Barnes, who pitched both as a starter and reliever in 2015, will pitch exclusively out of the bullpen in 2016, WEEI.com reports. "With Matt Barnes, our plans are for him to come to spring training, and we've already talked to him about this, and really focus in on the bullpen, to try to help us with that power arm out there," president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said.
The move makes sense. Barnes is a power arm (mid-90s fastball) and the Red Sox bullpen lacked those types of arms last season. It also allows the young right-hander to focus exclusively on one role and how he needs to pitch in order to be successful in that role.