MIAMI — The Miami Marlins acquired reliever Matt Barnes in a trade with the Boston Red Sox on Monday.

Miami sent left-hander Richard Bleier to Boston for Barnes and cash considerations. The 32-year-old Barnes was designated for assignment when the Red Sox signed outfielder Adam Duvall last week.

Barnes helped Boston win the 2018 World Series, going 6-4 with a 3.65 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 62 games covering 61 2/3 innings as a hard-throwing setup man that season.

He had 24 saves in 2021, making the AL All-Star squad before struggling in the second half and losing the closer job. He fell to 0-4 with a 4.31 ERA and eight saves in 44 appearances last year, striking out 34 and walking 21 in 39 2/3 innings.

Bleier, 35, went 2-2 with a 3.55 ERA in 2022. He made one start and had a save. Bleier, a Miami Beach native, made his big league debut with the New York Yankees in 2016. He is 14-6 with a 3.06 ERA in 308 career games, also playing for Baltimore.

Barnes was drafted 19th overall by Boston in 2011 out of UConn. A converted starter, he is 32-30 with a 4.07 ERA and 47 saves in nine big league seasons.

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ROYALS: Kansas City and Zach Greinke have agreed to a contract for the coming season, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Monday, making it nine seasons over two stints in Kansas City for the six-time All-Star pitcher.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the 39-year-old Greinke still needed to pass a physical.

The financial terms of the deal, which was first reported by Kansas City sports radio host Bob Fescoe, were not immediately available. Greinke was paid $13 million last season by the Royals, where he spent the first seven season before returning last year and going 3-9 with a 3.68 ERA and striking out 73 over 137 innings for the rebuilding club.

Greinke did spend two stints on the injured list but allowed two runs or fewer in 17 of his 26 starts last season.

Perhaps most importantly, Greinke provided veteran leadership to one of baseball’s younger rotations. Brady Singer, at just 26, flourished into the staff ace, while fellow 20-somethings Daniel Lynch and Kris Bubic also made progress.

Greinke, who will turn 40 in October, began his career in Kansas City as a mercurial first-round pick in the 2002 amateur draft. He nearly walked away from the game before making it to the big leagues two years later, beginning a 20-year career that included stints with the Brewers, Angels, Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Astros.

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The 2009 Cy Young winner is first among active pitchers with 514 career starts and 3,247 innings pitched. Greinke is second to Justin Verlander with 223 wins, third in strikeouts (2,882) and has six Gold Gloves and two Silver Slugger awards.

OBIT: John Adams barely missed a game and never the beat for nearly 50 years.

A dedicated baseball fan, Adams became a Cleveland sports fixture while pounding away in the cheap seats during games to rally his beloved home team.

Adams, who spent five decades drumming from the bleachers at Cleveland baseball games, died Monday following several years of health issues. He was 71.

Adams hauled a bass drum that he bought as a 21-year-old for $25 at a garage sale to a game at Municipal Stadium during the 1973 season. Through many lean years for the franchise and then a glorious run during the 1990s when the team moved to a new stadium, Adams was always there.

“For nearly five decades the beat of John’s drum was the heartbeat of baseball here in Cleveland,” said Guardians Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Bob DiBiasio. “We are all saddened by John’s passing. His dedication, commitment and passion for our franchise, at both Cleveland Stadium and Progressive Field, was unmatched. John will forever remain a member of our team.”

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Adams’ health had been in decline the past few seasons. No longer able to attend games, he was honored by the Guardians last season with a replica bronze sculpture of his drum, which has a permanent place in the team’s Heritage Park area at Progressive Field.

There is also a plaque mounted on the wall next to his seat and above the top row of the left-field bleachers.

A Parma, Ohio native, Adams started his drumming gig with the team on Aug. 24, 1973, when Cleveland hosted the Texas Rangers. He would go on to perform at three All-Star games, three World Series and was there the night Len Barker pitched a perfect game for Cleveland in 1981.

He was more than a local celebrity, known to opposing fans and players.

When Yankees Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera visited Cleveland during his farewell season in 2013, he opened his news conference by asking for Adams.

“Where’s the drummer?” Rivera said.

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“Right here,” Adams replied from the back of the room, raising one of his drum sticks so the New York legend could see him.

“Hey, you the man,” Rivera said. “Being loyal, being there day in and day out. I really respect that.”

Adams replied: “This is stress relief for me. And you’ve given me a lot of stress.”

When Adams was unable to attend Cleveland’s home opener in 2021, drummer Patrick Carney of Akron’s rock duo The Black Keys, filled in.

Carney was thrilled to be able to sit in for Adams.

