Now that Josh Bard has agreed to terms with the Red Sox, if Jason Varitek returns it will be interesting to see just who has to catch knuckleballer Tim Wakefield next season.
Bard had an absolutely dreadful time trying to catch Wakefield in 2006. He committed 10 passed balls in 53 innings and several other balls got past him that were ruled wild pitches. Bard has committed just 13 passed balls in 3,036 other major-league innings. Instead of getting better, every outing with Wakefield was worse than the one before. Bard fought the ball and the ball won, which is why the Red Sox quickly dealt him to the Padres for experienced Doug Mirabelli.
Varitek has caught Wakefield from time to time, but he doesn’t not look comfortable doing it. He nearly cost the Red Sox Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS when he had to catch Wakefield in extra innings. He survived, of course, and it was the second of eight consecutive wins that culminated in the Red Sox winning the World Series.
Bard has a decent bat despite his .202 average for the Padres last season. He’s a .265 lifetime hitter who hit .338 for the Padres in 2006 and .285 in 2007. He'll probably bounce back offensively in 2009.
Presuming Terry Francona doesn’t let Bard catch Wakefield next year, of more concern might be his throwing. For his career Bard has thrown out only 19 percent of base stealers, and he had a horrible year in 2007 when he tossed out just 10 of 131, a 7.6 percentage. He improved somewhat last year, catching 10 of 63 for a 15.9 percentage.
Preventing stolen bases is a very low priority for the Red Sox. But it helps when a catcher’s reputation as a thrower is such other teams don’t feel they can run with impunity.
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