Good news, everyone! In addition to his Gold-Glove defense, Chicago Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney has announced that he’s going to try to hit the baseball this year. We’re all very pleased.
“Obviously you want to keep the same standards defensively, keep that work ethic up,” he said. “Offensively, we’ve been working on a lot of things with my approach. A couple of tweaks mechanically — just trying to find a way to stay consistent and keep out of those ruts.”
Photo @redeyechicago
Barney hit .254 with a .299 on- base percentage in 2012, down from .276/.313 in his rookie season in 2011. He excelled at Wrigley Field (.303) but struggled on the road (.206).
Sveum said last year that Barney could be a .300 hitterbut he has to prove it. Sveum, hitting coach James Rowson and assistant hitting coach Rob Deer worked with Barney in November in Arizona to boost his slugging percentage.
Because if there’s anyone who knows about hitting, it’s Rob Deer. Seriously, I thought Cubs manager Dale Sveum was tossing his old buddy a bone by putting Deer on staff. I didn’t know he was going to let him, you know, actually work with the talent.
Speaking of trying to hit, it’s been a while since we caught up with erstwhile Cubs star prospect and hottie-in-residence Brett Jackson, who is also working on hitting the baseball . . . more.
MESA, Ariz. — An intense week of hitting in November may help Brett Jackson become the hitter the Cubs think he can be.
Jackson and teammate Darwin Barney spent time with Cubs manager Dale Sveum, hitting coach James Rowson and assistant hitting coach Rob Deer at Fitch Park. After striking out 59 times in 120 big league at-bats — and 158 times at Triple-A Iowa — Jackson needed some help. His hands are lower now, and his swing is more compact.
“It has to do with using more of my top hand,” Jackson said of the changes. “I’m a right-hand dominant athlete, and I have a tendency to try to overdo it a little bit with my bottom hand. If you watch swings from last year, you know my back elbow was getting really high and causing kind of like a teetering effect and making me slightly late on everything.
“Now, I’m working on just keeping my back elbow down and being shorter to the ball, amongst other things, but that’s the biggest adjustment,” he said.
And again Rob Deer rears his non-hittsy head. At least we’ll know who to blame when our hitters start screwing themselves into the ground.
But hitters aren’t the only once wookin’ pa nub this off-season. Travis Wood, in particular, really wants the Cubs to save a place for him at the cool kids’ lunch table. Am I the only one who completely forgot Travis Wood was still on the roster?
“I’m still fighting for a job,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. We have a lot of good guys here.”
Wood didn’t have a good spring last year, giving up 17 earned runs on 24 hits over 14 1/3 innings in five games, and was assigned to Triple-A Iowa. He made a spot start for the Cubs on May 6 against the Dodgers, and delivered a quality start — three hits and three runs over six innings. He joined the big league team for good May 22, and then went on a little bit of a roller-coaster ride. Wood won four straight starts from June 19-July 6, then went 0-8 in his next 10 starts.
“That’s baseball,” Wood said. “It could’ve been mechanical, it could’ve been bad luck. Who knows? You’ll never know. I felt I finished the season strong. I think it was right after the All-Star break, I had a few bad games, and then finished strong. I try not to think about it, it’s a new year.”
If you have to work this hard to be included, then they’re not really good teammates, are they Travis?
And I don’t know about you guys, but I’m 0n the edge of my train car seat, waiting to find out if Sammy knows that the Cubs gave Scott Hairston his number.
Hairston, the son of former White Sox player Jerry Hairston and the brother of former Cub Jerry Hairston Jr., will be playing all three outfield positions at Wrigley the next two years, and will be wearing Sosa’s No. 21 as well.
“That’s what they gave me,” he said. “I’ll take it. It’s a nice number. Who wouldn’t want to be 21.”
Did you get that, you guys? It’s not like Hairston demanded or even asked to wear number 21. They just gave it to him. If the Chicago Cubs really want to repair the relationship with Sammy Sosa, this is probably not the way to do it. On the other hand, if the Cubs want to flip Sammy the bird in front of the entire world, giving Scott Hairston his number is exactly the way to do it.
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Sammy is going to have to come clean about what he was doing if he wants to get an invite back to the business end of baseball. He can go be Retail Sammy all he wants out with the fans, but he if he wants to walk through the non-ticketed gate, then he’s got to make nice with the storytelling.
Scott Hairston as no. 21 is the gentle prod from the front office to remind Sammy that now he’s on the hook for an apology and a new car for Scott Hairston for the number switch.
