Update Your Depth Charts

Darwin Barney —> DFA

Emilio Bonifacio —> Activated from the DL

Tsuyoshi Wada —> Cubs

Arismendy Alcantara —> Time to play

Mike Olt —> Iowa

Jorge Soler —> Iowa

Albert Almora —> Tennessee

Jacob Hannemann —> Daytona

Moving Too Late

The Yankees acquired Chase Headley yesterday for Yangervis Solarte and Rafael De Paula (maybe). I really like that and the prior trade for Brandon McCarthy, as both seem like decent bets to improve in the second half, the playoffs are well within reach, and the Yanks really didn’t have to give up anything.

The bigger story, though, is that the Padres sold brutally low on Headley. To a lesser extent, I feel the same way about Darwin Barney. Barney never hit well, and it’s easy to forget that there was a time when he was genuinely sought after. In 2011 and 2012, he hit just enough to make him an average player in WAR terms, and was always linked to the Tigers and other teams in desperate need of middle infield help.

Seemingly from the minute Theo made it clear that a major rebuild was coming, I rooted for a Barney trade to happen, and for the Cubs to use some money to try other options at second. This past offseason, for example, I wanted Aledmys Diaz, Alex Guerrero, or Nick Franklin. Diaz seems to have really suffered from his long post-defection layoff, and Guerrero has significant weaknesses in defense and cranial cartilage, but mainly I just wanted them to take a chance and not put all their eggs in the existing prospect basket. That opportunity is gone now, and there’s nothing left but to take a deep breath and hope for the best with the coming wave of prospects. It really feels like the beginning of the next era of Cubs baseball.

The defense was always great with Barney, and I think everyone recognized that. The other aspect of The Barney Era that stands out is the wisdom of the Cubs in not moving him to shortstop when Castro looked very shaky. Barney was always a short term piece, and in a rebuilding phase it was more important to let Castro grow into the position. Thumbs up to the team for recognizing that.

Quick Links

• Tom Verducci on illegal defense. I agree that offensive decline is an issue, but sort of hate that idea. Bring on the Google Glass-aided holographic strike zone for umps, and make it smaller.
• It turns out the Kirk Gibson is not so thick-skinned when someone other than Tony La Russa is doing the criticizing.
• This is what happens when nobody gives a shit about the fucking marmot.
• Scott Boras on the difference between the Cubs and the Astros.
• Peter Gammons says that the union has become actively involved in discouraging hometown discounts.