The Marlins made an early strike to fill their need for a starting catcher,
agreeing to a three-year, $18MM deal with John Buck today. The three-year
term comes as no surprise, given the extra years given to free agent catchers
last offseason. It's the Marlins' biggest free agent splash since Carlos
Delgado's four-year, $52MM deal in January of 2005. Nice work by Buck's
agents at ACES; players signing early are doing well so far this offseason.
The Marlins' pricey free agent expenditure was seemingly made possible in
part by their removal of Dan Uggla's salary.
Buck provides the Fish certainty behind the plate with John Baker going down
in September for Tommy John surgery and Ronny Paulino a non-tender candidate.
The Red Sox were also known to be interested in Buck.
Buck, 30, hit .281/.314/.489 in 437 plate appearances for the Blue Jays this
year, logging 933 innings behind the dish. He signed with Toronto for just
$2MM after being non-tendered by the Royals. Buck is a Type B free agent, so
the Blue Jays will receive a supplemental round draft pick for their loss.
Ed Price of AOL FanHouse first tweeted the Marlins were working hard to sign
Buck, while Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports provided all other developments and
details
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