Darwin Theory

Baseball fans love the undersized guys. They get labeled with terms like scrappy, tough, hard-nosed and other adjectives that describe a player with minimal athletic abilities. As fans, we can relate to the athletes that look more like we do. They’re not the physical specimen that won the genetic lottery, but guys that persevered and found a niche in their sport. They’re supporting cast players who fill a role but don’t make the big bucks or drive the flashy cars. They’re overlooked by scouts for not having flashy tools and ignored by GM’s who are looking for the impact guys. Darwin Barney is one of those players.

Listed at 5’10 and 180 pounds, Barney doesn’t look any different that the average weekend warrior playing in a softball game playing in some part in Chicago. He’s posted a decent season and shown some signs of being an everyday player. Unlike Starlin Casto, however, Barney doesn’t scream All Star or impact player. While you can win with David Eckstein and Craig Counsell, you don’t really win because of them. He’s not really a building block, but more likely a piece in the puzzle.

That being said, it’s nice to have someone you can rely on. With so many big money guys that disappoint and leave you shaking your head about what they should be, it’s not bad having someone who seemingly maximizes their talents. Whether Barney fits prominently in the Cubs future, or he’s just a Ryan Theriot type who’s passing through town temporarily, the Cubs could worse than the diminutive second baseman out of Oregon State.

We won't get fooled again

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Cubs seem to be making a late season run long after the games have become meaningless. They’ve won nine of their last 11 games and have started to look like something other than a horrendous team. That being said, let’s home Cubs owner Tom Ricketts doesn’t get too giddy and this recent string of respectability.

Maybe it’s the pressure being off and the expectations of contention slowly but surely evaporating. Maybe it’s the inevitability that every team going on a decent run of solid baseball at some point the long grind of 162 games. At some point, the line drive outs turn into hits and the bloop singles begin to fall in. As is often the case, players start to reach those famous “back of the baseball card” numbers” despite how bad they looked in the cold days of April.

Regardless of the elusive reasoning, Cubs fans have to hope that Tom Ricketts has learned the lesson of last summer. As you may recall, the Cubs owner and General Manager seemingly got carried away with the solid late season play under interim manager Mike Quade last year. They retained Quade and made minimal and unimpressive moves during the offseason. They made the mistake of overvaluing the strength of their manager and players once the season was already lost. Time will only tell whether the organization makes the same error again.

Show Me State

With the Cubs currently sitting 15.5 games out of first place, there isn’t much excitement or drama left in the season. Their fates have been decided and the only questions that remain are about which players will still be around for next season. With the Cubs unloading Kosuke Fukudome to Cleveland, Tyler Colvin now has a golden opportunity to make management believe that he belongs in the everyday lineup next season.

Colvin, a lanky outfielder from Clemson, was drafted with the 13th pick in the 2006 draft. He was looked at as a solid athlete with the potential to become a power bat from the left side. Some national experts doubted the pick from the beginning and Colvin hasn’t proven any critics wrong to this point. His biggest issue has been the inability to demonstrate any level of patience at the plate. He’s played parts of five seasons in the minors and appeared in almost 500 games but has never posted an on base percentage above .336. His numbers in the big leagues aren’t anything to write home about either. While playing in 185 games, Colvin has a career batting average of .223 and .284 on base percentage.

While 185 games and 534 plate appearances may not be enough time to judge a player, Colvin doesn’t appear to be getting much better. He seems destined to be a non-descript fourth outfielder, never justifying the high draft pick the Cubs used on him. He may just be another underachieving Cubs position player prospect, never realizing the potential that the organization saw in him.