the Baker/Barney platoon

[Little Slide Rooter]

Is anyone else with me in getting comfortable with this duo? Baker seems to really handle lefties well. Barney seems like Theriot offensively, but can play a decent 2B. As long as he stays in the 8 spot, and the manager doesn't expect him to be more than he is, you can do worse at that spot in an NL lineup. Don't get me wrong, if someone like Kelly Johnson, Aaron Hill, or Jose Reyes became available, I'd be all about them, but at this point, Barnaker has not been a problem. They could make DeWitt expendable real soon. He's not good enough offensively to stick around as a pinch hitter, and not good enough defensively to be a utility infielder. I do think that is he was given the starting job as wed expected, hed have improved and been a serviceable 2B/8 hitter, but as long as the other 2 are perfoming, he likely won't get the chance. Of course, that could very well lead to Augie Ojeda being called upon as a backup SS, but that's life.

[CubColtPacer]

The key is always going to be if Barney can hit for a little bit of power. He's not going to walk that much and so he's useless if he has no power whatsoever. If he can hit for a high average along with hitting 3-5 home runs and a decent amount of doubles he can be decent though. So far he's had no extra base hits but a couple strong contact flyouts. Baker against left-handers is always going to be a very good option. So this is still a wait and see position to see what Barney can do.

[Guest]

The first chance the Cubs get to trade for Aaron Hill, they shouldn't think twice.

[KingCubsFan]

The first chance the Cubs get to trade for Aaron Hill, they shouldn't think twice.

Depends on what they have to give up. He has a very team-friendly contract, but he's really only had one outstanding year.

[Backtobanks]

While I'll admit it would be great having a solid offensive 2B, the problem with the Cubs' offense isn't 2B. The reason I say that is the fact that there weren't high expectations for 2B anyhow. I know there's lots of discussion about the reality of "clutch" hitting, but the "clutch" hitting by many of our "high - expectation" hitters has been almost non-existent. Ramirez, Byrd, and Soriano are extremely streaky hitters, while Pena and Colvin have provided next to nothing. This team is certainly not a great team, but almost every team has 1 or 2 "holes" in their lineup offensively. If the other 7 hitters can meet what is expected of them, the 2B platoon won't be a problem.

[treebird]

Ramirez, Byrd, and Soriano are extremely streaky hitters

 

i'll give you soriano. do people really think aramis and byrd are that streaky? is there any evidence for this? i'm not seeing much (unless august-september of last year counts as a down streak).

[Sammy Sofa]

Ramirez, Byrd, and Soriano are extremely streaky hitters

 

i'll give you soriano. do people really think aramis and byrd are that streaky? is there any evidence for this? i'm not seeing much (unless august-september of last year counts as a down streak).

 

All players are streaky; it's just more of a dramatic swing with Soriano. BtB lumping Byrd and especially Ramirez in with Soriano is just him talking out of his ass.

[treebird]

Ramirez, Byrd, and Soriano are extremely streaky hitters

 

i'll give you soriano. do people really think aramis and byrd are that streaky? is there any evidence for this? i'm not seeing much (unless august-september of last year counts as a down streak).

 

All players are streaky; it's just more of a dramatic swing with Soriano. BtB lumping Byrd and especially Ramirez in with Soriano is just him talking out of his ass.

 

that's what i thought. i couldn't really think of a good way to check this besides month-to-month splits, though, so i wanted to see if i had just missed something.

[17 Seconds]

when ramirez is gone, i'll remember him for being super consistent during his time with the cubs. not just year-to-year, but during the season also.

 

soriano in his prime was just ridiculously streaky