The Marlins made an early strike to fill their need for a starting catcher, officially signing John Buck to a three-year, $18MM deal today. The three-year term comes as no surprise, given the extra years given to free agent catchers last offseason. It's the Marlins' biggest free agent splash since Carlos Delgado's four-year, $52MM deal in January of 2005. Nice work by Buck's agents at ACES; players signing early are doing well so far this offseason. The Marlins' pricey free agent expenditure was made possible in part by their removal of Dan Uggla's salary.
Buck provides the Fish certainty behind the plate with John Baker going down in September for Tommy John surgery and Ronny Paulino a non-tender candidate. The Red Sox were also known to be interested in Buck.
Buck, 30, hit .281/.314/.489 in 437 plate appearances for the Blue Jays this year, logging 933 innings behind the dish. He signed with Toronto for just $2MM after being non-tendered by the Royals. Buck is a Type B free agent, so the Blue Jays will receive a supplemental round draft pick for their loss.
Ed Price of AOL FanHouse first tweeted the Marlins were working hard to sign Buck, while Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post tweeted that the signing was official. In between, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports provided all other developments and details.
Sox Fail!
Honestly, I didn’t really think they’d sign him anyway
Not a bad move on the Marlins part but you cant help but think that this move was to lessen the blow of the Dan Uggla trade. But before anyone desides to say that the Marlins will finish in third or fourth I must say with the team they have essembled they should be right in the thick of things. The Bull pen now looks reliable, the defense with Infante in the fold and coghlan moving back to the infield whether it be 2nd/3rd now looks better, the offense I believe will not suffer because of Dan Uggla’s loss because I think Stanton, Morrison, a full season of Coghlan and a rebound season for Ramirez should suffice for the Uggla loss and I would also like to say that if the Marlins are to sign a free agent starter such as Carl Pavano the Marlins are setting themselves up for a great season.
The lineup would look like this:
Infante 2nd
Coghlan 3rd
Ramirez SS
Stanton RF
Sanchez 1B
Morison LF
Buck C
? CF
Johnson P
Bullpen:
Hensley C
Veras
Sanchez
Badenhop
Mujica
Richardson
Dustin
Starters:
Johnson
Nolasco
Sanchez
Volstad
Pavano?
Conclusion: Depending whether the Marlins give the CF job to Cousins or not the Marlins should be fine come the 2011 season. With good defense thanks to Perry Hill and a stable offense the Marlins should again contend and I believe finally get over the hump and make the jump to the Playoffs
Like you I like the direction they are going. They lose Ugglas offense in the middle of that order and it will be hard to replace but overall with the addition of Infante their defense is better. Hopefully he can continue to be a .300 hitter and set the table at the top of the order.
Pavano maybe too risky and too expensive. CF is a mystery as well. I could see them bringing in someone like Ankiel to keep it warm til Cousins is ready or at least to slow down the arb clock. He can provide plus defense and still has some pop in his bat.
As for the other starter. There are 3 guys that could be fits. Jon Garland thrived last year in PetCo and he could be available on a 2 year deal the downside is that he seems to prefer the west coast. Aaron Harang could work. Veteran guy who would benefit from a change of scenery and getting out of Great American Ballpark.
But the guy who i think makes the most sense is Javy Vasquez. He had success in the NL east 2 years ago with ATL he prefers to be close to home and coming off of a down year he could be cheap on a 1yr with an option type deal.
Their pen is solid with the guys you listed plus Ryan Webb and Mike Dunn who they acquired. Something that they should think about is bringing in a guy who has closer experience just in case Hensley was a one year wonder. Someone like Jon Rauch or Frank Francisco.
Thoughts?
No Webb or Nunez in the BP ?
Kinda thought Buck would wait out VMart’s decision to see if he’d get more suitors… but hey, 3yrs/$18M is a great deal for Buck.
Guess this means the Red Sox plan B is Napoli.
They better have a plan C then.
