Red Sox Release Josh Bard

boooo. this is a sour move. we cut a better offensive catcher then the two catcher we kept, better defensively then george. all i know is varitek has to hit atleast 260 this year which im pretty sure is not going to happen

I like the fact that Kottaras gets a chance here, although it's rather surprising, since Bard wasn't too bad catching Wakefield and very solid at the plate offensively

This post would have been much more pleasing if it read:
Red Sox Release Jason Varitek

The Marlins need to jump on this.

This is obviously largely due to avoiding any payout, but still- you gotta feel for a guy who bats near .500 and gets dropped.

Do they have a long range plan for catcher? I loved Tek, he has been huge for us in the past but now I cringe anytime he comes up and we need a big hit.

"Yeah I definitely didn't expect Bard to be let go at this point.

Kottaras is a solid catcher, but he just hasn't been terribly impressive in AAA and is already nearly 26.

He's fine as a backup, but considering the fact that Varitek isn't exactly a sure thing, I would've thought that Boston would prefer to at least keep Bard around."

It's pretty obvious: Kottaras is only going to cost about a fourth of what Bard was going to (League minimum versus $1.7 MM), is more experienced with the knuckleball and is five years younger than Bard. Bard was only brought in as insurance, hence the non-guaranteed contract. He was there in case the Red Sox couldn't get a trade for a catcher done, couldn't get something serviceable in the free agent market at a relatively low price and didn't have someone prove to be competent in spring training. Bard was never considered the long term answer and there's no point in giving him $1.7MM to do a job you could get done for around $400K.

"Apparently Salty has looked a lot better in spring this year, so there's a decent chance that he gets the everyday job and runs away with it. It'll be interesting to see what Texas does long term with Salty, Teagarden and Max Ramirez."

Not so, actually. Truth be told, Kottaras is actually outhitting Salty right now, with a .500 slugging to Salty's .400 and a .286 BA versus a .267 (Both in very limited sample sizes obviously). Jury's still out on the both of them.

"If he got to those 2 milestone, he was a lock. He is 500 hits and 130 HR's short of that. That would mean he needed another 4 years of 30Hr's now."

I primarily meant defensively, as scouts have said that he looks better behind the plate than he had in Texas last year. The questions with Salty were always primarily about his glove, not his bat. And I'd argue that at this point we know what Kottaras is: a decent back up catcher.

"g. Bard was never considered the long term answer and there's no point in giving him $1.7MM to do a job you could get done for around $400K."

I think the argument is that Bard is actually clearly better than Kottaras. If Boston didn't believe that was the case, then obviously that'd be the reasoning behind the move. I don't really think it's a bad move by any means, I just wouldn't feel too confident about the Varitek/Kottaras duo. And paying Tek $5M is still just as dumb as it was earlier this winter.

"Can anybody tell me why the Sox didn't go after IRod. I know he is long in the tooth but isn't a better option then Kottaras. Didn't he sign with the Astros for 1.5? That one night of beer money at Fenway."

The other MAJOR reason is that he was a Type A free agent. Seeing as though he would've cost the Sox their 1st round pick (to the Yanks no less), there was never a chance of him coming here.

"The other MAJOR reason is that he was a Type A free agent. Seeing as though he would've cost the Sox their 1st round pick (to the Yanks no less), there was never a chance of him coming here."

The Yankees didn't offer Rodriguez arbitration though, so actually the Red Sox wouldn't have lost any picks for signing him.

"Bard > Varitek
Way to go Theo."

But "he calls such a great game"!! ;)

Bard offered the same splits as Varitek so it was pointless to keep him on the team after Varitek was signed.

Personally, I'm happy to see what Kottaras can do.

Stay tuned for a trade. I do not believe George Kottaras is going to be the back up. It wouldn't kill us to have either Kottara or Dusty brown as the back up but I don't sense that the plan involves either of these guys. I don't understand why Dusty Brown isn't given a better shot as he hit better last year overall and has been considered in the past much better defensively. Kottaras is out of options but other than that is he better than what Dusty brown could do? What this tells me is that a trade is in the works.

This move should not come as any kind of a surprise. The handwriting has been on the wall from the moment they signed Tek to the 1-2 yr contract that they could not afford to keep 2 catchers that cannot throw and barely move behind home plate. Kottaras/brown at least both have decent arms and both can handle Wake's knuckler and since they owe Tek serious money guaranteed, Bard was the one that had to go.

Can see somebody signing him for league minimum maybe, Marlins and Rays come to mind right off that may be in the market for a vet backup.

wow... just WOW.

i like the RedSox, but this has got to be the DUMBEST move in MLB history.

at least keep him as a backup when Varitek breaks his back!

>_<