Projo Sox Blog

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. _ Josh Bard is back for round two.

The last time the catcher wore a Red Sox uniform it didn't last very long. It was 2006 and the he was slated to be Tim Wakefield's personal batterymate. During spring training that season the transition from Doug Mirabelli to Bard seemed to go smoothly.
Then the regular season begin.

In four starts Bard recorded 10 passed balls and was eventually traded to San Diego in exchange for Mirabelli only a month into the season.

Since then Wakefield has also worked with Kevin Cash, who signed with the Yankees this offseason, and the knuckleballer will have a chance to reunite with Bard.

Bard said there are no hard feelings for what happened three years ago and he's looking forward to the challenge.

"I have a ton of respect for Theo and what he's done," said Bard. "He's won two World Series with a organization that has a storied past and hadn't won in awhile. Ultimately them bringing me back I felt good about that. I don't want to get too caught up in the past. I'm trying to move forward."

In '06 Bard tried to imitate Mirabelli's style. It didn't work. Bard said Saturday morning prior to the first official workout of spring training that he's prepared to find his own comfort level.

"We're working on getting that solved," he said. "I'm confidence in these six weeks we're going to do what we need to do. The staff and I are going to work hard to get that accomplished."

"I'm going to try to be myself," he said. "I'll be as prepared as I can. You have to trust yourself to go out there and do your best. You're going to miss a knuckleball sometimes. But the last time I don't think I had the maturity to handle when I failed. Now I feel I'm better prepared to do that. I'll just go out and do what I can."

He's not the only catcher in camp vying for the backup role. Dusty Brown, George Kottaras and Mark Wagner will all try to impress. Brown and Kottaras can also catch the knuckleball as both have worked with minor-league knuckler Charlie Zink the last few seasons.

"Ultimately they are going to pick the best players," he said. "Nothing is for sure in anything in this game. We've come some very capable guys here to play."

Ding. Ding.

 Tags  Josh Bard Red Sox spring training

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