Darwin Barney, The Dodgers Newest “No Hit” (F)utility Shortstop

Just cause

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

As it’s been noted, Darwin Barney is getting the call, Hanley Ramirez is going on the disabled list. And stained obliques are one of the absolute worst injuries a hitter can sustain. In terms of length, these types of injuries never heal within the minimum amount of time, it’s measured in weeks, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this takes him out for the majority of the regular season.
So what’s the first thing the Dodgers do? Well promote recently acquired Darwin Barney.

Okay.

Okay Ned.

You got me.

I hope the majority of reactions include a small chuckle, followed by a singular tear running down your left cheek, and asking the oft asked question: “why?”. I don’t get it, getting Darwin Barney was pretty okay. Colletti recognized that Darwin Barney was an all world defender at second base. Quite possibly the best defender at his position. He was once worth 2.3 fWAR while having an on base percentage under .300, which tells you about his defense, so hey DEFENSE! Baseball teams like defense! Especially when it prevents people from scoring runs!

He’s good at defending second base, so of course the organization acquires him, sends him to AAA,and immediately decides to play him at shortstop and third base. I didn’t think much about it mostly because Darwin Barney isn’t something I think about too often. But expanding positional flexibility while keeping his primary position as second base is all good.

Right? All good.

So of course, while Hanley was taking an MRI yesterday, Ned was in Vegas seeing the Isotopes with Chris Reed on the mound, Tim Federowicz behind the plate, Joc Pederson in leftfield!!!! Erisbel Arruebarrena playing shortstop, Alexander Guerrero playing second base. Oh, the options! And of course, third baseman/shortstop/second baseman extraordinaire, Darwin Barney is in Milwaukee while all of the aforementioned options are about to get ready to play another AAA game.

Okay.

Now I understand that this is probably a depth (there’s that word again) move. Miguel Rojas is probably going to start for the time being, and having two options at SS can’t hurt but there’s a reason Barney has only played 11 innings at shortstop since 2012, clearly the Cubs either didn’t want to play him at SS as a backup because they thought his extraordinary ability to play 2b would be hindered, or they thought Barney’s awful, awful, awful bat wasn’t even worth playing at SS because he’s not Andrelton Simmons. Barney isn’t that much better than Rojas with the bat, and I don’t believe Barney is a better defender. And it’s not Erisbel Arruebarrena isn’t one of the top 5 defensive shortstops in the world, so this is all around, pretty puzzling.

I don’t like it, but hey, it’s not Carlos Triunfel, and that’s something, I guess.