and they don't feel comfortable with Phegley as the #1.

 

 

Mariners Designate John Buck For AssignmentBy Steve Adams [July 8, 2014 at 12:04am CDT]The Mariners have designated veteran catcher John Buck for assignment, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). He notes in a followup tweet that it seems likely the Mariners will recall Jesus Sucre from Triple-A Tacoma.

 

Buck, who turned 34 years old Monday, inked a one-year, $1MM contract with the Mariners to serve as the backup to young catcher Mike Zunino. He’s struggled to get on base and hit for average in recent years, but he’d shown good pop until this season with Seattle. In 27 games (92 plate appearances), Buck was hitting just .226/.293/.286 with one home run.

 

Divish notes that the move likely won’t go over well in the Mariners’ locker room, as Buck was popular among his teammates. He adds, however, that there had been growing concern from the Mariners’ decision-makers over Buck’s receiving and blocking skills with the staff — particularly the team’s harder-throwing pitchers. Indeed, Buck grades out poorly in terms of pitch-framing metrics (per StatCorner.com’s Matthew Carruth and per Baseball Prospectus), although that’s hardly a new trend. Buck had one passed ball on the season and had been behind the dish for 11 wild pitches in just 164 innings, so the Mariners likely felt that some of those could have been blocked.

 

A veteran of 11 Major League seasons between the Royals, Blue Jays, Marlins, Mets, Pirates and Mariners, Buck is a lifetime .234/.301/.398 hitter.

Edited July 8, 201411 yr by caulfield12

No

Why? Is he really better than Flowers? I doubt it, and if he is, not very much, it would only be for the rest season. Give Tyler the rope to hang himself. It's not like he is going to hit .100 the rest of the season.

As a rebuilding team, I'd prefer the 28-year old C who's bad at baseball over the 34-year old C who's bad at baseball.

Tyler Flowers won't make it to age 34 in the big leagues.

 

Well...we had our chances to go after guys like Suzuki and Ruiz in FA and we passed. And yet there's still not solution in sight.

 

It's clearly not Josh Phegley (and take all those offensive numbers in Charlotte with a huge grain of salt), and reports are that Kevan Smith is raw defensively (still) as well. So time to get creative, Rick Hahn.

Edited July 8, 201411 yr by caulfield12

Tyler Flowers won't make it to age 34 in the big leagues.

 

Well...we had our chances to go after guys like Suzuki and Ruiz in FA and we passed. And yet there's still not solution in sight.

 

It's not Phegley, and reports are that Kevan Smith is raw defensively (still) as well. So time to get creative, Rick Hahn.

 

And if they signed Ruiz, then there still wouldn't be a solution in sight.

 

Personally, I think they might have something in Nieto, but for now he is still better served as the backup.

I think we should sign him.

 

That way, once he was terrible for a couple months we could stop having people suggest we sign him every year.

Tyler Flowers won't make it to age 34 in the big leagues.

 

Well...we had our chances to go after guys like Suzuki and Ruiz in FA and we passed. And yet there's still not solution in sight.

 

It's clearly not Josh Phegley (and take all those offensive numbers in Charlotte with a huge grain of salt), and reports are that Kevan Smith is raw defensively (still) as well. So time to get creative, Rick Hahn.

 

There's no reason for trying to justify signing John Buck. They aren't going to do it.

Well, there's only ONE way to justify it.

 

If you thought the White Sox had ANY chance of competing for a Wild Card spot this season and didn't want to give up any talent to try something different, and just because you're JR and tired of seeing Flowers hit .100 and strike out at a historic, Dunn-ish rate.

Well, there's only ONE way to justify it.

 

If you thought the White Sox had ANY chance of competing for a Wild Card spot this season and didn't want to give up any talent to try something different, and just because you're JR and tired of seeing Flowers hit .100 and strike out at a historic, Dunn-ish rate.

 

I'm sure Piazza is an upgrade behind the plate at this point, but I'm not about to bring him in. Also, if I felt the Sox were in contention for a Wild Card birth, and I was looking to upgrade at catcher (which affects the chemistry with pitchers), I'm going to shoot a little higher than John Buck.

