Catcher Michael Barrett Now Free Agent

I'd love to see the Braves pick him up as McCann's backup. After all, he is from Atlanta.

Thank god. He was absolutely worthless during his time in San Diego. Still wish we didn't let Josh Bard go, however.

I don't think he'll want a back up gig. That said, I'd like to see him in Atlanta too.

wouldnt mind seeing him as a tiger in 2009.

the reason the cubs traded barrett was because he got into a fight with zambrano

SunKing1056 me too! I would be very happy if the Braves signed Barrett to backup McCann. The guy was once a premier catcher in the league. Barrett has ties to Atlanta and played at GT. I think its definitely a possibility that he comes here.

Heck' the guy can't do much worse the "Please" Corky "My Bat" Miller.

How did he not catch that sarcasm. Unbelievable.

Anyway, is a catcher coming off a sub 600 OPS really in a position to demand a starting gig? Barrett might just want to focus on having a job for right now.

i think it is important to make note that barret is not a good in regard to the pitchers. He has the bat, bu he cannot call a game, and he will not be anything good for a pitcher. there is a reason why maddox decided hnot to use him. he has bat, at times, but he cannot manage a pitching staff.

He can either try his luck as a backup, or go the route of MMa, and be destroyed. His choice. .

Sorry, but I'm going to go into nitpick mode for a bit. Just a warning. ;)

"As an eleven-year MLB veteran, Barrett has the right to decline being optioned to the minors and has instead decided to hit the open market."

OK, Barrett can't be "optioned" to the minors--he is an eleven-year MLB veteran who no longer has options. The first 3 years that a player is on the the team's 40-man roster are his option years, and he may get a 4th option year if the first 3 option years were spent entirely on a minor league affiliate's roster(aka not on his team's 25-man roster at all.)

(And, during those option years, players can be recalled from and optioned back to those minor league affiliates multiple times--not an unlimited number, because once the player is sent back down, there is a minimum period of time before he can be recalled again.)

Barrett, like the Giants players mentioned in the previous post, was taken off the 40-man roster by being outrighted to one of the Padres' minor league affiliates. Since that involves assigning the player to a minor league affiliate, the player must first pass through assignment waivers and clear them. That's one of 3 ways that an MLB player can be removed from the 40-man roster(usually called a "DFA"). The other 2 methods are: a. being traded or b. being put through unconditional release waivers and released.

And, as you correctly pointed out, Barrett can refuse the outright assignment(as most of the Giants' players did) and become a free agent.

So, yeah, "optioned" and "outrighted" are different.

And yes, I'm typing all this at 4:00 a.m. after waking up early and not being able to get back to sleep, so just ignore me--I'm in full on pedantic mode. Sorry. ;)