This season, John Buck was afforded a fresh start in Toronto and churned out his best offensive season to date. The 30-year-old catcher hit .281/.314/.489 with 20 homers in 118 games. After being non-tendered by the Royals in 2009, Buck made his first All-Star team in 2010. All in all, a solid year for a guy making $2MM on a one year deal.
However, with J.P Arencibia waiting in the wings, some have wondered if there's room for Buck on the Blue Jays in 2011. Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos said that while he will explore bringing back Buck, the veteran backstop has earned a long-term contract and a starting job. The question is: Will Buck get that opportunity in Toronto? Arencibia had a stellar year in Triple-A, posting a slash line of .301/.359/.626 with 32 homers in 104 games. With numbers like those, one has to wonder if the 24-year-old's learning curve will be steep enough to justify retaining a player who is six years his senior.
Will the Blue Jays re-sign Buck?
Buck is not going to sign another 1yr/2MM deal this time, there isn’t a lot of everyday catchers outside of V-mart. and I think buck is going to demand a salary more than the jay’s should pay because they have arencibia ready for a shot in the majors.
The numbers difference between buck/arencibia (assuming he struggles some adjusting) probably won’t justify the salary difference between the two
Can’t see it happening. Not just because of Arencibia and the draft pick they can get for him, but also because of a surplus of highly-rated young catchers in the organisation. Perhaps Molina will be kept on under such circumstances, or another veteran backup.
He may have “earned made” an All-Star berth but a .314 OBP isn’t good. The power is nice, especially for a catcher however.
.314/.489 is an OPS of .803, which all in all is very good for a catcher. And his .281 average makes 89% of his times on base hits, so at least he’s maximizing that .314.
its still below league average
its still below league average
That doesn’t matter Malcolmec. Base hits or walks, the bottom line is to get on base, i.e., not make an out. And to get on base only 31.4% of the time is poor. And it will likely get worse next year since he probably won’t be able to maintain a BABIP of .335, which means he was very lucky this year. He’ll likely be about a 1 WAR next season which is better than replacement level despite his defense. OPS is a flawed stat because it undervalues OBP.
How does OPS undervalue OBP. OPS stands for on-base plus slugging, so it values slugging just as much as OBP. Some players have a higher OBP than SLG, so what you said is flawed.
You answered your own question Evan. I’s because OPS values SLG and OBP equally. But even adjusting the stat for a 60-40 split favoring OBP wouldn’t make it a perfect stat. It’s too long to go into here, but you’re adding two fractions with differing denominators and thus scales.
You answered your own question Evan. I’s because OPS values SLG and OBP equally. But even adjusting the stat for a 60-40 split favoring OBP wouldn’t make it a perfect stat. It’s too long to go into here, but you’re adding two fractions with differing denominators and thus scales.
It would be a nice luxury if the Jays kept Buck, but Buck really ought to take a look at the landscape. He’s a good fit for Boston, Texas, Tampa Bay, Seattle, LA Dodgers, Houston, Chicago White Sox, Florida, Washington. I think he’s going to get a nice contract and a starting gig with someone. He’s not an overall great player, but he does have some useful skills. His old team the Royals could use his services too.
Not to mention that Buck has proven to be a great molder of young pitching talent. Not enough has been said about the way he has helped prepare the Toronto staff, and the great games he has called.
Additionally: Not enough has been said about the way John Buck has handled a young, and relatively inexperienced staff. The way he has worked with the coaches and the staff to game plan, and to call a good game has been underrated and underplayed. I would not be disappointed at all if he were to re-sign here for 3 years, until Perez is ready. Arencibia’s value may never be higher.
All catchers work with their respective coaches. It’s not like this is unique by any means.
Why wait for Perez? The Jays draft catchers, then let them go for vets. They seem to possibly have a stud in Arencibia right now, and could be even better than Buck in a year or two. Perez is at least 2 years away too.
Arencibia’s catchers ERA in his last 3 starts was 2.33 so perhaps he was starting to figure it out.
no I’m not buying that…John Buck’s value may never be higher and you are talking about signing him for three years? Come on.
Not enough has been said either about how Buck can’t figure out how to block pitches, and his horrible defense in general.
I’m sure Anthopolous only said they’ll look into keeping Buck just to be thorough. The odds of Buck repeating his career high’s are against him too.
Take the sandwich pick and have Molina and Arencibia split the season.
Exactly. Buck will definetly not repeat what he did this season. I think give the starting job to Arencibia and have Molina start 30-50 games.
Word.
