2:53pm: The Blue Jays will send Double-A catcher Jack Murphy to the Dodgers to complete the trade, Bill Plunkett of the Orange Country Register tweets. Murphy, 27, has spent the year in Double-A New Hampshire. He owns a slash line of .220/.309/.315 through 328 plate appearances this year.
9:05am: The Blue Jays announced that they have acquired Darwin Barney from the Dodgers in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. As a post-August 31st acquisition, Barney will not be eligible for postseason play.
Barney, 29, appeared in two games for the Dodgers this season and spent the rest of the season in Triple-A. At Oklahoma City, Barney slashed .277/.325/.354 with four homers and seven steals across 96 games. For his career, Barney has a .245/293/.336 major league batting line in parts of six seasons with the Cubs and Dodgers.
Of course, the 2012 National League Gold Glove Award winner has more of a reputation for his defensive work than his hitting. For his career, Barney owns a strong 12.9 UZR/150 rating at the second base position. He also has 149 2/3 innings experience at shortstop, where he has graded out with a 40.0 UZR/150, albeit in a very limited sample size.
Barney will join the Blue Jays in New York for today’s contest against the Yankees.
Not bad. You’re never going to replace his bat at SS, nor Travis’ at 2B, but you can get glove-only guys like Barney or Pennington dirt cheap and they’ll still provide a lot of value. The rest of the lineup can score just fine and the Jays defense up the middle is elite (with Goins and also Pillar in CF).
In other news, this isn’t news. But we miss your glove, Darwin.