The Cubs announced today that righty reliever Tony Barnette has been placed on the restricted list, as Patrick Mooney of The Athletic was among those to tweet. He had been pitching at Triple-A on optional assignment.
GM Jed Hoyer says that “Tony is sort of reevaluating things with his family right now.” The veteran hurler evidently was not enthused at the prospect of continuing to work in the minors, with The Cub Reporter first on the news (Twitter link).
Barnette, 35, signed a low-cost, one-year deal that includes a club option. He has thrown the ball well at Triple-A, with a 2.31 ERA and 12:2 K/BB ratio in 11 2/3 innings. But Barnette has received only two MLB appearances this year.
While the news will seemingly leave the Cubs without a depth piece, it’ll also open a 40-man roster spot. Since Barnette is promised only $750K this year, cost considerations are of limited moment.
Adios, Antonio.
Smart man.
Force a trade to someone who will give you an opportunity.
Like the White Sox who have plenty of uses for arms!
Sure, why not?!!
Then Hahn can fleece the Cubbies again by trading him back for prospects!!
Cubbies need to replace Alzolay!!
Reinsdorf would never pony up the money for him
Right, because that shrewd tatis jr. trade worked out so well. But hey, John Jay is up and running perhaps Hahn can sign machado now…
That was the best part of the offseason watching Hahn sign everyone that has ever been a friend of or relative of Machado and then watching him sign elsewhere. They just had to get cute with that incentive based clause in the contract instead of just being the highest bidder.
Same-Hahn really looked foolish.
That comment would work a lot better if the Cubs weren’t getting embarrassed by Pittsburgh. I guess Adbert isn’t their savior after all.
Cubs should contact Texas and trade for Matt Davidson for their bullpen.
And don’t forget to fire Maddon before the All Star break!
What is the road trip theme this week? Little league?
I just looked through the 4 or 5 posts over the last few days that were actually about the White Sox and didn’t see you post anything. And here you are posting on a Cubs post about Tony freakin Barnette are you serious? I bet you can’t name 5 players on the White Sox.
Chump
You forgot your exclamation point. You usually use like 4 per sentence.
The road trip theme could be dress up as your favorite sox minor leaguer on the IL… So much to choose from, Kopech, Dunning, Burdi, Burger et all….
Hes a troll on every social media platform that is out there. Probably still on classmates.com
I think you guys are creating a narrative that isn’t there. He only pitched at Triple A on rehab. Then got called up for those 2 games and proceeded to get optioned. So he isn’t mad about being passed over for a promotion. He is upset about being demoted afterward.
You know this how?
Are you and Barnette chums?
Plausible…
Hissy Fit!
I’m so ready to send Bryant on the restricted list why can he not hit with runners on ever
I wasn’t impressed watching him pitch. I thought his fastball was going to be 95 to 96, 92 to 93 I don’t think there is a spot for him.
Because of 2 to 3 mph?
Well in 2019’s very small sample size, his velocity is down across the board. His fastball is particularly concerning as it’s down by more than 3 mph from his time with the Rangers. Sure it might be lag from the injury he opened the year with, but with a guy who regularly threw 94-95, it might be a good idea to keep him in the minors until his velocity comes back.
His secondary pitches don’t seem effective. Without a good fastball, he really has nothing.I would release him and use the 40 man spot for someone else.
Best player right here! From Alaska that is
Typical Chicago move. Reminds me slightly of Zobrist. Still productive but the funds are running out and they would rather spend what little $ they have elsewhere. They will do everything they can to convince the player it is in his best interest to walk away from the contract as a whole with no more pay. I know it is only $750 k but if Theo pulls this off a few more times with a similarly compensated player he will actually have another few mill laying around to pay the prorated portion of another teams player at the trade deadline. I mentioned Chicago as a whole because the White Sox did the same thing with Adam LaRoche. They signed him to a 2 year $28 million deal. He chose them because (like Zobrist) he is a big family man. They promised him that his son could stay in the clubhouse during all the home games. Unfortunately Rochey tooke their promise at face value and didn’t get that clause stipulated in the writing of his contract. Even more unfortunately LaRoche had a terrible offensive year in the first year of his contract. What did Chicago do? They didn’t want to pay him the $14 mill for the last year of his contract so they inexplicably banned LaRoche’s son from the clubhouse. There was no incident. No players complained about him. They had all grown to care about him. Chicago only did it because they knew Rochie would retire rather than not be around his son. They already knew that because he explained that to them during their initial contract negotiations. I can’t say it was a dumb thing for either organization to do. I am sure LaRoche was not going to be worth $14 mill that year. I will, however, say that it was a very dirty thing to do. Especially to a really good guy that works for your organization and is a great teammate. We don’t know enough about the Zobrist situation but this scenario along with the White Sox scenario all seem to stick out to me. The Cubs knew that Zobrist would likely not be worth the $14 million he was owed this year either. I wouldn’t be surprised if an article comes out in a few years that describes in detail what exactly happened in the Zobrist situation. Everyone knew they would much rather have Kimbrel than Zobrist. I am sure at the very least the Cubs strongly encouraged Zobrist to step away from his contract WITHOUT getting paid. I wonder who the Cubs have their eye on this time that makes them want to get out of his contract and likely a few more.
Deep.
I live in the greater Chicago area and all I’ve heard is that they want Zobrist to come back but it was his choice to step away because of his divorice.
Too long
You had me at “funds are running out”…..
You lost me at “typical”.
I can’t stop laughing at that game tonight. Love that Descalso was more effective than Kimbrel. This is what you are looking at the he second half you cocky cub fans.
How much did the lowly Cubbies pay for Kimbrel and his 13.5 ERA?!!!
Pitt made my day!!
And you two buffoons want to cherry pick tonight….cool. Makes me realize just how utterly miserable you clowns were from April, 2016 to November, 2017. Delicious.
You are obviously Adam LaRoche. Get off this site Adam, your not getting you money back.
This poor guy is only getting paid 750k this year. Must be rough.
You’ll pay for this!!! I am getting that money back if it’s the last thing I do!!
Pulling a Tommy La Stella? That’s a bold move, Cotton, let’s see if it pays off.
Dudes last name also spells Bear Tent… Cubs?