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« Angels Looking to Deal Gary Matthews Jr.? | Main | Rangers Sign Jimmy Gobble »
Nationals Sign Josh Bard
10:04pm: Jack Etkin at Inside The Rockies has some details on the Bard signing. He writes that the Red Sox "decided to keep George Kottaras, 25, who was out of options" as a back up for Jason Varitek. Etkin continues:
"By releasing Bard on Wednesday, the deadline for paying a player 30 days termination pay, the Red Sox owed him about $279,000. Had they waited one more day to release him, they would have owed Bard 45 days termination pay or about $418,000."
7:42pm: Chico Harlan of the Washington Post writes that Bard will join what Nationals GM Mike Rizzo calls "a competitive situation." Bard will battle Wil Nieves and Javier Valentin for the backup catcher spot.
2:26pm: According to MLB.com's Bill Ladson, the Nationals signed catcher Josh Bard to a minor league deal. Bard had been signed but then released by the Red Sox.
Bard, 31 in March, had a couple of pretty solid seasons for the Padres in 2006 and 2007. He dealt with ankle and elbow injuries last year. It's a nice signing for the Nationals.
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Maybe Bard can stick here at least. He did get kind of a bumb deal in Boston.
Shame it's not 'Tek gone instead..
Posted by: johns | March 21, 2009 at 02:33 PM
Jeez! How many catchers do we need?
Flores, Nieves, Valentin, and now Bard?
Ehhh...depth move.
Posted by: DCSportsGuy | March 21, 2009 at 03:26 PM
Bummer, I really wish the Padres had brought him back, he held down the catching spot for us when the Michael Barret experiment failed. We have nothing at catcher this year, really could have used him back. Good signing, DCSportsGuy, don't be surprised if at some point he plays his way up that depth chart, Nats will be happy to have him.
Posted by: SDPads4life | March 21, 2009 at 03:29 PM
Well I think they should only keep Valentin and Bard on the active roster, then the other two could go to AAA or be traded/released. Not a bad move at all.
Posted by: Braves for NL East!! | March 21, 2009 at 03:32 PM
Braves for NL East, I hope you don't mean Flores. He's our starter, man!
Posted by: DCSportsGuy | March 21, 2009 at 03:36 PM
DC, losing Flores still stings. That was one of Bowdens better moves. I can't really blame the Mets for not protecting a 21 year old catcher with no experience above A ball, because what were the chances a team would keep him on the roster all year? But the Nats could afford it, and get a real nice young catcher out of the deal. Enjoy him :-(
Posted by: nrmax88 | March 21, 2009 at 03:42 PM
Braves for NL East, I hope you don't mean Flores. He's our starter, man!
Posted by: DCSportsGuy | March 21, 2009 at 03:36 PM
------------------------------
Oops! Let me rephrase that:
Well I think they should only keep Flores and Bard on the active roster. The other two could go to AAA or be traded/released, although Valentin is a good pinch-hitter. 3 catchers? Maybe. Notta bad move at all.
Posted by: Braves for NL East!! | March 21, 2009 at 03:43 PM
DC, losing Flores still stings. That was one of Bowdens better moves. I can't really blame the Mets for not protecting a 21 year old catcher with no experience above A ball, because what were the chances a team would keep him on the roster all year? But the Nats could afford it, and get a real nice young catcher out of the deal. Enjoy him :-(
Posted by: nrmax88 | March 21, 2009 at 03:42 PM
------------------------------
You share the same pain we do since we gave up some youngster who had no future that matured into Adam Wainwright. :-(!!!
Posted by: Braves for NL East!! | March 21, 2009 at 03:50 PM
Nice. The Nats have been benefited nicely from this market on a couple moves, it's nice to see.
Posted by: JohnKruksWaistLine | March 21, 2009 at 04:14 PM
Didnt think that would take long. Its was stupid of Boston to think Bard would be able to catch Wakefield in the first place being that they tried it before and immediately had to trade back for Mirabelli. In my opinion Wakefield needs Mirabelli and vise versa.
Posted by: xethicx | March 21, 2009 at 04:41 PM
Flores has a sore elbow. Just insurance/organization depth.
Posted by: jwb | March 21, 2009 at 04:52 PM
NL East and nrmax:
We lost a no-future youngster also who matured into Dan Uggla. Bad move, because he'd be just great as the Dbacks' clean up man.
Posted by: jdub | March 21, 2009 at 06:16 PM
"We lost a no-future youngster also who matured into Dan Uggla. Bad move, because he'd be just great as the Dbacks' clean up man."
Just what they need. ANOTHER guy who can hit 20-30 bombs and strike out a ton with poor defense.
Posted by: GScott | March 21, 2009 at 08:23 PM
Flores is the starting catcher. PERIOD.
And, Bard could be trade fodder at the deadline if someone's starting catcher gets hurt. Bard is better than pretty much every backup catcher in MLB.
And, he's still better than Varitek.
Posted by: melonis rex | March 21, 2009 at 09:34 PM
This team loves having 10 guys to play each position.
Posted by: LiveFastCyYoung | March 21, 2009 at 09:37 PM
Melonis,
Castro > Bard
Posted by: Chris W. | March 21, 2009 at 10:27 PM
"Castro > Bard"
C'mon, he's just a washed up dictator. Besides, he was a pitcher. How can you compare him to Bard?
Posted by: Little Bear | March 22, 2009 at 09:45 AM
losing a guy that won't ever hit for power, average or walk stings? nah, i'm okay with it.
Posted by: metsftw | March 22, 2009 at 10:47 AM
"And, he's still better than Varitek."
Isn't that a fact. Hopefully, Kottaras gets the majority of playing time, or at least 1/2. in a perfect world the LH Kotteras would play against all RH pitching. He has a much better arm and + power. If Tek has such "intangibles" as a catcher, then he should be able to teach them to Kotteras who is superior in every way to him.
Posted by: johns | March 22, 2009 at 10:54 PM
The Nats are still a few years away, but they have made some solid low-risk moves this off-season.
Posted by: GoTribe | March 24, 2009 at 11:06 AM
wow. im really suprised the RedSox released this guy.
to the Nationals, very good pickup. but the astros out did this by FAR with pudge.
Posted by: death. CyaniDe | March 27, 2009 at 03:38 PM