The longer we saw Theriot, the more we saw things we at first tried to ignore. He was overmatched defensively at short. He doesn’t have the arm to play it so he cheats into areas on defense where his arm will “play” which cuts down on his already suspect range.
Barney gets to let Starlin Castro worry about that. He just plays second.
But the more we watched Theriot, the more we saw how clueless he was on the bases. Still it’s amazing that a guy who is supposed to be valuable because of how scrappy he is, has such a terrible feel for the game.
Barney appears to understand the game better than Theriot ever did.
And, it doesn’t hurt that he’s off to a productive start this year. With two hits in the second game of tonight’s doubleheader split (what else for the 9-9 Cubs?) Barney had two hits (though he struck out looking to end the game in a one run loss) and his average is up to .314. He has more walks (four) than strikeouts (three). In his first 13 starts this season he as seven multi-hit games.
So what if he’s actually good? What if this isn’t just the productive start that you can get off to before the league figures out that you are getting by on hustle and not on talent?
What if the Cubs haven’t just found their starting shortstop, but his running mate? What if they have one less position to worry about (just 23 instead of 25) on the roster?
A wise man tweeted this week that “Darwin Barney is Ryan Theriot without his head up his ass.”
Fine, I’m not all that wise, but what if that were true? Isn’t the biggest disappointment about Theriot that he just never “got it?” That he didn’t have excess talent, but he had just enough, but had no idea what to do with it?
Maybe Darwin’s actually good. What if he understands the game enough to just do what he can, and not screw things up? What if he’s just good enough to be useful?
Nah you’re right, he’s probably shitty, too.
Hey, it won’t be long before we get to bitch that DJ LaMahieu is the only 6’4 judy hitter in baseball.
Kid can play. He seems to have great instincts and a high baseball IQ. There’s a long way to go before anyone can make a sound evaluation, but I think he will be a very solid contributor.
The Theriot comparisons are weak and lazy by the way. Way overdone by hacks all over the web. They’re the same size and skintone. So is Pedroia, but I haven’t seen that comparison anywhere. The reason is simple,there’s no reason to believe Barney will be another Pedroia. Or another Theriot.
Let’s see.
Comparing two right-handed middle infielders under six feet tall with decent defensive range and the same hitting profile that are in the same system isn’t weak or lazy — it’s freakin’ logical.
Having said that, it’s that last similarity — hitting profile — that deserves a bit more attention. Neither Barney nor Theriot has been able to sustain any semblance of power during any point in their professional baseball careers. As a 26 year old in AAA, Theriot slugged .379; at 24, Barney slugged .378 in Iowa. Theriot’s career slugging mark in the minors was .337 – oh my gawd.
Barney definitely has the better arm. And more importantly, he does appear to have the superior baseball brain. But any time you make a long-term commitment to a player with no power, you’re hurting your line-up. Cano, Weeks, Kelly Johnson, Utley, Uggla, Phillips, and even Martin Prado have all slugged above .430 since April 1 2010. (Except for Cano, all NL guys — huh.)
I am totally in favor of riding this hot streak out and keeping Barney up at the two-spot for as long as he keeps hitting. But I think we’re still only set at one of our 25 positions.
i’m saddened by the fact that no one has brought up the similarity between the kid in “Angels in the Outfield” and Darwin Barney… I’m waiting for him to turn to Quade and make the angel sign, point to Russell, then Quade will start Russell again and he’ll give us 4 innings and 86 pitches of pure gold
The Cubs have a couple of interesting kids in the IF. Especially at SS. Any team or fan could and should be excited about Starlin’s 2011 so far. Great. How is the team though?
Somewhere in the hearts of the few Cub fans that still have a half a brain there has to be a pang of realization at just how bad this team is right now and how much worst it could end up being.
Next week the Cards will be in Chgo and Cub fans everywhere can hope v hope that they take the series because then their whole season will be made. Just like it is every year. Enjoy Cub fans. Enjoy Pena. Enjoy Demp. Enjoy Big Z. Enjoy the money pit in LF. Enjoy your joke of a GM. Enjoy the new Boss….same as the old Boss. Enjoy the view of the Cards taillights. You can always show your collective lack of class by posting crazy talk…you seem to enjoy that too. Enjoy being part of the prob.