ST. LOUIS — Clint Barmes has had better years, on and off the field.
“There are a lot of things that have not made this year easy,” Barmes said. “I feel like I could sit here and ramble on for a long time, but I’m not going to do that. I’m excited about having a daughter, so I can’t say it’s been that bad a year.”
Barmes’ wife, Summer, is expected to deliver the couple’s second child, a daughter named Whitney Jane, on Sunday. Meanwhile, in Indiana, Barmes’ father is engaged in the fight of his life with lung cancer.
Oh, and did we mention he lost his job six weeks ago?
It has been that kind of year for Barmes. Now he’ll go into an offseason in which he figures to land with another team in 2011. But lo and behold, it’s not a given. Barmes was told by Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd over the weekend that he’s welcome to return. And he could do it if he can’t find an everyday job on the market if, as expected, he’s non-tendered.
“If something else works out, then we’ll go from there,” Barmes said before the Rockies’ season-ending 6-1 loss to the Cardinals. “If there are other opportunities for me to go somewhere and play every day, it would be a very, very tough decision to make as far as giving up a chance to play.”
Eric Young Jr. has earned mixed reviews at second base, and there are no guarantees that he will be the starter when the Rockies report to spring training. While Barmes would have to accept considerably less than the $3.3 million he earned this year, he could stick around if an everyday job isn’t in the cards with another team.
“This is where I want to be, and they know that,” he said. “But they also know I want to play. I still believe I can play every day. They don’t want to see me go, and if I fit in the plans, this may not be my last game as a Rockie. I’m hoping for that, but obviously it’s a business and I understand how that goes.”
Footnotes.
The Rockies finished with an eight-game losing streak and 13 losses in their final 14 games. . . . Carlos Gonzalez struck out a team-leading 135 times, but won the batting title. That’s the highest strikeout total ever for a batting champion, nine more than Matt Holliday’s 126 in 2007. Seven batting champions in major- league history have struck out 100-plus times. . . . Gonzalez will turn 25 on Oct. 17, and Troy Tulowitzki will be 26 next Sunday. . . . Rookie catcher Mike McKenry started Sunday’s finale and hit third because manager Jim Tracy wanted to give him as many chances as possible to get his first big-league hit. No such luck. McKenry struck out four times in four at-bats.
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
