Free Agent Watch: Josh Bard

Bard registered a .2 WAR in 2011, worth $600,000. Because of his terrible 2009 season (Nationals), his WAR for the past 3 years is a negative. Horrible seasons put up by a player shouldn't be ignored. Bard has a career .320 OBP, 705 OPS, 2.99 PAPP, and .72 PPG. In 2011, he had a 3.58 PAPP, .256 OBP, .589 OPS, and .69 PPG in less than a 100 PA. In his career, he has a 84.6 Pitches per Starter, a mediocre Secondary Average of .227, and a pretty awful Isolated Slugging of .130. An offense with 9 Josh Bards would score 4.2 runs a game and win about 68 games (assuming average pitching). He swings at the first pitch about 10 percent more than the average bear, but still sees an average amount of 3-0 counts. There definitely have to be questions about his eye at the plate as 44% of his strikeouts are looking (league average is 26%). As a catcher, he grounds into a lot of double plays, but one would expect that. The problem is that he hits more groundballs than average, which wipes out his slightly above average walking percentage. Match that with very little power, and you have a very mediocre hitter (and not a good defender at -1.9 WAR in his career). I wouldn't expect him to be more than a third catcher AAAA type, or maybe a backup catcher for one of the leagues best. I don't see how anyone can pay him more than minimum salary.