Holt to concussion DL and Smith to DL. Swihart and Noe Ramirez recalled.

johnnywayback

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Not suggesting you;ve done this with your post, but it seems to be a theme......Do people really think that his use this season is going to lower his value beyond the "well, that's 50 games he would have had at C that he doesn't right now.'? (which, IMO, is a marginal impact). Aside from what the Sox think -- and other than "Vazquez is a better catcher" I dont think this says much about what they think about Swihart -- other teams either think that Swihart is valuable going forward or they don't. That's how different GMs think. But any GM that downgrades his assessment at C based on what has transpired over the first one-third of this season is a shitty GM.
The biggest question about Swihart is whether he can stay at catcher defensively. Moving him to LF like this certainly risks suggesting to other teams that we think he can't. But even if you don't think that matters to other GMs, it prevents him from proving that he can (or, if you're pessimistic, developing his skills so that it's more likely that he can).
 

Snodgrass'Muff

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I mean, it's outside the box thinking in the sense that, if Tommy Layne went down, David Price would be a hell of a LOOGY.

Blake Swihart's appeal isn't that he's a plus hitter, because he isn't. It's that he's a plus hitter for a catcher. If he isn't playing catcher, you are wasting value. Now, due to poor roster construction by Dave Dombrowski, wasting value by having him play LF may be, for the moment, a necessary evil (admittedly more necessary and less evil than using Price as a LOOGY!). But the team's priority should be getting Swihart back inside the (catcher's) box, where he has real value, to us or, more likely, to someone else.
It's like you read the last sentence and skipped the rest of my post.
 

The Talented Allen Ripley

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The biggest question about Swihart is whether he can stay at catcher defensively.
I don't think he's a questionable defensive catcher, at least not enough to merit a position change. The issue is that we have Vazquez blocking him, and I think the club is trying to figure out how to make use of him given that he's not going to be catching much as long as CV is around.
 

O Captain! My Captain!

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I don't think he's a questionable defensive catcher, at least not enough to merit a position change. The issue is that we have Vazquez blocking him, and I think the club is trying to figure out how to make use of him given that he's not going to be catching much as long as CV is around.
This is it. If Vazquez disappeared, Swihart would probably be the catcher. However, the team thinks Vazquez's catching prowess makes him the better short-term (and potentially long term) choice. Given their similar ages, that means Swihart is blocked from catching more than 1-2 of every 5 games, so if you want him playing, he needs to learn another position.

Now, if Vazquez continues to hit .225/.271/.325 or something like that, his bat may hurt him so much that the team reconsiders, but in the meantime, all the team loses is development time at C for Swihart.
 

JimD

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Swihart keeps getting tagged with the 'Good hitter for C but not for LF' label. He was considered a potential plus hitter coming up with average to above-average OBP and 15-20 HR power. Given the speed and flashes of athleticism he's already shown, is Blake's bat really that far off the mark for a corner outfielder (assuming that CV does finally hit and takes over catching duties for the next five years)?
 

O Captain! My Captain!

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Swihart keeps getting tagged with the 'Good hitter for C but not for LF' label. He was considered a potential plus hitter coming up with average to above-average OBP and 15-20 HR power. Given the speed and flashes of athleticism he's already shown, is Blake's bat really that far off the mark for a corner outfielder (assuming that CV does finally hit and takes over catching duties for the next five years)?
Not assuming he's at least a scratch defensive outfielder with probably plus baserunning. There's also the possibility his bat heats up faster than it would at catcher given the decreased mental and physical strain of LF.
 

InsideTheParker

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Does anyone know about the health of BROCKHOLT? I just saw him applauding at Fenway, which must mean he's back from the concussion specialist. Have they revealed anything to the public yet?
 

Devizier

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Maybe the Red Sox just want Swihart to have positional flexibility to extend Swihart's ability to play deep into the season? Buster Posey has been playing ~20% of his games at 1B since he came up to the bigs, for one example. Not every positional shift is an irreversible, Joe Mauer, Mike Napoli-style downgrade.
 

Rasputin

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Does anyone know about the health of BROCKHOLT? I just saw him applauding at Fenway, which must mean he's back from the concussion specialist. Have they revealed anything to the public yet?
In Alex Speier's e-mail newsletter there was a note that he's not coming off when he's eligible.
 

Cumberland Blues

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Whichever writer was on the radio pregame yesterday made it sound like Holt was going to be out a while still - he's just started ramping up light workouts, not doing any baseball activity.
 

soxhop411

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It may be a while until we see Holt again

“‪@RyanHannable‬: Farrell on @DaleHolleyWEEI says Brock Holt (concussion) ”frustrated“ with situation as symptoms still exist after working out yesterday.”
 

yep

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Swihart keeps getting tagged with the 'Good hitter for C but not for LF' label. He was considered a potential plus hitter coming up with average to above-average OBP and 15-20 HR power. Given the speed and flashes of athleticism he's already shown, is Blake's bat really that far off the mark for a corner outfielder (assuming that CV does finally hit and takes over catching duties for the next five years)?
He's is the kind of hitter who is extremely valuable if he can take the C spot in a lineup, but who is merely adequate when taking up a corner outfield spot. That's the kind of thing that can make a huge difference over 162 games.

The spectrum between 3rd place in the division and WS champion can be pretty small in MLB. One thing that pretty consistently separates the winners from the also-rans is maximizing value at each position.

A catcher who is adequate defensively but plus on offense, or vice-versa, can be an asset. But devoting a corner outfield spot to a mediocre all-rounder is a recipe for an excuse-making end to the season.