For Cashman's Consideration: Josh Bard

Maybe this suggestion is one year too late, but my official offseason proposal Number 1 is the signing of Josh Bard.

"Mr. Writer," you are thinking, "why in the world would the Yankees need a third catcher? Posada is healthy this year, and Molina is a defensive force."

Well as Yankee fans know, Posada's shoulder was injured for most of the year. His arm was dead and it looked to affect his hitting (only three homeruns in over 160 at-bats.) Now I am sure that his hitting will return somewhere to his previous form, but it's his defense that I am really concerned about.

I believe that there is a chance that the Yankees will have to move Jorge Posada to DH at sometime this year. It is not a definite, and I would even bet that it's more likely that it doesn't happen, but there is most definitely a legitimate chance of this happening. Then where would the Yankees be? In the same position as last year - having one of the worst hitting catchers in Jose Molina behind the plate day after day. Sure his defense is great, I'll even say outstanding, but his offense just hurts so much, especially with the Yankees' offensive problems with year. There is no way the Yankees would be able to deal with him as the starting catcher.

Basically, the Yankees need to have ready a solid back-up option. Francisco Cervelli, who Brian Cashman said would start at Triple-A, would probably not be ready. He is very young, and has played very little in the higher levels thanks to Elliot Johnson. However, he did hit well in his limited playing time last year and got his first major league call-up. (He hit .315/.432/.816 with no homers and only five doubles in 73 at-bats in 23 games; the contact and patience is there, the power isn't.)

If they do not have a solid option to take over immediately, they will be stuck with the Chad Moellers and Chris Stewarts.

But back to the question - why Josh Bard? He was pretty poor last season. With the Padres last year (he was injured for part of the season) he hit .202/.279/.549 with one homerun in 178 at-bats. Despite this, he has a solid track record and could be a very good bounce-back candidate. His career major league totals despite the awful season are .265/.333/.395 - good enough. The previous two seasons (2006 and 2007) with the Padres after being traded for Doug Mirabelli he hit .338/.409/.537 and .285/.364/.404, respectively.

I'm not an expert by any mean with analyzing statistics, but this is the data regarding Bard according to FirstInning.com.



Okay, so this is what this says to me. 2006 and 2007 were is good seasons and 2008 was awful. His groundball percentage actually decreased in 2008, while his line drive percentage stayed the same. In addition, his K rate dropped. I'm confused; either he was ridiculously lucky for two straight seasons or was very unlucky this season - I believe his real production is somewhere in the middle. The Yankees have here an excellent opportunity to find an undervalued player. The only question is, "Can he get a starting job elsewhere?" With the Yankees right now he would be a pinch-hitter and probably start behind the plate once a week. Perhaps he could play first base?

Once again, feel free to destroy me in the comments section.