Padres acquire Barrett from Cubs in trade of catchers

[IE]

The Padres have acquired Cubs catcher Mike Barrett today in a trade that will send Padres reserve catcher Rob Bowen and low Single-A outfielder Kyler Burke to the Cubs.

San Diego also will get cash considerations in the deal, which the Padres expect will boost their offense and their catching depth.

Barrett, 30, had fallen out of favor with the Cubs, but he is more established in the majors than were either of the Padres' catchers, Josh Bard and Bowen. A right-handed hitter, Barrett has batted .256 this year with nine doubles and nine home runs in 211 at-bats.

Bowen has batted .268 with two home runs in 82 at-bats.

Burke, drafted 35th overall, was batting .211 with one home run in 213 at-bats with the Padres' low-A team in Fort Wayne.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20070620-0704-cubstrade.html

 

[IntenseOperator]

Paul Sullivan (Chic Trib) let it out this morning on local sports radio that Barrett was considered a "mole" by his team mates. Supposedly, the recent team meeting was suppose to be on the hush hush. Many were extremely pissed when word got out about many players being unhappy about playing time and many expressed openly their opinions of how things were going. Right off the bat, the search was on and Barrett was the rat. With the team pissed at him and with Lou not liking anything he was doing on and off the field his exit was in stone.