The Josh Bard Experiment: Part Two

So Josh Bard has been signed to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal? Interesting. Does this mean anything at all for the status of Jason Varitek and his possible return to Boston? Goodness, I hope not. For as bad as Tek is at bat, I adore him, and find it very very hard to stop adoring him. He was the one that really got me hooked onto baseball, but good. I don't want to see him in another uniform, and it hurts me to know that I can't do anything about it.

Josh Bard isn't a bad player. In the short time we had him before, he hit pretty well, even if he couldn't catch a knuckleball. The thing I didn't like about him was... he replaced Dougie, and that's just not cool by me. Now, Dougie's gone for good, and we had no catchers, and Bard had a terrible offensive year last year, so it just makes sense to bring him in.

I can't decide if I think it's a brilliant move or if it irks me when Theo lets the free agents who had good years in the previous season sign with any other team (usually the Yankees) and he goes after the free agents who had terrible years the season before, banking on a bounce-back year. Or he'll pick up players that all other teams got rid of because they just couldn't do it, and expect gold. He does get lucky with these signings once in a while, but I fear that he's getting too used to signing these type of players. The two guys that Theo's dragged into the mix this week, Bard and Brad Penny, both had down years in '08. I know that he's signing them while their value is down, hoping that it'll go back up, but doesn't there come a time when you have to stop shouting "hit me!" at the blackjack dealer, especially if you're already holding a pair of tens. Chances are, you're more likely not to get that ace than you are to get 21.

Now that I've lost myself in my own analogy, I'll close this by saying... Bard is no Dougie, but I guess he'll do.