Am I wrong in thinking Arencibia is a younger John Buck?

Nope, Arencibia just got done his second year, Buck has been around since 2004.

Edit: I didn't realize how bad he sucked with the Marlins - .213/.308/.358 over the last two years.

The important thing here is that John Buck is the only catcher still active (I think) who's allowed to wear masks with crazy crap painted on them like goaltenders do. It would be a shame if he was relegated to benchwarming now that he is in Canada again.

With the market for catchers as thin as it is this off season they may be able to trade buck instead of Arencibia.

If it's me I trade Buck for whatever I can get for him. I don't think he can play any more. The Jays will be fine with Arencibia and Wilson, with d'Arnaud looming over them both like an allegory of death.

I was trying to figure out why I thought Arencibia was a star. Then I looked up his record in Arlington: 5 HR and 7 RBI in 8 games (his OPS is 1.023 in Arlington, highest of any park he's played in). I am massively influenced by watching players play live (I rarely see baseball in any other form).

John Buck is JP Arencibia with fewer letters, but you need two catchers and they cured themselves of Jeff Mathis, so I'm good with it.

...with d'Arnaud looming over them both like an allegory of death.

Sweet.

I was trying to figure out why I thought Arencibia was a star.

He hit 26 homers as a rookie, and has hit at least one homer in his first game of the season each of his three years in the league.

Anyone think that Arrencibia might end up as DH?

I hope not. The .280 OBP plays bad enough at catcher.

He's a catcher with a shaky defensive reputation and a bit of pop in his bat. Someone might think that if you move him off catcher his bat will improve and you'd get a better glove behind the plate. If d'Arnaud gets promoted they might try it a few times, but they'd need to carry a third catcher or just totally give up on JP as a catcher for that to happen. His batting average and discipline would need to improve a lot to make it worthwhile.

I remember watching a game and Buck and Tabler were talking about how the BP pitcher was mocking Arencibia for swinging at really high pitches in BP. Arencibia reportedly said "It's batting practice, why should I practice not swinging at pitches?" It was the perfect soundbite for a player who had an OBP of .250 at the time.

I'd certainly look to trade one of them, preferably Buck (who makes some money too).

Though everyone seems to be oohing and awing over Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes and Emilio Bonifacio

Bonifacio?

Bonifacio?

Well, the Jays' previous utility guy was what's left of Omar Vizquel, so by comparison...

I actually like the acquisition of Bunnyface. He can handle any defensive position other than C in a capable manner, makes for a good defensive replacement or pinch runner, hits for a tolerable average from both sides of the plate, and draws a non-embarrassing number of walks. As far as bench/utility guys go, he's useful even in his bad years, and quite valuable in his good years.

Also, as Matthew E mentioned, he's a big step up from the rotting corpse of Omar Vizquel.

...he's a big step up from the rotting corpse of Omar Vizquel.

Joe Inglett would have been a step up.

Mike McCoy would have been a step up.

I'm not quite willing to say that Chris Woodward would have been a step up, but it might have been close.

Post 15 was helpful. I'd assumed that The Good Face was a mostly useless 5th outfielder, but he has a chance of being a useful utility guy.

What’s in store for Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia?

"Mr. Arencibia, what do you know about the Avengers Initiative?"

#14 and #15 ... doesn't sound like "oohing and 'awing'" to me. :-)