Yankees: Tucker Barnhart tweet will make you furious NYY passed on him

The Cincinnati Reds chose to ditch a hard-nosed, Gold Glove-winning wearer of the tools of ignorance just because he cost $7.5 million, and the New York Yankees weren’t all over that?

Great. Can we interest you in some information that’ll make you even more annoyed?

Barnhart was sent to the Detroit Tigers so early in the offseason that we hadn’t even gotten it through our heads yet that deals of this nature were legal.

Turns out the Reds are really going to be willing sellers, bending the clock to ditch both Barnhart and Wade Miley (to the division-rival Cubs) while everyone was still sleeping. Cincy’s clearly excited for Daylight Savings Time because it gives them a whole ‘nother hour to save money and make their roster worse!

The Yankees missed a golden opportunity to take advantage of the purge with Barnhart, though there’ll be plenty of Luis Castillo rumors for MLB insiders to deny in a few weeks.

Barnhart seemed like the best pure catcher available in this fairly unimpressive market, but now he’s been snagged, and he’s extremely excited to pay tribute to his idol Thurman Munson with a 2022 number change. Just … great.

Tucker Barnhart gets to pay tribute to Yankees legend Thurman Munson in Detroit.

On the bright side, he wouldn’t have been able to wear No. 15 in the Bronx. On the dark side … come on! How do the Yankees not go the extra mile to bring a Munson-idolizer to the Bronx?!

Clearly, Barnhart understands the benefit of hard-nosed catching and leadership, considering he models his career out of the very thing the current Yankees are lacking!

To be perfectly fair, Barnhart isn’t exactly an MVP-level offensive threat the way Munson was; he’s coming off a 75 OPS+, and he’s never cracked the “100” mark that signifies “average” offense in any season of his career. Yankee fans who are desperate to get rid of Gary Sánchez should absolutely be careful what they wish for, considering their current backstop’s offensive ceiling is so far and away above anything that’s available on the open market.

Then again … Sánchez hasn’t approached that ceiling himself in quite a while anyway. And sometimes it’s simply time for a change, even if the metrics don’t necessarily dictate it.

Another thing the metrics can’t pick up on? We know, we know, but … people who really want to be here. People who are inspired by the Yankees’ extensive history and world-famous ghosts to level up in crucial moments.

Barnhart seems like he might just be one of those guys. And we couldn’t finish the deal.

Yankees lose 3 fan favorites in Friday waiver claims

The Pirates claimed New York Yankees fan favorite Greg Allen off of waivers, while the Red Sox snagged Tim Locastro and the Angels got Andrew Velazquez.