Barrett Banished to a Pitcher's Paradise

Michael Barrett is gone after 3 ½ years wearing Cubbie blue, traded to the Padres this morning for pennies. In his time on the Northside, he won a Silver Slugger Award, hit almost everywhere in the lineup except leadoff, had above average slugging and onbase percentages for his position and was good for 15 homeruns a year. He also was a woeful baserunner, a defensive liability and a combustible personality in the heat of competition. It's funny because generally when a staple of your ballclub gets traded, you are either elated or dejected. At this point, I'm neither.


I remember when he came to Chicago in 2004 as a relative unknown (as are most people who played in Montreal not named Vladimir Guerrero or Pedro Martinez). I was optimistic because the previous year the Cubs were famously five outs away from the World Series without solid offense from their catcher (Damien Miller) or shortstop (Alex Gonzalez). Barrett and Garciaparra were breaths of fresh air into what we already thought was a championship caliber team. But then we realized just how much we missed Kenny Lofton, and Sammy started swinging the bat like an asshole, and Corey Patterson's Lou Brock impression from a year ago proved ill-fated, and Mark Prior began his injury tour of duty, and LaTroy Hawkins assumed the role of closer, and... well, you get the picture. Even as all this was happening, the Cubs managed to win 89 games (they would have been playoff bound again if it wasn't for a complete and utter collapse at the end of the season) and Barrett was a consistent contributing factor. As players were leaving or getting injuried over the next few years, Barrett, along with Lee, Big Z and A-Ram became the identity of the team. Late in 2004, he got into a dust-up with Houston Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt and we loved him for it. Not backing down after getting plunked by a fastball, calling him out in the media, not taking any shit... all good traits. But it just turned out to be a harbinger of things to come.


As much as I hate A.J. Pierzynski, Barrett was completely in the wrong for punching him on the run of play as it unfolded. He got a free pass from Cub fans because secretly, it’s what we all wish we could do if we ever saw him out at a bar. I just felt that it showed no class and belied a greater frustration that our team was experiencing last year. But, in all honestly, you have to be able to cope with frustration a little more constructively than throwing punches. Fights are reserved for when pitchers throw at another teams best player and whatever Albert Belle did to Fernando Vina. Flash forward to this year and the Big Z vs. Barrett slugout in the dugout. The writing was really on the wall after that one and with Barrett in the walk year of his contract, the Cubs went out and got some bodies. Any bodies. Rob Bowen and Kyler Burke. OK. They got nobodies. But the point is, this is an addition by subtraction situation. It frees up money to sign Zambrano next year. Will I miss Barrett? Absolutely. He was a good guy off the field and was a hard worker on it. But in the end it was the right play - and sometimes those are the toughest to make.