Lockout Lookup: Brendan Harris

[RandBalls Stu]

If you were a baseball GM in the mid-to-late '00s, chances are you traded Brendan Harris at one point. 

Subject: Brendan Harris

Why You Remember Him: If you were a wheeling and dealing MLB GM in the mid-to-late ‘00s, chances are you threw in Brendan Harris as part of the deal. The infielder out of William & Mary was moved four times between 2004 and 2010, three of them involving your Minnesota Twins.

• 2004: As part of the 4-team Nomar Garciaparra blockbuster (Twins fans: feel free to call this the Dougie Baseball blockbuster, I won’t tell anyone), Harris was traded by the Cubs to the Montreal Expos.
• 2006: In the only non-Minnesota transaction, the Expos are now the Nationals, and they include Harris in a trade with the Reds for Austin Kearns.
• 2007: The Matt Garza trade! You remember the Matt Garza trade! Harris came over with (sigh) Delmon Young and Jason Pridie for Garza, Jason Bartlett, and Eddie Morlan.
• 2010: The J.J. Hardy trade! You remember the J.J. Hardy trade! You’re probably still mad about it and that’s OK! Harris and Hardy were shipped to Baltimore for Jim Hoey and Brett Jacobsen. I’m getting upset just typing it.

Harris was coming off a career year in Tampa (highs in OPS, HRs, RBI, OBP, and batting average) when he joined Minnesota. He didn’t quite scale those offensive heights in his 2+ seasons here and his defense didn’t make up for it. Despite this, the team signed him to an extension prior to the 2010 season in a move described by one local blogger as a “head-scratcher.”

What You Don’t Remember: Future Twin Orlando Cabrera was also moved in the Nomar/Mientkiewicz deal.

What You Might Remember: From 2011 to 2013, J.J. Hardy led all major league shortstops with 77 home runs. Hoey pitched 24 innings for the 2011 Twins before never seeing the majors again. I’ve just made myself upset again! This is on me!

What’s He Up To: Harris is using his Wharton MBA for X10 Capital, an organization that “empowers professional athletes with the tools and resources necessary to fulfill their dreams.” Before you ask, yes, Tuffy Gosewisch is one of his co-workers. You can find him occasionally tweeting at @brendanharris23.

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[USAFChief]

No Brendan Harris article is complete without mentioning Brian Buscher. The Harris-Buscher ("Harrischer") platoon was going to be an AS 3rd baseman for years, for the price of 2 backups. 

 

[raindog]

Going to aarongleeman.com makes me so nostalgic. I'm glad it's still there, and looks the same. 

[Richmond Dude]

Gardy really screwed with Harris' head and never gave him a fair shake.  The Hardy trade was when I knew that the team was simply not going to be good under Smith.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

On 2/25/2022 at 9:53 AM, USAFChief said:

No Brendan Harris article is complete without mentioning Brian Buscher. The Harris-Buscher ("Harrischer") platoon was going to be an AS 3rd baseman for years, for the price of 2 backups. 

 

Remind me, how many All Star 3rd basemen we have had over the years. I don't know...

[Musk21]

On 2/26/2022 at 8:06 PM, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Remind me, how many All Star 3rd basemen we have had over the years. I don't know...

Rich Rollins - 1962 & 1962 (There were 2 AS games that year)

Harmon Killebrew - 1966, 1969, 1970 (seasons in which a clear majority of his games/AB's were at 3B)

Gary Gaetti - 1988 & 1989

Miguel Sano - 2017

[sampleSizeOfOne]

2 hours ago, Musk21 said:

Rich Rollins - 1962 & 1962 (There were 2 AS games that year)

Harmon Killebrew - 1966, 1969, 1970 (seasons in which a clear majority of his games/AB's were at 3B)

Gary Gaetti - 1988 & 1989

Miguel Sano - 2017

Thanks kindly!