In cutting Barnes, they chose to keep less established relievers like Ryan Brasier, Kaleb Ort and Wyatt Mills. Of course, signing another player would only mean the DFA of someone else, and the fact Barnes was cut loose suggests the Red Sox don’t have any more easy cuts to make. “There’s certainly more of a lane for one at this point,” he said. The free agent market does still include some prominent relievers, though, especially from the left side, and Bloom said it’s possible the team could sign one to flesh out the existing group. Barnes and Taylor were widely expected to make the Opening Day bullpen, perhaps in relatively prominent middle-inning roles. The bullpen options, though, have dwindled. “(Mondesi) doesn’t really cut off any options for us if the right move is there,” Bloom said. The Red Sox still seem to have at least one wide-open spot on their bench. We’ll take care of him, and him being part of the mix will make it easier to take care of everybody.” “When Adalberto is back, we know given his track record, (so) I don’t think we want to put too much on him. ![]() “It doesn’t change anything about where we’re headed and the (shortstop) opportunity in front of Kiké (Hernández),” Bloom said. ![]() Even when he’s active, Bloom said, workload concerns will probably limit Mondesi to part-time duty, or at least demand that he gets regular days off. Not so long ago he was among the most promising young players in the sport, but injuries have limited him to just 109 games the past three years, and even now he’s recovering from a knee injury that’s likely to keep him off the Red Sox roster at the very beginning of the season. He’s a switch hitter with great speed and defense, and at times a dangerous bat. Mondesi, 27, will feature prominently at shortstop. The Red Sox particularly coveted his right-handed power bat, an element they lost when Trevor Story underwent elbow surgery earlier this month. With those two moves, the Red Sox were significantly transformed in ways predictable, somewhat surprising, and completely unexpected.ĭuvall, 34, is expected to become the team’s primary center fielder, a position he’s played well in a relatively limited sample size. He was designated for assignment to make room for new center fielder Adam Duvall, who was added to the roster just hours after the Red Sox traded yet another familiar reliever, lefty Josh Taylor, for Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi and a player to be named later. In recent weeks, the Red Sox have designated - and lost - notable players including Eric Hosmer, Jeter Downs, Darwinzon Hernandez and Connor Seabold, but Barnes was the most shocking of the cuts. There’s nobody that we can remove now without losing them.” “There are no easy decisions and, you know, regardless of recent accomplishments, regardless of what they have under their belts in their careers, everybody on our 40-man roster has real value. “More than anything, this is just a function of where we’re at in the offseason and with our 40-man roster,” Bloom said. If he does, Barnes can reject an outright assignment to the minor leagues and become a free agent, with the Red Sox still on the hook for his $7.5-million salary and $2.25 million buyout. The Red Sox still have a week to potentially trade Barnes before needing to put him on waivers, which he’ll almost certainly clear because of his salary. “The conversation itself was one of the more difficult ones that I’ve had,” Bloom said.īeyond that, Bloom wouldn’t say much about the Barnes decision in a Tuesday conference call, saying that he wanted to let the process play out before getting into the specifics of the team’s decision. Instead, Barnes was designated for assignment Tuesday, all but slamming the door on an 11-year stint with the organization that drafted him in 2011 and developed him into one of the game’s better relief pitchers before a sudden and radical fall from prominence.
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