Live to fight another day. That was likely what Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman was thinking around the hour mark on Tuesday when, 2-0 down at home and on the way to defeat against Bayern Munich, he hooked veterans Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto and did the football equivalent of a bedraggled basketball coach emptying his bench.
On came Gavi and Yusuf Demir, two guys who are a combined 35 years old, have played a total of 47 first-team minutes and probably would not be recognised by many Barca fans if they showed up at the front door to deliver a pizza.
Koeman went even further fewer than 15 minutes later, when he replaced Jordi Alba with Alejandro Balde, an 18-year-old making his debut for the club.
It’s not uncommon for managers to blood youngsters towards the end of a blowout win (bask in the glory) or a blowout defeat (fans tend not to boo kids). But the circumstances here were odd. Sure, Barca were being outplayed — they had not managed a shot on target — but the deficit was just two goals, one of them a craven deflection when Thomas Muller’s shot caromed off Eric Garcia’s backside.
A comeback was unlikely, but not unthinkable, and then there was the weight of history. Barcelona had not lost a Champions League home opener… ever. And no team that lost on Matchday 1 of the group stage has ever won the competition in the same season. But no matter; Koeman evidently is not superstitious.
Or, if he is, he knows the power of narrative. It’s not a coincidence that the three guys who came off are all Catalans and club legends — with some 1300 senior games between them — who spent time in Barcelona’s vaunted academy. And the three guys who replaced them are all kids born in the third millennium, tasked with keeping the club’s glorious history alive.
Corny? A little bit. But not untrue. Bringing players through La Masia has been, historically, Barcelona’s strength and will need to be so again. On this night it made no difference; the replacements had little impact and Robert Lewandowski subsequently added his second goal to put the seal on Bayern’s emphatic win.
Sure, if you were of a more cynical nature, you could just conclude that all this was Koeman’s way of saying: “What the heck am I supposed to do? A bunch of players are unavailable and I got nothing on the bench?”
And he would have had a point there. Among the established pros on his bench were a guy returning from injury (Sergino Dest), a guy who hasn’t played since last season (Riqui Puig), a guy who hadn’t played at all since 2020 (Philippe Coutinho) and a guy Barcelona tried to offload in the summer but couldn’t, because he earns so much (Samuel Umtiti).
This is Barcelona’s reality. Sure, it might change a little if Ansu Fati returns to full fitness and lives up to the hype (but, remember, he hasn’t played in 10 months and is still just 18; loading unrealistic expectations on a kid his age is both unfair and foolish) and if Ousmane Dembele comes back and avoid injury (he has never started more than 22 league games in his career).
But, beyond that, you’re grasping at straws if you think the cavalry is going to come out of the infirmary and turn the Blaugrana into contenders.
Who are we talking about? Sergio Aguero, who is 33 and was signed to be Lionel Messi’s sidekick when it looked like Barca might be able to afford to keep their legendary forward, hasn’t played since June, has missed the best part of the last two seasons and struggled when he did get on the pitch in that time? Martin Braithwaite? Great attitude, blue-collar hero, but if he’s the answer, you’re asking the wrong questions.
Koeman understands this. He gets the trauma of the past six weeks, the tearful farewell to Messi, the flirtation with insolvency, the realization that the club is the third, if not fourth, force in LaLiga. On a night like this, against a Bayern side who — despite not being irresistible, were streets ahead – it was no contest.
Best to recognize it, figure out how to finish ahead of the other two teams in the group — Benfica and Dynamo Kiev — and shoot for a top-four finish in LaLiga. That would secure a return to the Champions League next season and, just as important, keep some of that prize money flowing into the Camp Nou coffers.
Barca fans understand the severity of the situation and know it’s the only way to stop the rot. Indeed, perhaps they would rather see kids like Gavi, Demir and Balde try to make the grade, than watch the heroes of yesteryear on the end of a home spanking.
SAN ANTONIO — Right-hander Phil Maton became a free agent Monday after the New York Mets declined his $7,775,000 option in favor of a $250,000 buyout.
The 31-year-old was 2-1 with a 2.51 ERA in his first season with New York, which acquired him from Tampa Bay on July 9. Maton was 3-3 with a 3.66 ERA in a career-high 71 games overall and had a $6.25 million salary.
