I agree. John Buck is a good back up because he can call a good game and handle pitchers. His offense leaves a lot to be desired. Offensively I'd rather have Thole to be honest. Buck is a very low 200s hitter with occasional power.

TDA will be the starter by Mid May, June at the latest.

Buck's numbers last year certainly left a lot of room for improvement...
At least Thole hit for a decent average, most of the time, even if it was all singles.

By worry about either when you have a kid who can hit for a high average and power, hopefully?

Mike

Thole was awful last year, even hitting .192 Buck still had a higher OBP, and obviously hit for much more power.

Even with a repeat of last years numbers Bucks .198 compared to Thole's .234 Buck wound up with 12 hrs and 41 rbis against Thole with 1 hr and 21 rbis. With similar plate appearances Buck actually had about 40 less at bats.

<<"Apparently I'm alone on this one, but I still believe Buck will disappoint quickly and Alderson will call up d'Arnaud will be the starting catcher for much of 2013. Am I wrong?"

I don't think there's anyone here who doesn't believe TDA will be the starting catcher for most of 2013.

The Mets didn't trade trade the CY Young winner so Buck could be their #1 catcher this year.

Probably has to do with compound names, especially European.

Most cases the first part of the last name is not capitalized, i.e; Matt den Dekker.

I'm guessing the apostrophe separates the d from Arnaud and makes it a compound name.

I'm pretty sure you would capitalize the d if D'Arnaud began a sentence, so it probably appears that way at times.

I think it's like "from" as in "from Arnaud".

Or of Arnaud going back to small villages where everyone knew everybody in town.

Exactly....I think Duda is Polish for "can't field".

I'd rather be named Dances with Wolves.

I picture Buck as the Jon Voight character in "Midnight Cowboy".

Greek for

"Don't hit it to me"

I think you need to start the season with Buck, and this isn't about delaying arbitration or anything like it. It's just that Buck knows the intricacies of the position, especially defensively. There's huge upside with d'A offensively but there's more to catching than that, as we all know.

Unless d'A tears it up in ST and appears to grasp those intricacies I mentioned, he's got to remain in the minors until he isn't going to be more of a liability than asset.