Darwin Barney is the bee's knees.

[DiamondMind]

2.9 DWAR for Barney, next guy is Alexi Casilla at 1.3

 

If he doesn't win a GG....ugh.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fielding/_/position/2b/sort/defWARBR

 

What a lunatic.

 

Me or neely? :P

[El Duderino]

darwin barney doesn't throw enough balls between his legs to win a gg

[17 Seconds]

darwin barney doesn't throw enough balls between his legs to win a gg

 

basically true. phillips will unfortunately win it.

[DiamondMind]

darwin barney doesn't throw enough balls between his legs to win a gg

 

basically true. phillips will unfortunately win it.

 

phillips range/dwar

4.59/1.0

 

barneys range/dwar

5.17/2.9

 

phillips ops: 774

barneys ops: 692

 

don't be so sure imo, offensively they aren't THAT far apart. pretty confidant barneys got this locked up, honestly. the leagues taken notice of the fact that he has a vacuum attached to him.

[El Duderino]

barney's errorless streak at second will have last the whole season for him to have a chance. gg voters don't care about dwar

[17 Seconds]

darwin barney doesn't throw enough balls between his legs to win a gg

 

basically true. phillips will unfortunately win it.

 

phillips range/dwar

4.59/1.0

 

barneys range/dwar

5.17/2.9

 

phillips ops: 774

barneys ops: 692

 

don't be so sure imo, offensively they aren't THAT far apart. pretty confidant barneys got this locked up, honestly. the leagues taken notice of the fact that he has a vacuum attached to him.

 

i didn't say phillips should win it. i said he will. gold glove is an irrelevant award.

[sneakypower]

oh come on, it's a little embarrassing that you guys seem to believe his glove has actually been worth 3 whole wins

[treebird]

oh come on, it's a little embarrassing that you guys seem to believe his glove has actually been worth 3 whole wins

 

i didn't want to be the first one to say it, but AGREED

[El Duderino]

i'd say it's been worth closer to 10 wins

[Clem Fandango]

I don't think anyone is believing it's worth 3 wins, since most folks know defensive metrics are not the most accurate indicator of defensive capability, they're just pointing out that the metrics DO say he's the best fielder at 2B by a huge margin

[sneakypower]

I don't think anyone is believing it's worth 3 wins, since most folks know defensive metrics are not the most accurate indicator of defensive capability, they're just pointing out that the metrics DO say he's the best fielder at 2B by a huge margin

bb-ref uses DRS, which gives credit to outs made using a shift; he gets congratulated for Sveum putting him in a place where the hitter hits the ball

 

Brett Lawrie's also been off-the-charts, in large part because John Farrell does things like this:

 

http://thecutoffman.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/img_5007.jpg?w=555&h=370

 

UZR doesn't grade plays using the shift and is currently agreed to be more reflective of a player's true ability

[Clem Fandango]

UZR doesn't grade plays using the shift and is currently agreed to be more reflective of a player's true ability

 

I'm familiar wit hthe differences, but UZR still says he's arguably the best defensive 2B in baseball, and easily the best in the NL

 

UZR:

Cano - 6.4

Barney - 6.1

Phillips - 5.9

Ackley - 3.9

Espinosa - 6.8

 

UZR/150:

Barney - 13.5

Cano - 11.4

Phillips - 11.3

Espinosa - 7.4

Ackley - 6.7

[gus_dog]

Barney IS the bees knees. All I hear is folks talking him down, but you know what, all he does is go out and perform. Sure, he's no Ryne Sandberg, but he's pretty darned good.

[DiamondMind]

they're just pointing out that the metrics DO say he's the best fielder at 2B by a huge margin

 

/nod

[Rob]

I was absolutely livid when the Cubs drafted Barney.

 

Of course, a few years later when they decided to start him at 2B instead of DeWitt and Baker, I was one of those who did not freak out.

 

I'm generously giving myself the benefit of the doubt and calling it even.

[minnesotacubsfan]

[Wheelimus]

Maybe next season they'll have the option of a DH for the 2B position. Then Darwin Barney and Jim Thome will have the greatest statistical season defensively and offensively for 2B.

 

But beyond that happening I'm perfectly happy with Barney's average bat with elite defense. It's not his fault there aren't seven better bats in the lineup than him at all times. Perhaps next season we'll actually have a third basemen for the entire season.

[Guest]

I'm happily patting myself on the back

[DiamondMind]

Barney was the only thing that made me :D tonight. Whatever that's worth. Great play in the 5th.

 

 

But beyond that happening I'm perfectly happy with Barney's average bat with elite defense.

 

It's not even elite defense at this point, it's [expletive] amazingly elite defense.

[neely crenshaw]

is he a hall of famer...no

but on a team searching to find as many home grown, real live major leaguers- he is exactly what the cubs need. he won't be a guy who turns this whole thing around but it was one less spot that they have to worry about filling. He's not the top of the order guy but set him at second, and hit him at the bottom of the line up and you are fine. his offensive stats are ok, but on this squad they are right there with castro's and better then any of the 3rd basemen.

it's just one less hole to fill on a team with a bunch.

[Clem Fandango]

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/27548/julys-best-defenders-barney-tex-reddick

 

When Baseball Info Solutions made adjustments to its defensive metrics a few weeks ago, we thought that Barney would be among those to take a big hit.

 

But Barney’s numbers turned out to be legit all along. The Cubs second baseman ended the month as the game’s most valuable defender, with 27 Defensive Runs Saved for the season, eight coming in July.

 

Cubs manager Dale Sveum has prioritized defensive positioning, and that seems to have benefited Barney, who has a high rating on both balls hit to the right of where a second baseman makes most plays (10 plays better than average, and to the left (12 plays better than average).

 

The Cubs have given up a lot of hits this season, but it's not the fault of their middle infield. The average team allows a runner to reach on about 43 percent of balls hit over the second base bag, or a few degrees to the right or left. The Cubs have allowed only 39 percent.

 

But Barney passes the eye test, too. He had 16 of what the BIS video-trackers call "Good Fielding Plays" in July, and only five Defensive Misplays & Errors. He excelled in turning the double play, with four of his Good Plays related to that skill, one shy of the best by a second baseman this month (Dan Uggla’s five).

 

Barney’s 3-to-1 Good Play/Misplay ratio has held up all season and is more than twice the ratio that Barney posted as a rookie in 2011, when his Good Play/Misplay & Error rate was 47 to 42.

[Wheelimus]

Gotta say I'm looking forward to seeing what the 2013 version of Darwin Barney looks like. Something I never thought I'd be saying at the start of the season. But the guy obviously works his ass off in between seasons, what with the conditioning improvement we saw in spring training before we got to see how good his defense was. Since there won't be much work to do on defense (can't really get any better) I wouldn't be surprised if he concentrates on hitting and has a nice season next year just by working harder than his peers.

 

Not saying he's going to go '84 Sandberg on our rumps but a solid .750 OPS with elite defense isn't out of the question.

[DiamondMind]

One less position to fill for 13/14. Simple as that.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I'm really thinking that this is Darwin Barney, and that's by no means a bad thing. His offense is far from unsustainable, and there's no reason to believe that his defense will regress. Bascally, we have Ozzie Smiths bat with Omar Vizquels glove. I'll happily take it for years to come.

[Guest]

Omar Vizquel is maybe the 2nd best defensive shortstop ever to play baseball.