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Dave Dombrowski: Red Sox Plan To Use Matt Barnes Out Of Bullpen In 2016

The Boston Red Sox couldn’t figure out what to do with Matt Barnes last season. The plan is to avoid a similar situation in 2016.

Barnes flip-flopped between the bullpen and the rotation — with Triple-A Pawtucket and with Boston — throughout 2015, much to the right-hander’s detriment. But Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski revealed Tuesday on WEEI’s “Hot Stove Show” that a plan already is in place for Barnes to report to spring training as a reliever, so perhaps a smoother campaign is on the horizon.

“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,” Dombrowski said.