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

The last time he wore a Red Sox uniform, he didn't wear it for long. It was 2006 and he was assigned to be Tim Wakefield's personal catcher after Doug Mirabelli had been traded to San Diego. During spring training, the transition from Mirabelli to Bard seemed to go smoothly.

Then the regular season began.

In four starts, Bard committed 10 passed balls. Only a month into the season the Sox decided they had to have Mirabelli back, and traded Bard to the Padres to reacquire him.

Mirabelli and Wakefield worked together for the rest of 2006 and all of '07. Last year the team released Mirabelli in spring training and Wakefield was paired with Kevin Cash.

Then Cash signed with the Yankees as a free agent during the offseason, and now the knuckleballer will have a chance to reunite with Bard, whom the Sox signed as a free agent after losing Cash.

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 [general manager Theo Epstein] 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 . . . I felt good about [the Red Sox bringing him back]. 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 and 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 confident 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."

jmcdonal@projo.com