Cito definitely deserves a cut of this
That kid Buck needed to get a good contract to support his family
With this contract he can support cito’s family too
Really thought the Red Sox would snap this guy up. Salty is still unproven, but they have a good enough team around him. Buck though would have been a great pick up for them, Buck would have destroyed the Green Monster and he is high quality catcher
There are no shortage of veteran backups for catchers. If Salty can show that he is a starter then paying this much for Buck to be a backup or part time guy isnt a good idea.
Any one of Olivo, Torrealba, or Gerald Laird would be a good investment though
Agree completely. Not to mention the deal was probably WAY over Theo’s perceived value.
Yeah, Buck is coming off a career year and while he is pretty good defensively i just dont see the offense continuing. With Saltys upside you have to at least give him a chance thats why someone like the 3 that i mentioned would help just in case Salty channels his inner Rube Baker again.
Yeah, Buck is coming off a career year and while he is pretty good defensively i just dont see the offense continuing. With Saltys upside you have to at least give him a chance thats why someone like the 3 that i mentioned would help just in case Salty channels his inner Rube Baker again.
Call me crazy, but that seems pretty high for a .243 career hitter. Who just had a break out year.
but but but he hit 20 homeruns last season! Just ask JP Arencibia
I like John Buck, but think that’s a bit much. I was expecting a signing like 2Yrs/7MM.
I also think it’s a risk taking him to a new league. He’s going to have to hit pitchers he’s never seen before and that may slow him down his first year.
Thats a huge overpay didn’t think he would get that much. I wanted the Red Sox to go after him at first but Im actually glad they didnt now.
This just seems like an early overpay so the Marlins FO can keep the mlb off their backs about soaking up all that revenue sharing and failing to invest in in the onfield product. They are still saving money next year though swaping out Uggla’s contract for Bucks.
I watched a good number of Jays games last season, and while Buck was good, he wasn’t much better than a league average catcher. He set career highs in both average and HR last season at the age of 30. Even though he’s switching to the NL, he’s moving to a stadium that is far more difficult to hit home runs. He’ll be lucky to crack 15 next season. And with his approach (swing at everything), he’ll be lucky to approach that average again.
Makes AA look good, getting a sandwich pick for someone like him. I’m thinking the Jays might now try and sign Olivo to a similar deal as Buck last year (or Barajas the year before).
Another win win situation for the Jays. Sign Olivo for cheap if they can, get the pick for Buck, and still have Arencibia and Molina on the back-burner.
Yeah it seems the fall back plan is Molina and Arencibia if they can’t get a veteran at a reasonable price.
I watched a good number of Jays games last season, and while Buck was good, he wasn’t much better than a league average catcher. He set career highs in both average and HR last season at the age of 30. Even though he’s switching to the NL, he’s moving to a stadium that is far more difficult to hit home runs. He’ll be lucky to crack 15 next season. And with his approach (swing at everything), he’ll be lucky to approach that average again.
Makes AA look good, getting a sandwich pick for someone like him. I’m thinking the Jays might now try and sign Olivo to a similar deal as Buck last year (or Barajas the year before).
I like the fact that the Marlins are no longer in the Pierzynski market. Gives my Sox a better chance to keep him, since they were the major suitor.
Well, this is nice for the Fish, they’ve traded away 3 players, which includes Dan Uggla who hit 33 hrs this past year. they finall aquired someone who could be a big contributer.
So far it looks like this as far as there lineup goes:Infante 2B
Coghlin 3B
<br Ramirez SS
Stanton RF
Buck C
Sanchez 1B
Morrison RF
? CF
Pitcher
LOL!
Thank you for making Dayton Moore look like a genius. One of the worst signings I’ve seen since….Dayton Moore!
Buck will $uck again…like he has his whole career. He must be laughing his @$$ off tonight. But seriously…congratulations to the Buck family who just won the lottery just when they thought he would be relegated to his proper position – Left Out.
I really don’t like this move even though the Marlins have all the right to make any move they want given their track record. I would save the 6 million annually for when its time to lock down Mike Stanton before he hits Arbitration. Unless Florida is going to spend 80-100 million a year once this new stadium opens, I question this move.