 

Buck wRC+ - 65

Flowers wRC+ - 62

 

There is no way you can logically or reasonably justify bringing in John Buck.

I'm sure Piazza is an upgrade behind the plate at this point, but I'm not about to bring him in. Also, if I felt the Sox were in contention for a Wild Card birth, and I was looking to upgrade at catcher (which affects the chemistry with pitchers), I'm going to shoot a little higher than John Buck.

 

Buck wRC+ - 65

Flowers wRC+ - 62

 

There is no way you can logically or reasonably justify bringing in John Buck.

 

I honestly believe, playing 4-5 days per week...that he would put up better numbers and provide more leadership than Flowers does.

 

But maybe that's just me. Yes, it's a SAD state of affairs in terms of catching all around baseball. With Wieters down, Zunino in Seattle and Sal Perez are the only impressive guys out there in the AL.

 

But I don't think an upgrade's out there that won't cost you SOMETHING decent you don't want to give up in return.

I honestly believe, playing 4-5 days per week...that he would put up better numbers and provide more leadership than Flowers does.

 

But maybe that's just me. Yes, it's a SAD state of affairs in terms of catching all around baseball. With Wieters down, Zunino in Seattle and Sal Perez are the only impressive guys out there in the AL.

 

But I don't think an upgrade's out there that won't cost you SOMETHING decent you don't want to give up in return.

 

I assure you, it's most definitely just you.

Come on, the notion of signing Buck is ridiculous. Not only is he old AND bad, but he isn't familiar with our pitchers. Why would we want our pitching staff having to work with a new catcher who has a 0% chance of being on the team next year?

I think we should sign him.

 

That way, once he was terrible for a couple months we could stop having people suggest we sign him every year.

 

This is the only reason I can think of to acquire John Buck right now.

I honestly believe, playing 4-5 days per week...that he would put up better numbers and provide more leadership than Flowers does.

 

But maybe that's just me. Yes, it's a SAD state of affairs in terms of catching all around baseball. With Wieters down, Zunino in Seattle and Sal Perez are the only impressive guys out there in the AL.

 

But I don't think an upgrade's out there that won't cost you SOMETHING decent you don't want to give up in return.

 

Even if you're right, you're talking about upgrading from "extra bad" to "bad" on a team that isn't winning anything this year, and the cost is crucial development time for ANY other C that isn't a 34 year old bad pending free agent.

Yeah, no thanks

Ridiculous.

NO

This is a terrible idea.

The problem is, does anyone believe Phegley is the answer?

 

If no, then there's no point in bringing up Kevan Smith. I think we're all agreed on that.

 

So the options are very limited, other than playing Nieto more (not advisable) or bringing up Phegley. If the White Sox don't view Josh as being capable of holding down the position defensively or just in terms of his general make-up as a ballplayer, nobody's really being blocked.

 

It's kind of the same situation as Adam Dunn right now. Unless they really want to give those at-bats to Saladino, Davidson, Sanchez, Semien, Sierra or Michael Taylor, there's no real reason to trade him, except for saving money to carry over for next season. Perhaps Micah Johnson, but that's more of a September call-up, and maybe they would rather he plays in the AFL instead of getting exposed by big league pitchers.

 

Quite the quandary.

Edited July 8, 201411 yr by caulfield12

What does it matter if Flowers or Phegley or Smith or Nieto is or is not the answer? John Buck clearly is not the answer.

I would rather have Flowers than Buck. By far. Acquiring Buck would be a horrific move as he's one of the worst hitters in baseball IMO.

I don't care if the Sox get Buck, but Flowers is hitting .093 since May 26. Just sayin'.

I would rather have Flowers than Buck. By far. Acquiring Buck would be a horrific move as he's one of the worst hitters in baseball IMO.

 

I would rather have Phegley, Nieto, or Smith then Buck or Flowers

I would rather have Phegley, Nieto, or Smith then Buck or Flowers

Me too, though it is nice to see our catcher throw guys out on the basepaths. Phegley can't throw anybody out, right?

At this point, it's probably better for our pitchers to hit than for Flowers.