Darwin Barney Signs Minor-League Deal With Texas Rangers

The Darwin Barney era has come to an end in Toronto. The other half of the Blue Jays’ less-than-stellar backup infield will officially not be back with the team next season. Barney, who was acquired by the Jays back in 2015, has signed a minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers.

The Jays traded Jack Murphy (a nothing prospect) to the Los Angeles Dodgers to acquire Barney back in 2015 when the recently-acquired Troy Tulowitzki went down with an injury. Barney performed surprisingly well in a backup role, slashing a .304/.333/.609 line, but didn’t play in the playoffs because he was acquired after the trade deadline.

He stuck around for a couple seasons after that too, serving as a versatile backup infielder. In 2016, Barney was actually quite effective, slashing a .269/.322/.373 line and producing 1.5 wins above replacement. In 2017, though, Barney struggled. Him and Ryan Goins got a lot of playing time due to injuries to Devon Travis and Troy Tulowitzki, and neither were very good. Barney slashed a .232/.275/.327 line and his glove couldn’t make up for him being an offensive black hole, as he was worth -0.6 wins.

Barney and Goins are now gone, each having signed minor-league deals, and the Jays have replaced them with much better options in Aledmys Diaz and Yangervis Solarte. Neither are particularly spectacular, but both serve as very solid backups.

Here are some good Darwin Barney memories from his 248 games with the Blue Jays:

That time he pitched and took the L:

That time he fell down:

This nice snag at third: