Red Sox to pursue John Buck

[LittleOzzy]

The Red Sox are expected to be aggressive in their pursuit of free-agent catcher John Buck in the likely event that Victor Martinez signs elsewhere, according to two baseball sources.

The Red Sox, according to one of the sources, expect the Detroit Tigers to make a major push for Martinez, who could share catching duties with second-year man Alex Avila while also sharing first-base and DH duties with Miguel Cabrera. The Baltimore Orioles also have significant interest, and the Texas Rangers are expected to be among the bidders, too.

Buck, 30, was an All-Star for the first time this past season for the Blue Jays, with whom he signed a one-year, $2 million free-agent deal last winter. Buck hit 20 home runs, tying Martinez for third-most among big league catchers, and he was one of eight catchers (minimum 300 plate appearances) with an OPS of .800 or better. Buck, who batted .266, walked just 16 times, which hardly fits the Red Sox model.

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/ne ... BHeadlines

[number15]

Jays have a thing for picking up average veteran catchers and getting career years out of them..... first Barajas and now John Buck.

To be honest even Molina put of good offence in limited innings. If given a chance he might even have broke though.

I think its time to build for the long term and give Arencibia a good chance.... maybe even D'Arnaud soon.

Plus the fact that we got Jose Molina as a defencive ace and that Arizona guy we straded for has good numbers. (like John Buck, pre-Jays)

Let Boston sign him

[Ong_dynasty]

I agree,
i'd rather have the pick, so we stay oncourse on what we are trying to accomplish.

[DonYon]

I agree,
i'd rather have the pick, so we stay oncourse on what we are trying to accomplish.

which is what? a contender within the next few years + beyond right?

Two questions,

1. Let's say we're contending in 2011/12 and by contending I mean we are vying for playoff spot/we're in the playoffs. Would you rather have John Buck or JPA behind the plate?

2. I think we'd be VERY lucky if that compensation pick turns out to have a ceiling of John Buck in terms of value. Draft prospects in baseball have too much uncertainties around them since they're so far away from playing in the majors. So the question is, would you rather have a better chance to contend for the next 4 years or so by keeping Buck, or get one prospect that may or may not make a contribution until at least 3 years down the road which is when the window will start to close for guys like wells, hill, & bautista?

I just don't see how it makes any sense not to retain John Buck unless he demands a ridiculous amount of money/years on his contract. He is a damn fine two way catcher and an apparent leader on the team, and I don't think that outweighs a value of a compensatory pick.

Besides, we have TWO very good catching prospects. What are they gonna do when D'Arnaud is ready to come up? Platoon them? I think we might as well get good value for JPA in a trade now and just make D'Arnaud the heir apparent, he seems like a better two way catching prospect plus we're stacked with good catching prospects anyway.

[treiz]

^^
I have no problem with Buck coming back. My concern is two things:
Didn't Buck have a career year?
and
Does that mean we will have to overpay / give a multi year extension?

That is what I do not want.
Let us stay oncourse with the plan, if we can attract players ala man ram, who we sign on s.t contracts and see what happens next year then go right ahead.

If the organization is not high on JPA, I would have preferred them trying to keep olivo for a year.
But, I also do believe JPA deserves a chance.

[flatjacket1]

I agree,
i'd rather have the pick, so we stay oncourse on what we are trying to accomplish.

which is what? a contender within the next few years + beyond right?

Two questions,

1. Let's say we're contending in 2011/12 and by contending I mean we are vying for playoff spot/we're in the playoffs. Would you rather have John Buck or JPA behind the plate?

2. I think we'd be VERY lucky if that compensation pick turns out to have a ceiling of John Buck in terms of value. Draft prospects in baseball have too much uncertainties around them since they're so far away from playing in the majors. So the question is, would you rather have a better chance to contend for the next 4 years or so by keeping Buck, or get one prospect that may or may not make a contribution until at least 3 years down the road which is when the window will start to close for guys like wells, hill, & bautista?

I just don't see how it makes any sense not to retain John Buck unless he demands a ridiculous amount of money/years on his contract. He is a damn fine two way catcher and an apparent leader on the team, and I don't think that outweighs a value of a compensatory pick.

Besides, we have TWO very good catching prospects. What are they gonna do when D'Arnaud is ready to come up? Platoon them? I think we might as well get good value for JPA in a trade now and just make D'Arnaud the heir apparent, he seems like a better two way catching prospect plus we're stacked with good catching prospects anyway.

Let’s say we try to contend for 2011 and make moves to acquire veterans. Now let’s say that we end up not contending next year, due to injuries, bad luck or flat out failure. Now were knee deep in _____. We aren’t a few moves away from a contender, and everybody knows that. Buck had a great season last year, but Aaron Hill and Lind had amazing seasons the year before that, and look what happened last year. It takes money to resign him, money that could be used elsewhere.

I think you do bring up a valid point when talking about prospects. I don’t care how good your scouting is, drafts are a shot in the dark. Sometimes you end up lucky, most of the time you end up with nothing special. The more picks you have though, the better chance of one or two panning out. This year is stacking up to be a Blue Jay dominant draft, and all the picks we get could end up being an overrated prospect for trading or one to hold onto. Don’t forget how we got Cebia in the first place. I would rather have more prospects for the future, either for trading or keeping. Rookies are way overrated.

[SharoneWright]

Augh.... RedSox always active in free agency... could push our compensatory pick down a bit.

[Nolan]

Looks like the Marlins are really interested in Buck.

jonmorosi Jon Morosi
Spoke with source who confirmed @ed_price tweet about #Marlins serious interest in FA catcher John Buck. #Florida #MLB