“I’m stoked to be here for John,” Carney told The Associated Press before Cleveland hosted Kansas City that day. “It’s the best seat in the house.”

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Funeral arrangements for Adams were still being planned.

CARDINALS: Longtime broadcaster Chip Caray is taking over as the television play-by-play voice of the St. Louis Cardinals, more than five decades after his grandfather and Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Caray became a baseball staple with the same club.

Bally Sports Midwest announced Caray’s hiring in a statement. The voice of the Atlanta Braves is replacing Dan McLaughlin, who left the Cardinals’ booth in December after 24 years following his third arrest for drunken driving.

“I’m grateful and excited to come home and call games for the team that made me fall in love with baseball as a kid in St. Louis County,” Caray said. “I have always admired the passion, knowledge and loyalty of Cardinals fans, both here in St. Louis and across the country. The honor of continuing the legacy of my grandfather Harry, my dad Skip and so many other great Cardinal broadcasters, past and present, is the stuff dreams are made of.”

The third generation of Carays to broadcast in the major leagues spent the past 20 seasons as the voice of the Braves on Bally Sports South, Bally Sports Southeast, TBS and Peachtree TV. He also called games regionally for the Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs, where his grandfather spent the final 16 years of his career.

Harry Caray got his break in broadcasting with the Cardinals, though, beginning alongside former catcher Gabby Street in 1945. He held down the job alongside such luminaries as Joe Garagiola and Jack Buck through the 1969 season, then went on to spend a season with the A’s before a decade with the White Sox and the rest of his career with the Cubs.

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Chip Caray’s father, Skip, was part of the Braves broadcast team from 1976 until his death in 2008. And his brother, Josh Caray, is the play-by-play voice of the Rocket City Trash Pandas, the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels.

McLaughlin, who is scheduled to appear in court next week, was charged on Dec. 5 as a persistent offender of driving while intoxicated following his arrest in the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur. He pleaded guilty to DWI charges in 2010, when he was sentenced to two years of probation, and in 2011, when he was given a suspended 90-day sentence.

McLaughlin and Bally Sports Midwest issued joint statements in December saying that he was stepping away. McLaughlin also said that he was planning to focus on his family and his recovery, which he said had already started.

BRAVES: Right-hander Darren O’Day, who posted a 4.15 ERA in 28 games with the Atlanta Braves in 2022, announced he is retiring after 15 seasons for six teams in the major leagues.

O’Day said on his Twitter account “it’s finally time to hang ’em up.”

“The mental, physical and time demands have finally outweighed my love for the game,” O’Day said.

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O’Day, 40, featured an unconventional sidearm delivery. He was 42-21 with a 2.59 ERA in 644 games, all in relief. He made his major league debut in 2008 with the Angels and pitched seven seasons, from 2012-18, for the Baltimore Orioles.

He posted a 4.43 ERA in 30 postseason games, including the 2010 World Series with the Texas Rangers.

O’Day also pitched for the New York Mets and New York Yankees. He pitched for the Braves in 2019-20 before returning for his second stint with the team last season. He became a free agent following the season.

He set a career high with six saves for Baltimore in 2015, when he was 6-2 with a 1.52 ERA and was an AL All-Star.

ANGELS: Outfielder Hunter Renfroe went to salary arbitration with the Los Angeles Angels in the first case to be argued this year.

Renfroe, who turned 31 on Saturday, requested a raise from $7.65 million to $11.9 million and the Angels asked arbitrators Melinda Gordon, Scott Buchheit and John Stout to pick $11.25 million. Renfroe’s hearing was the first in person since 2020, just before the pandemic, and followed two years of Zoom arguments.

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A decision will be held and released after later hearings.

Renfroe hit .255 with 29 homers and 72 RBI for Milwaukee last season, down from a .259 average, 31 homers and 96 RBI for Boston in 2021. He was acquired by the Angels in November for right-handers Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero, and minor league lefty Adam Seminaris.

Twenty-eight additional players are scheduled for hearings through Feb. 17.

Teams have won the majority of decisions for three straight years and lead players 334-251 since salary arbitration started in 1974.

YANKEES: Former big leaguer Brad Wilkerson was hired as the New York Yankees’ assistant hitting coach.

He replaced Hensley Meulens, who left in November to become Colorado’s hitting coach. Wilkerson and Casey Dykes will both be assistants to Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson.

The 45-year-old Wilkerson spent the past three seasons as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Jacksonville University. He hit .247 with 122 homers and 399 RBI in eight seasons for Montreal/Washington (2001-05), Texas (2006-07), Seattle (2008) and Toronto (2008).


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