Twins Acquire OF Brandon Barnes

[Seth Stohs]

Minnesota and Cleveland apparently were willing to make trades with each other. 

 

The Twins acquired OF Brandon Barnes from Cleveland. He's put up great numbers in AAA. However, with Cleveland's acquisition of Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes, Jake Bauers and Greg Allen were sent to AAA making Barnes expendable. 

 

 

 

[Brandon]

As bad as Cleveland's OF has been, I'm surprised Cleveland didn't have this guy get at least a trial in MLB this year.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

 

The 33yr old Barnes who was having a terrific season with (AAA) Columbus will be assigned to the Twins (AAA) affiliate Rochester.

Season: 102-376 64R 25(2B) 24HR 77RBI 33BB 9SB .271 AVG .336 OBP

 

Another opportunity to show the juiced ball context of AAA in 2019:

 

Barnes has an .865 OPS at AAA this year -- but relative to league, it's only a 112 wRC+ per Fangraphs.

 

Last year, he only had a .791 OPS in the same league -- but it was a 124 wRC+.

 

His OPS jumped 74 points, while his wRC+ fell 12 points...

[Dman]

I guess someone had to take Jaylin's spot and it was gonna be tough to fill the way he was playing but this guy should help fill the void pretty well.  Welcome aboard Brandon Barnes.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

As bad as Cleveland's OF has been, I'm surprised Cleveland didn't have this guy get at least a trial in MLB this year.

112 wRC+ in AAA doesn't mean much.

 

The outfielders that Cleveland has promoted from Columbus this year posted 215, 180, 165, 129, and 99 marks at that level (admittedly in some small samples). And the guy with the 99 wRC+ is 7 years younger than Barnes and possibly more capable in CF (and he had a 133 mark at AAA last year).

 

Actually, the outfielders Cleveland settled on haven't been that bad -- of their top 5 outfielders by PA, they've got Mercado with a 107 wRC+ in MLB this year, Naquin 105, Luplow 120. Compare that to the Twins, with Kepler 129, Rosario 110, Buxton 110, Gonzalez 91, and Cave 72.

 

Cleveland was really hurt by the leash they gave to Leonys Martin (61) and Jake Bauers (79), although to be fair Martin had a 103 in MLB last year with plus CF defense, and Bauers had a 95 as a MLB rookie last year and is only 23 years old, so they probably deserved some leash. Both Martin (released) and Bauers (optioned) are gone now.

 

Looking at Rochester outfielders, Jaylin Davis had a 173 wRC+, De Aza from the indy leagues has a 162 already, Cave 144... obviously not much room for them in the Twins outfield, but this puts Barnes's 112 in the same league in further context.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Actually this deal highlights how trades can still be made, even after the July 31st deadline has passed -- they can only involve guys currently playing on minor league contracts (non-40 man players who haven't been outrighted off the 40-man already this year).

 

Yes, this includes fungible minor league vets like Barnes, but also some prospects! Now, I don't think you'll see guys like Graterol or Kirilloff traded for each other this month, but if some other team has a pre-call-up version of Stashak, Poppen, Eades, or Smeltzer, they can still be dealt in August.

[redstorm]

Safe to assume the cost was cash considerations?

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Safe to assume the cost was cash considerations?

Yes. Yes, it is.

[FLTwinsGuy]

If i remember correctly, Barnes is pretty good at stealing bases, or at least he was in Colorado..I could be wrong but if he is, maybe thats a help come potential playoff time

[Otto von Ballpark]

If i remember correctly, Barnes is pretty good at stealing bases, or at least he was in Colorado..I could be wrong but if he is, maybe thats a help come potential playoff time

You may be wrong.

 

Barnes MLB career line shows 22 SB and 20 CS (10 and 8 with Colorado, in 286 games).

[Mr. Brooks]

If i remember correctly, Barnes is pretty good at stealing bases, or at least he was in Colorado..I could be wrong but if he is, maybe thats a help come potential playoff time

Barnes is here for AAA depth. He's not going to be stealing any bases for the Twins.