Red Sox: Matt Barnes’ fall from grace hits new low with ALDS roster snub

Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes has fallen mightily this season

The Major League Baseball regular season is a long and arduous journey that can, and will, see many up and down. 162 games to decide the fate of 30 teams, some feast while others famine. For the Red Sox, it was a heavy mix of both in 2021 as they were the kings of the first half while being the jesters of the second. Tonight they face off against a divisional foe in the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, something nobody saw coming.

On a player level, nobody felt this more than Matt Barnes, the once-dominant closer has seen his reign over the league disappear to a point that he’s not even on Boston’s ALDS roster. Barnes not only made the All-Star team this season but he also received a 2-year/$18.75M for his efforts to start the season.

Earning the closer job out of spring training was a goal of his and he achieved it. While he was absolute nails to open the campaign, something happened around that All-Star nod that saw him begin to weaken. Barnes has a history of struggling in the middle months of the season as he tends to feel the weight of his workload, but this was something new altogether.

It’s hard to put your finger on what exactly has caused the fireballing reliever to go off the rails in the waning months of the season but was like watching a car wreck in real-time. Two stints on the COVID-IL  in August could be the root of his second-half woes as he spent 21 days on the sidelines though never really showing any symptoms like some of his teammates.

Let’s look at Barnes’ numbers for the Red Sox pre-COVID-IL and post, maybe then we can see if we’ve found the culprit.

• Opening Day – 8/2/21 (Pre-COVID-IL): 5-2/2.30 ERA/ 43 IP/13.8 K-9/2.3 BB-9
• 8/4/21 – 8/29/21 (After first COVID-IL): 1-3/13.50 ERA/6.2 IP/16.2 K-9/8.0 BB-9
• 9/17/21 – 10/3/21 (After second COVID-IL): 0-0/3.60 ERA/5.0 IP/10.80 K-9/5.4 BB-9

As you can see, some metrics stayed pretty strong while others definitely played a hand in his fall from grace this season. Barnes continued being a strikeout machine for the Red Sox but as the latter half of the 2021 season got underway he began handing out a lot more free passes. Thinking back on his year that definitely felt like one of his biggest issues as the postseason inched closer.

He would get the upper hand and then give up a walk only for a hit to follow rather quickly. Next thing you know, the Sox are dealing with headaches that the Matt Barnes we saw before the All-Star Game wouldn’t have created.

I for one was pretty happy when his extension was announced as it felt like he finally figured things out. I haven’t always been nice to Matty B but it was hard to not get behind him while he was mowing down batter after batter.

When I saw he was left off of the ALDS roster I was taken aback but then became ok with Alex Cora’s decision. The Rays are dangerous enough without having a guy in the bullpen that is clearly dealing with some confidence issues and very well may have forgotten just how good he can be when he doesn’t overthink things.

We all know how Cora loves to manage his bullpen, especially in the playoffs. We saw him use that very strategy in Game 162 against the Nationals when both Eduardo Rodriguez and Nick Pivetta came on in relief. In the Wild Card Game, we saw him opt to use Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock to dispose of the Yankees, two arms poised to be the starters of the future.

With more reliable arms at his disposal, I’m not surprised that the Red Sox skipper decided to leave Barnes off the roster. But it does create some larger questions that he and Chaim Bloom will need to answer in the not-so-distant future. Yes, Barnes has that shiny new contract but it doesn’t mean he’s off-limits if another team comes calling. Maybe that second-half collapse has scared Boston to the point that they aren’t sure if they want to keep him.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to see a guy who was so damn good for the first half of the season completely fall apart when his team needed him the most. For those first few months of 2021, Barnes was in the conversation as one of the best relievers going in the game today, but that conversation feels like it took place ages ago. I don’t know what the future holds for Matt Barnes, but if the Red Sox can make it past the Rays, he may be able to redeem himself under those October lights.