Barrett Keeps Impressive Quote Streak Alive

CHICAGO (SNARKY) -- Michael Barrett is off to a fantastic with the Chicago Cubs this year. His OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) is a staggering .947 through 12 games. Even more impressive than that sizeable total is the fact that he's batting a thousand against reporters' questions.

Truth be told, I like Michael Barrett. And the reporters like him as well because he'll answer every last question of theirs. In those narrow terms, he's a real "company man" for his owners at the Tribune and the rest of the media.

But his proclivity for the pulled quote alienates him in the clubhouse.

How else to explain Carlos Zambrano and Mark Prior's refusal to let him catch them when they are on the hill? Instead, manager Dusty Baker has to trade Barrett's power for the offensively-challenged Henry Blanco who is literally unremarkable in every sense of the word.

Barrett is one of the good guys. He plays the game the right way and he'd run through a brick wall for this Chicago team to win the World Series. Hell, I would too if I spent five long seasons in Montreal, baseball's now-shuttered purgatory.

Granted, his quotes may be a tad too sunny and hyperbolic for some to stomach. But in this age of sound bites and droll remarks they're a refreshing change of pace.

And Barrett's not a sycophant, either. He's just trying to erase a century's worth of grey gloom surrounding this franchise by taking the "half-full" approach.

So cut Barrett some slack in the clubhouse, gentlemen. He's only feeding the beast that is the millions of Cubs fans who hang on every article. The ones like me who constantly reload ESPN.com throughout the day in the hopes of a new morsel to fill the championship void in our souls.

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