However this is just a suggestion but what about getting Russell Martin? He would be a buy-low option and he can play 1b/c/ or DH for us. We have no 1st baseman and while Lind may get start there, it’s not a sure thing he can play good enough defense and if Arencibia is unable to call games behind the plate next season, then you give him some time off and let him DH or play 1st base and learn from watching. Martin and Molina would cover for him in the meantime.
And who knows… with a change in scenery, maybe he figures out his old self.
A great suggestion. If he gets non-tendered, I’d expect the Jays to be all over him.
After years of abuse by Joe Torre, he play half a season and rebuild his body and his value. His speed will likely never come back, but his power might. And he gets on base consistantly.
Well, to be honest I wanted to see Martin in a Jays uniform a couple years ago – being Canadian and very good. But with him having a slash of .249/.350./.330/.680 since the beginning of 2009, I’m not sure I would make a deal for him. To make it worse, he’s had a fractured hip and a labrum issue in that same hip. I’m not too familiar with playing catcher, but I’d say your hips are very important for catching, and even more important for hitting.
As for 1B, stick Lind there and see if you can sign Dunn to DH, or work out a trade for Fielder. The Brewers need pitching and the Jays have more than enough.
“I’m not a Doctor, but I play one on the internet:” The Hip is one of the most resiliant joints in the body. Senior citizens average recovery from full hip replacements in under 2 months. Alex Rodriguez and Alex Gordon both had Labrums repaired and returned to baseball within a month.
His hip is NOT to blame for his poor stats at the plate. I would be more concerned with Knee issues due to overuse. Which is why I think a rotation (not platoon) between C, 1B and DH could help restart his Career. And why not in the country where he started it the first time?
Just to point out a fact, A-Rod slugged .506 this season, his lowest since 1997. His OBP was .341, his lowest when getting regular playing time [he had an OBP of .264 in 1995 with the M’s in 48 games]. I don’t care much for batting average, but his .270 was his lowest of the same time period as his OBP – all after getting hip surgery.
Gordon has seen the same kind of drop off since his labrum surgery in 2009.
plus….he bats right-handed
No way. Am I the only one that remembers him as a Royal? Dang I couldnt stand him. Always swung for the fences and struck out or popped up. Could never stop a wild pitch.
Dont get me wrong, hes improved this year some, but I’ve seen this sort of thing in KC. He’ll go back to his old ways of crappy baseball. I wouldnt sign him.
Completely agree. I find it comical how people look at his one year in Toronto, and assume he will repeat it. Buck has some power, but that’s about it. I couldn’t wait for KC to non tender him, and you know it’s bad when you get excited about signing Jason Kendall.
Not a chance Buck comes back unless he is willing to share half the time with Arencibia which he has repeatedly said he would not do.
I’ll take the sandwich pick thank you very much and good luck Buck, where ever you go.
Please for the love of God no. Offer him arbitration and get the draft picks ! He was really good for a year and I agree with you Sniderlover, thank him for his time but lets not pretend this was something it was not, get the picks and lets get JP in there.
The reality is, if the jays could get him on another 1 year deal, then it would make sense to have him come back and transition JP into the starting job, and Buck ends up as an A if he has a decent season.Only issue is, he is NOT going to settle for a one year deal, which means he will end up on another team. The jays farm team has 2 things, pitchers and catchers, offer him arb, take the pic and hope that JP and Molina can form a decent catching duo. I also do feel however that JP is not the best catching prospect in the system, but regardless of that he has earned his spot.
At the end of the day he’s still John Freaking Buck.
At the end of the day he’s still John Freaking Buck.
Just throwing it out there…what if the Jays tried Arencibia at third? Didn’t get to see him too much this year cause of work and the SN-1 fiasco but from what I’ve heard/seen he has a good enough arm and looks fairly athletic. As a catcher he must have pretty good reflexes too.
You could move him to third, Lind at first, sign Buck for three years. Then when/if Jeroloman is ready have him take over for Molina. And in three years d’Arnaud and Perez might be ready.
Just a thought, and I could be incredibly wrong.
We all laugh at Buck but look at the average’s last year against lefties
Snider .254
Escobar .274
Bautista .222
Wells .195
Lind .117 (137 AB) Career .217
Overbay .222
BUCK .409 (88 AB)
Hill .125
E5 .234
If we want to win the division we have to find a way to compete against the lefties.
Buck should atleat be considered an option as a DH against lefties. Catch 80-100 games, DH another 20-30. JPA could catch the other games and DH against lefties aswell. Lind should not play against lefties any more
I doubt Buck can keep that offense up. And other than his great-game calling skills and they way he has handled the Jays pitching staff, his defense is pretty bad. J.P. should at least Catch next season as an understudy to Jose Molina(but not neccessarily his backup.) I’m pretty sure that Arencibia can catch until Carlos Perez or D’Arnaud are ready.