John Buck, Jose Molina, and future of Bluejay catchers

[hyper316]

What's going to happen to these two catchers next season? Buck is amazing and Molina is better than expectation.

I know JPA and probably Travis d'Arnaud are the future catchers, but I don't see them taking on the full time job next season. So, is it possible to keep Buck or Molina for another year to teach the young guys?

What do you think AA should do?

[Geddy]

I have a feeling Buck will be dealt considering he has put up decent numbers for a catcher, and Molina will end up splitting time with JPA.

[DonYon]

They aren't gonna be our 'catchers of the future'. It's not like they're gonna be platooning down the line. One of them is eventually gonna have to get moved.

I've said this in another post, but I'm all for trading JPA while his value is still relative. I don't care how good his debut was, the guy seems to literally swing at every single pitch he sees... and it's not like he makes up for much of it on the defensive end either. Even if he ends up being a 30 home run guy I still see more value in D'Arnaud as a good two-way catcher down the line. I'd be more than willing to use him as a trade piece to possibly aquire an all-star caliber third baseman.

Besides, we've currently got an all-star catcher in John Buck. I would prefer that the team re-signs Buck for 2-3 years, while trading JPA to get rid of that pointless gap-bridge between Buck and D'Arnaud and solidify both as our catchers for the next decade.

If the team's really gonna start being a legitimate contender in the next year or two, I'd much rather have a veteran catcher (that happens have good offensive numbers and is great with the pitchers) rather than a guy who'll be in his first or second year full in the big leagues.

[dennistokyo]

They aren't gonna be our 'catchers of the future'. It's not like they're gonna be platooning down the line. One of them is eventually gonna have to get moved.

I've said this in another post, but I'm all for trading JPA while his value is still relative. I don't care how good his debut was, the guy seems to literally swing at every single pitch he sees... and it's not like he makes up for much of it on the defensive end either. Even if he ends up being a 30 home run guy I still see more value in D'Arnaud as a good two-way catcher down the line. I'd be more than willing to use him as a trade piece to possibly aquire an all-star caliber third baseman.

Besides, we've currently got an all-star catcher in John Buck. I would prefer that the team re-signs Buck for 2-3 years, while trading JPA to get rid of that pointless gap-bridge between Buck and D'Arnaud and solidify both as our catchers for the next decade.

If the team's really gonna start being a legitimate contender in the next year or two, I'd much rather have a veteran catcher (that happens have good offensive numbers and is great with the pitchers) rather than a guy who'll be in his first or second year full in the big leagues.

This, with a capital T.

[Peteros]

Buck Will Start Over Arencibia For Jays

"Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston says that John Buck will start at catcher over the young J.P. Arencibia.

"First of all, John Buck is our No. 1 catcher. He'll catch most of the games," Gaston said of the season's final month.

Arencibia hit .301 with 36 doubles, a triple, 32 homers and 85 RBIs in 104 games at Vegas."

[rarefind]

If we can move JPA for another prospect, with a high ceiling I say do it. John Buck can be the number one until D'arnaud is ready to come up (if this happens at all). JPA's milestone first game will not be a representation of his career unfortunately. The kid has a chance to be real good, but I think his lofty AAA stats put his value up a bit higher than it really should be.

Would love to see him develop and give him a chance, but he reminds be so much of Josh Phelps that it isn't even funny. And we all know how that one ended up going. JPA is not the type of clutch game caller or defendr that the elite teams have behind the plate and I'm not entirely sure this is a skill that you develop over night. Best bet of JPA might have been/be a switch to first base especially with Wallace out of the system.

Either way, Buck wants to be here. And I would be happy if he remained on a one year deal being backed up by Molina once again. Value isn't necessarily in your catcher's stats but rather in the pitching staff's success. For example, Ricky Romero's off speed stuff leads to numerous wild pitches. You have to question his confidence in throwing that stuff which gets him many outs if he is throwing it to a guy who will see it bounce to the backstop just as often as he knocks it down.