Epstein: "It's Kottaras' job to lose."

Written by Rob Munstis | 19 March 2009

The Red Sox released Josh Bard yesterday and the blogosphere was a buzz with the idea secret of trade possibilites and questions about the minor leaguers George Kottaras and Dusty Brown.

GM Theo Epstein addressed these questions later that day and said the Kottaras proved he could handle the backup catcher role when he effectively handled a Tim Wakefield start:

"Our young catchers are doing a really good job in camp," Epstein said. "George, in particular, did a nice job with Wakefield the other night. We like the way George is throwing. He?s throwing well. Once he showed he could handle Wake we decided that was the direction we were probably going to go in."

Kottaras is scheduled to catch for Wakefield in a minor league game Thursday at the Red Sox's player development complex.

"(It's) his job to lose right now," Epstein said. "We hope he continues to do a nice job and Dusty Brown's having a good camp as well. This'll get them some more time. We had to make this move now because we need George and Wake to work together and we need to make sure we know what we have, and prepare for the season."

Bottom Line: Kottaras was out of options and the Sox asked him to skip the WBC so that they could a good look at him in camp. That coupled with the need for him to get comforatble catching Wake leads me to believe that Bard was really the back up plan all along.

George hit .243 in AAA last year, but he did hit 22 ding dongs to go with 65 RBI in just 395 at bats. He'll never hit /300 in the majors, but after years of light hitting catcher with occasional pop, "Kottsy" could be a refreshing change of pace.

Plus, this decision means that the Sox won't be trading their pitching depth away, at least right now, and I like that.

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