New York also announced left-hander Sean Manaea declined his $13.5 million option to become a free agent for the third consecutive offseason. Manaea agreed to a contract in January that included a $14.5 million salary for 2024, and the 32-year-old went 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA in 32 starts, striking out 184 and walking 63 in 181⅔ innings.
After dropping his arm slot in midseason, he became the Mets most effective starting pitcher and went 6-2 with a 3.09 ERA.
Two-time All-Star starter Nathan Eovaldi became a free agent Monday after declining a vested $20 million player option for next season with the Texas Rangers.
Eovaldi will get a $2 million buyout from that option earned by throwing more than 300 innings over his two years with the Rangers after joining them in free agency. He was the winning pitcher in their World Series-clinching game at Arizona in 2023, when he was 5-0 with a 2.95 ERA in six postseason starts. He was also part of Boston’s 2018 title.
The Rangers had expected Eovaldi to decline the option, but would still like to re-sign the 34-year-old right-hander and Texas native.
“We still have great interest in bringing him back,” said Chris Young, the team’s president of baseball operations. “We’re still going to work towards hopefully getting him back in the Rangers uniform.”
Texas declined a $6.5 million team option for Andrew Chafin, a left-handed reliever acquired from Detroit in a deadline trade. Chafin got a $500,000 buyout and became a free agent after 62 combined appearances in 2024 that triggered $625,000 in bonuses on top of his $4.75 million salary, plus a $250,000 assignment bonus for the trade.
Eovaldi was 24-13 with a 3.72 ERA in 54 starts the past two seasons, and had 298 strikeouts over 314 2/3 innings. He was 12-8 with a 3.80 ERA in 29 starts this year. He threw seven scoreless innings at the Los Angeles Angels to win the season finale for the Rangers, who finished 78-84 and missed the playoffs.
Texas was the sixth big league team for Eovaldi, who is 91-81 with a 4.07 ERA in 294 career games (275 starts) since his debut in 2011 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Besides Boston, he also has pitched for Miami, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay.
His $34 million deal with the Rangers included a $16 million salary each of the past two seasons, and a $2 million signing bonus. He also earned multiple bonuses for being an All-Star in 2023 and reaching certain levels of innings pitched.
Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer and left-hander Andrew Heaney, who made a team-high 31 starts, are also free agents.
The Rangers still have two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle under contract after both made three starts at the end of last season after recovering from elbow surgery in 2023. Jon Gray has one more season left on his four-year deal, and former first-round draft picks Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker made their big league debuts this year.
Chafin, who pitched in 21 games for the Rangers, is the fifth Texas reliever to become a free agent. He joined four right-handers: All-Star closer Kirby Yates, veteran David Robertson, José Leclerc and José Ureña in free agency. The 39-year-old Robertson on Saturday declined a $7 million mutual option, triggering a $1.5 million buyout.
Seager’s season ended in September after he had a right sports hernia repair, on the opposite side of his abdomen from the Jan. 30 procedure. Seager missed most of spring training and did not play in his first exhibition game until March 23.
“I believe he’s close to resuming a normal offseason and his normal strength and conditioning program,” Young said.
Seager was ready for the March 28 opener in his third season of a $325 million, 10-year contract. The 30-year-old shortstop hit .278 with 30 homers and 74 RBI in 123 games before going on the injured list Sept. 4 with right hip discomfort.
The Atlanta Braves exercised designated hitter Marcell Ozuna‘s $16 million option for the 2025 season Monday but declined to pick up catcher Travis D’Arnaud‘s $8 million option, making him a free agent.
The Braves also declined their $7 million team option on right-hander Luke Jackson.
Ozuna, who turns 34 next week, was named a Silver Slugger finalist Monday after batting .302 with 39 home runs and 104 RBIs, while not missing a game this season.
A three-time All-Star, Ozuna is a career .272 hitter with 275 homers, 880 RBIs and 1,514 hits in 1,469 games with the Miami Marlins (2013-17), St. Louis Cardinals (2018-19) and Braves.
D’Arnaud, 35, batted .251 and slugged 60 home runs in his five years with the Braves. He earned his only All-Star nod with the Braves in 2022.
Jackson, 33, went 4-3 with a 5.09 ERA in 52 relief appearances this past season, 16 of those with the Braves after they acquired him from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline in the swap that also brought Jorge Soler to Atlanta. The Braves traded Soler to the Los Angeles Angels last week.
Ozuna’s option had a $1 million buyout; D’Arnaud’s had none. Jackson had a $2 million buyout.
