Red Sox shopped Matt Barnes in trades prior to his DFA on Tuesday night
The Red Sox made a surprising decision to designate Matt Barnes for assignment on Tuesday night. The move allowed the club to add newly signed center fielder Adam Duvall to the 40-man roster.
Prior to Barnes getting designated for assignment, the Red Sox had been trying to trade the former All-Star reliever, per source. Barnes is set to earn $7.5 million for the 2023 season and has a $2 million buyout for the following season.
In addition, according to WEEI’s Rob Bradford on his BradFo Sho Podcast, the Red Sox had been shopping Barnes in trades all offseason.
Fans and media alike have been wondering why Barnes was the odd man out on he 40-man roster when Ryan Brasier and Kaleb Ort seemed to be more obvious choices.
Chief baseball Officer Chaim Bloom talked about the difficult decision to move on from Barnes.
“Obviously a really, really difficult decision," Bloom said. "The conversation itself was one of the more difficult ones that I've had. ... I think more than anything, this is just the function of where we're at in the offseason and with our 40-man roster.
"There are no easy decisions. Regardless of recent accomplishments, regardless of what they have under their belts in their careers, everybody on our 40-man roster has real value. There is nobody that we can remove without losing them, and so that forces tough choices, and it's obviously something we've been working through all offseason, and today we landed on Matt. But beyond that, it's certainly nothing negative about him. I think it's more a statement of where we're at with our 40-man roster."
Boston can still trade Barnes while he’s designated for assignment. If he is not traded and ultimately released, any team in the league can sign Barnes for the league minimum, which is $720,000.
Barnes departs the Red Sox third in team history with 429 appearances and with a World Series ring. He was a key member of the 2018 team out of the bullpen appearing in 10 of the 14 games that postseason and allowed one run on three hits over 8 2/3 innings.
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