Promote Darwin Barney

[italianocubsfan7]

I know this team has won two straight games over the division leading Cardinals, but with the Cubs now having a set lineup everyday 1-8 (for the most part), Ryan Theriot remains far too inconsistent and stands out among the rest. Sure, there are some other hitters out of those eight that have their flaws, but to me anyway, Theriot sticks out like a sore thumb these days.

 

.273 with 19 rbi and a .315 on-base going into today's game — not good. Yes, he does have 16 stolen bases, but it's the second base position, others can fulfill the role for now just as good as The Riot.

 

With all this being said, and the fact that Fontenot and Baker almost never start anymore, maybe this is a time to promote Darwin Barney from Triple-A. The Oregon State product is hitting .302 with 41 rbi in 96 games for the I-Cubs.

 

With this team 8-9 games back in the standing, Barney in the lineup over Theriot sounds fine. He will probably get called up Sept. 1, but the Cubs should do it earlier.

[Outshined_One]

I'd be fine with getting rid of Theriot and calling up Barney to be the utility guy.

 

However, rather than play Barney at 2B, can we instead go back to the Baker/Fontenot platoon that actually had a reasonable amount of success at the plate? I wouldn't mind seeing that.

[CubColtPacer]

Barney at 2B is unfortunately not a good alternative option. He has the same flaws as Theriot does because he doesn't walk enough and doesn't hit for much power. He also isn't that good at avoiding strikeouts for the slap hitter that he is. He is a better defender than Theriot but that won't translate as much at 2B as it would at SS. When his batting average probably drops due to better defenses in the majors, he will have trouble.

 

Barney will likely have a role on this team as the backup middle infielder. Hopefully that comes as early as next week when Theriot is potentially traded. But the only position he really has a chance to start at in the majors is SS not 2nd.

[Rob]

Yes, he does have 16 stolen bases, but it's the second base position, others can fulfill the role for now just as good as The Riot.

 

Theriot has also been caught five times. All in all, he's generated about .29 runs with his stolen bases. Everything considered, his baserunning has actually cost us about a half a run compared to what an average player would provide us (an average player, not an average 2B). Let's not pretend his speed is doing us even that slight amount of good. Hell, Theriot has basically been the definition of a replacement level player this year.

 

That said, Fontenot is our best option, and has been all season.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Darwin Barneys offensive ceiling is probably Ryan Theriot, but hes a much better defender. This being said, I think we'll see him on the 25 man next year, and he'll go on to a solid major league career as a backup SS on a good team or a starting SS on a bad one. However, considering that we dont have a proper backup SS, Id like to see him fill that spot sooner than later and trade Theriot and go with the Font/Baker platoon.