6:24pm: Outfielder Ezequiel Carrera has also settled with the Jays, per Heyman (via Twitter). He’ll receive $1,162,500 — just shy of his $1.2MM projection.
6:08pm: The Blue Jays have settled on a contract figure with infielder Darwin Barney, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter link). He’ll earn $2.8875MM in 2017.
Once the regular second baseman for the Cubs, Barney had steadily seen his MLB opportunities fall over the last 2014 and 2015 seasons. But after a pit stop with the Dodgers, the 31-year-old has found a home with Toronto after re-signing with the organization for one year and $1.05MM last winter. He appeared in over 100 games in 2016, slashing .369/.322/.373 over 306 plate appearances while providing value with the glove.
Now in his final year of arbitration eligibility, Barney will earn quite a bit more than the $1.6MM that MLBTR’s arbitration model projected. That’s likely because his camp could have argued for a higher starting point — namely, his $2.525MM arb salary from 2015 — upon which to add a raise.
Hi Jeff,
Barney’s average was .269 not .369.
I’m sure it was just a typo but I thought I’d let you know.
I was starting to get a bit confused because his OBP was significantly lower than his BA. Now it all makes sense.
.369/.322/.373
Wow, what a slash line!! 😉
lotta sac flies
Haha..
Lotta singles too. With a slash line like that he’d have, what — one HR and the rest singles?
Barney is better than advertised if Maddon was his manager and moved him around he would’ve been also
A star
Never seen someone bat 369 yet fail to reach base less??
Had a decent season, surely getting the dfa this season though, mostly because goins is cheaper and better defense
Goins was worth -1.0 fWAR in 2016, putting up a UZR/150 of 0.1 at 2B and -.3.8 at SS; while Barney was worth 1.6fWAR, putting up a UZR/150 of 4.7 at 2B and 26.2 at SS.. Barney is clearly the superior player on both ends of the ball (and can even throw a mean curveball haha!)
Hence The Jays’ willingness to pay Barney the big bucks. Since Goins is out of options, They will try to sneak him through waivers and get him off the roster.
Agreed. Goins is kind of redundant on a team with such a vastly superior player in Barney. I still think he winds up as a trade chip this season.
I’ll agree that Goins is cheaper, but 2.8875MM is a pittance for a guy who brings the value Barney did to this team last year. I personally don’t believe there’s room for both of them on this team, either. However, I think it’s Goins who gets the boot before Barney.
Goins really isn’t that much of a defensive upgrade over Barney, and Goins is definitely way behind Barney offensively.
I agree. As good as Goins is defensively Barney is also, and can hit (maybe not great) but Goins isn’t much competition him in the batters box.
In fact, Goins is actually even a defensive DOWNGRADE from Barney, according to the stats. Makes him that much more expendable.
I dunno I bet they both stick around re: high likelihood of Tulo and Travis being disabled at various times and at the same time.
But even IF Tulo and Travis are out at the same time, you’ve still got Pearce who can play at 2B, and that would ironically actually free up a bit of the 1B/DH logjam that we’ve got haha.
I just find Goins redundant on a team that has Barney, who is already relegated to the bench. He’d probably package well with another piece to bring in a bullpen arm. Other teams are surely looking for defensive wizards who can play multiple positions on the cheap
What “logjam” at 1B?
There isn’t a single big league level 1B on the team, unless you count Morales, and he’s terrible in the field.
What team’s roster are you looking at? By my count, at the 1B/DH position, we’ve got Morales, Pearce, and Smoak,.. All of whom are currently blocking Rowdy Tellez’s route to the majors (he’ll likely be a July = if at worst, a September callup if he handles AAA the way he’s anticipated to).
I’ll agree that Morales is terrible in the field, but they’ve said he’s going to slot in a 1B from time to time.
War is so confusing sometimes. I looked at Barneys stats and noticed he had an excellent year in 2012 according to WAR. 588 pa 7 hr 44 rbi. 6 steals .254/.299/.354 3.6 dWar 1.3 owar ( how is that a positive offensive year?)
I compared that with another second baseman. 4.5 war for the year. 674 pa 25 hr 85 rbi 5 steals .320/.352/.520 owar 4.5 dWar 0.4 . That was Cano in 09. So Barney had a better year?
To be honest, I have no idea how Baseball Reference calculates oWAR and dWAR. I prefer to refer to Fangraphs (hence overall fWAR rather than bWAR)
According to Fangraphs, yes, Barney was a below average player with the bat, but put up HUGE defensive stats to make him worth a total of 2.4 fWAR in 2012, with Cano putting up a total of 3.6 fWAR in 2009. If that makes things any clearer.
I’m not a fan of dWAR at all. I prefer to use UZR/150 or DRS
It’s all explained on B-Ref, but they use DRS for the defensive side. FG uses UZR.
War don’t work it’s a more of the over all defense and running plus Offense kinda to be real big popi was crazy wrong he was a MVP lol war is nothing
So you’re saying the only important thing is offense?
Fangraphs WAR is much better
Agreed
WAR! What is it good for?
Figuring out who’s a good player and who’s not. Like all stats. A simple Google search could’ve told you that
a-GOOD GAAAWD Ya’ll
Yea I’ve heard those two sites calculate it different, that’s weird. I gotta checkout fangraphs more I’m just so use to baseball reference for stats. What’s the difference in fWar and bWar?
fWAR is Fangraphs WAR, bWAR is Baseball Reference WAR