Another One Bites the Dust

So, this is goodbye.

And good riddance.

Michael Barrett is now the backup catcher for the San Diego Padres. This is a wonderful thing. Clearly, this man had no business being a catcher. His instincts for the game were insufficient for the position. His skills were no better.

Yes, he was one of the better hitting players at his position, but his negatives were so high in other facets of his game, were he a hockey player, Barrett would be at the bottom of the plus/minus chart.

The Cubs (read: Lou Piniella) were desperate to get rid of him. So desperate that they not only replaced their #1 catcher with a #2 (Rob Bowen), but the Cubs paid the Padres the full difference in salary between Barrett and Bowen.

You know the joke. You have something no one wants so you say, "I'll pay you to take it"?

That's Michael Barrett. The Cubs paid $1.5 million to make Michael simply leave.

What will we miss about the Barrett years? Think. How many fond memories are there from the last three years? A grand slam against the Cardinals. And... That's about it.

The annoyances are far more memorable. The dustup with Roy Oswalt that re-awakened that team in 2004. The senseless, but satisfying, decking of AJ Pierzynski. Rich Hill and Carlos Zambrano calling him out for being stupid. Greg Maddux and Mark Prior refusing to pitch to him. The base running gaffes. The throwing errors. The throwing a guy out who was already out. The tears are just streaming down my cheeks.

Guh-bye, Mike. Don't let the team kick you in the ass on the way out.

With Corey Patterson, Sammy Sosa, Kent Mercker, Moises Alou, and now Michael Barrett all gone, there really is only 1 or 2 guys left to detest on this team. Scott Eyre and his Dusty "no running" love would be one. Jacque "I wanna play more" Jones would be the obvious other.