Oh, and Happy Valentines Day!!!
“Honey, I got something for you- a light hitting middle infielder, a guy who can’t pitch or operate a razor, and a guy who gets invited as a solo to a swingers’ party. I was thinking of an STD, but they don’t let you in the STD store with Cubs beat. writer level desperation.”
If given a choice, I would not trade a Gold Glove 2B for a .274/.320 2B. Few teams have real “hitters” in that position and strong defense up the middle is critical. He just needs better plate discipline which can be taught.
But not taught by Rob Deer.
I just don’t see Rob Deer or anyone else being much of a difference maker for the positive or negative…similar to any other hitting coach.
Barney could improve marginally, but even in the minor leagues, he never proved to be much more than a .700 OPS guy. He is what he is. Maybe he’ll walk a bit more, but he’s not likely to be much more than a .260 to .270 hitter, with only a 5% to 6% walk rate.
Touche.
I think your point is pretty obvious…a superior defender vs. an average hitter. The correct alternative is to trade for a hitter that has around a .340 or .350 OBP…with perhaps one other plus skill (power or base running or something).
I’m still not the convinced that Barney is all “that” defensively…but I think many people thought the same about Ryne Sandberg (who I adored).
So how many Gold Gloves does the guy have to win in his career to convince you otherwise??? Geez.
only 7 or 8.
I’m not sure why people are making such a big stink about Scott Hairston getting the number 21…
Since Sosa left, I can think of 3 players right off the top of my head that wore the number 21…Tyler Colvin, Milton Bradley and Jason Marquis. I think someone wore it last year too…like Valbuena, Sappelt of Mather or something useless guy like that.
Why is this year such a big deal?
Pinterest
Sammy being on there just added to the confusion as to exactly what the hell Pintrest actually is.
No one is confused about Pinterest but you.
That’s what seems to confuse me even more.
Given the names you listed as having had the number 21, I think maybe the number 21 is not a lucky number for a Cubs player…
Anthony Rizzo didn’t want Campana on the team.
“I just think our team isn’t the fit for him.”
“We need more power instead of speed.”
He doesn’t like the way Campana smells, either.
He was jealous of all the attention Campana got…
If we had a corner infielder who hit doubles all day long, Campana would have some real value as a table setter. Since Ian Stewart isn’t 3rd Base Mark Grace, Campana has no value to the Cubs.
Maybe I should rethink this whole “Ian Stewart is as useful as a recycled douchebag” thing. I mean he has clearly helped us get rid of the Vanilla Midget. Now to watch his ego self destruct once it’s clear his wrist wasn’t half the birth control option his attitude has proven to be.
“3rd base Mark Grace.” Love it.
I might do that for Halloween.
Make sure you where a soap on a rope.
Campana still has no value unless you expect him to pinch run for 3rd Base Mark Grace. In order for Campana to have some value, he needs to get on base, which he doesn’t do.
Sveum has said that Feldman is pretty much a lock for the rotation.
That pretty much means that Travis Wood, Carlos Villanueva and Scott Baker will have to battle it out of the final spot in the rotation with Garza, Samardzija and Jackson already there.
Personally, I think this team has good too long without a Carlos in the rotation.
Again? In English?
ugh.
That’s what I get for typing long comments on my phone.
According to Carrie Muskat, Jed and Theo are out at Fitch Park right now practicing their bunting for the tournament.
I think I now have a man crush on these guys.
Just imagine Jim Hendry trying to compete in the bunting contest.
What happens if Theo or Jed win?
Someone else is DFA”d to make a opening in the roster them.
We pray that they project well at 3rd. Apparently Sveum can teach you how to drive the ball, so no big worries about being stuck with a light hitting executive at the hot corner.
What the hell, lets just put a Ricketts at 3rd so they can lead the team to the wildcard. Which one kissed Ron Santo’s ass the most? That’s got to count for something.
Read an an article on AJ and his thoughts on leaving Chicago (bittersweet).
No disappointment, it’s a business, excited at the new opportunity,looking forward not backward, blah, blah, blah.
“But I’m really broken-hearted leaving CubbieJulie. We really bonded last summer. And I love her red hair, her biting wit and her upfront honesty. Of course it was kind of aggravating bidding for time to be with her with all the attention she gets from Samardzija and Braun but… o well”
Haaaaa. AJ and I had one glorious afternoon of making fun of each other together. I’ll never forget it. Or when he told me it was illegal to block the plate when the runner was coming home (I was playing catcher and had the ball in my glove).