Brendan Harris
Brendan Harris was acquired by the Twins on November 28, 2007, in a trade with Tampa Bay. The Twins sent Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, and Eduardo Morlan to the Rays for Delmon Young, Jason Pridie, and Brendan Harris. Although primarily playing at 3B throughout his minor league career, Harris has spent the majority of his major league time at SS and 2B. After bouncing around in several trades, Harris got his first prolonged chance at the major league level during the 2007 season with Tampa Bay, playing mostly at SS. In 500+ at-bats, he compiled a .286/.343/.434 line, which totals to an OPS+ of 106, making him a slightly above average offensive shortstop. When the Twins agreed to trade Jason Bartlett to Tampa Bay, it made sense to replace him with a SS whose overall numbers appear (on the surface) to be very similar to Bartlett's (.265/.339/.361 and an OPS+ of 88 for Bartlett in 2007).So far this season: Due largely to injuries on the infield (Everett and Punto) and the ineffectiveness of Mike Lamb, Brendan Harris has seen fairly regular playing time. In fact, Harris has the 5th-most at-bats on the team, with 320, which is just 8 fewer than Joe Mauer. Unfortunately, Harris' 320 at-bats have not been as productive as Mauer's. Through 91 games, Harris has splits of .259/.315/.369, giving him an OPS+ of 87 (below average). However, his is in the midst of a pretty good stretch, hitting .313, including 13 extra-base hits (7 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR) since mid-June.
Harris began the year as the Twins' starting second baseman, with Adam Everett playing SS. However, he struggled defensively at 2B, committing 5 errors in 39 games and posting a well below average RFg of 4.03 (league average at 2B is 4.58). Alexi Casilla was called up from AAA to take over at 2B and Brendan Harris was moved to SS, the position where he played the majority of last season. Despite the fact that his defense still isn't stellar, Harris has looked more comfortable at shortstop, posting a well above average RFg of 4.65 (league average is 3.93) and committing just 3 errors in 43 games. Ultimately, defense isn't the strongest part of Harris' game, as he still has pretty hard hands and too often is unable to turn a double-play, even though he has appeared more comfortable at SS.
Outlook for the rest of the season: I think that for the rest of the season, Harris will be in a platoon at SS with Nick Punto, as long as Punto can stay healthy enough to play. Although Adam Everett is due back from the disabled list soon, I don't believe he will be a factor at SS (he is more likely a candidate for release or trade). If Harris can continue to produce the offensive numbers that he has in the last month, it will be difficult for Ron Gardenhire to keep him out of the lineup, especially against left-handed pitchers, as the Twins desperately need a right-handed batter to step up against lefties. I believe that Harris can produce somewhere near his career splits of .268/.326/.402, which would be acceptable. Based on his track-record, I don't believe Nick Punto will continue putting up the numbers that he has (in limited playing time) this season, which will make Harris all the more important down the stretch.
Synopsis: In my mind, the Twins could do a lot worse than Brendan Harris as their SS. The Twins are a better team with him on the field than they would have been marching Adam Everett out there every day. That being said, I'm pretty indifferent when it comes to Harris. He is absolutely brutal to watch defensively. I have to cover my eyes every time he is involved in a potential double play. On the other hand, offensively, Harris has shown some positive things. He began the year on fire and is now in the middle of another good stretch. He just needs to learn to be a little bit more patient and selective at the plate, as evidenced by his striking out in 23% of at-bats, while only walking 7% of the time. Unfortunately, as a 28 year old SS, in just his second full year in the majors, Harris has more than likely reached his full potential. Ultimately, I see Harris as a stop-gap shortstop, until the Twins sign a quality player in free agency or have a player from the minor league system take over.
In my post about Adam Everett, I talked about how I felt that trading Bartlett was a mistake. If you look at the trade with Tampa Bay as 3 player-for-player trades (which isn't a great view of the trade, but for comparison purposes here, it works), then Brendan Harris and Jason Bartlett were traded for each other. With that view, I still think that trading Jason Bartlett was a mistake. Despite having more power than Bartlett, Harris strikes out a lot, walks fairly rarely, and is below average defensively. I think that Bartlett's defensive ability, coupled with his superior on-base skills made him the more valuable player. Admittedly, Bartlett is having a pretty poor year in Tampa Bay this year, but that doesn't mean that he would have been as bad if he had remained with the Twins. As I said above, I have no real problem with Harris, but I would still prefer Bartlett at SS.
No comments:
Post a Comment