The Mariners have re-signed catcher Josh Bard, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. MLB.com's Greg Johns says it's a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training, and that Bard will compete with Adam Moore for the backup catcher job (Twitter links).
The 32-year-old hit .214/.276/.357 in 126 plate appearances with Seattle in 2010, though he did throw out six of 18 would-be base stealers. He also missed some time with a calf strain. Bard is a .256/.323/.387 career hitter, but the last three years haven't been pretty: .218/.285/.332 in 625 plate appearances split between the M's, Nationals, and Padres.
Championship secured.
Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to know we Bard under contract now. Haha
Uh oh Moore better be in top form this spring.
Sorry I don’t follow the M’s that much…why do they need this guy if they have Miguel Olivo and the young catcher they got from Texas for Cliff Lee?
Minor league depth, and they didn’t get a young catcher from Texas for Cliff Lee. Olivo and Adam Moore will probably be the catchers on the 25 man roster.
This is a good depth move for the Mariners. The addition of Josh Bard with help to push Adam Moore in Spring Training. I personally hope Josh Bard makes the team as Olivo’s back-up. A catching tandem of Olivo and Bard isn’t bad (If Olivo proves he can hit at Safeco & Bard hits for a +.250BA).
Can’t we all agree that 2011 is a lost year and field a team of kids and see how they play? Moore started with the M’s last year, couldn’t hit, got hurt, went to Tacoma, hit .321/.359/.463, came back up to Seattle and didn’t look lost and now we need him to beat out two washed up guys to play in the bigs this year? Why? What’s he going to go back to Tacoma for? He’s hit there for parts of two years already.
Are we going to bring in Geoff Blum and Josh Phelps to see if Smoak can beat them out too?