Nationals Designate Hurler For Assignment After Spending First Nine Seasons In Boston

The Boston Red Sox have made some notable changes to the pitching staff since chief baseball officer Craig Breslow took the reigns of baseball operations over the offseason.

The majority of those changes came to the bullpen, including the additions of Chase Anderson, Isaiah Campbell, Cooper Criswell, -- who has since moved into more of a spot starter role -- Liam Hendriks (injured), Justin Slaten, Naoyuki Uwasawa, Greg Weissert as well as some depth outside the 40-man roster.

Breslow's predecessor made similarly drastic changes over his last couple of years, leaving former staples of the Red Sox's pitching staff scattered across Major League Baseball. One of the more notable departures was right-hander Matt Barnes, who was traded to the Miami Marlins for Richard Bleier two offseasons ago.

Barnes has since joined the Washington Nationals, intending to get his career back on track. Unfortunately, the right-hander received some bad news on Tuesday.

"The Nationals have returned left-handed pitcher Robert Garcia from rehab assignment and reinstated him from the 15-day injured list," the team announced. "The Nationals have designated right-handed pitcher Matt Barnes for assignment."

Barnes posted a 6.75 ERA with a 10-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .291 batting average against and a 1.50 WHIP in 13 1/3 innings for Washington.

The 33-year-old's peak average fastball velocity came in 2016 when he settled in at 97.4 mph that season. He's currently averaging 91.4 mph, well below his last season in Boston -- 95 mph in 2022.

Bloom was said to have been concerned with Barnes' 2022 underlying analytics before dealing him and has been proven right since.

The veteran hurler's 429 appearances with the Red Sox are the third-most in team history, trailing only Bob Stanley and Tim Wakefield -- posting a 4.07 ERA (112 ERA+) in that span.