Blake Swihart and Ryan Hanigan to the DL. Sandy Leon and Rusney Castillo recalled

[RedOctober3829]

Ian Browne ‏@IanMBrowne 3m3 minutes ago
Swihart and Hanigan to the DL. Sandy Leon to be backup catcher.

Ian Browne ‏@IanMBrowne 30s30 seconds ago
Rusney Castillo also returns from Pawtucket.

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

That was unexpected.

 

[Mueller's Twin Grannies]

Hembree recalled and Noe Ramírez optioned too, per a push notification from MLB. No word on who got DFA'd to clear a spot for Léon...is anyone eligible for the 60-day DL?

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Hembree recalled and Noe Ramírez optioned too, per a push notification from MLB. No word on who got DFA'd to clear a spot for Léon...is anyone eligible for the 60-day DL?

Carson Smith

 

[Cuzittt]

They had an open spot on the 40.

 

[Coachster]

I wonder if Leon can catch a knuckleball.

 

[mfried]

NB: Hanigan sure can't catch the knuckler. When he's healthy let him catch someone else. I think Vazquez is the best bet to catch the knuckleball.

 

[Van Everyman]

Have we heard about Swihart's MRI yet?

 

[Savin Hillbilly]

I wonder if Leon can catch a knuckleball.

Leon caught Wright a bit in the majors last year, with (as far as I can tell by picking at the game summaries) one passed ball in four innings of work. And since they were both in Pawtucket for substantial stints last year it seems likely Leon caught Wright in AAA too, at least a few times.

 

[chrisfont9]

Hopefully Hanigan's neck is of the 15-day variety. The timing could be worse: the team has three days off in the next eight, so Vaz can just do close to all of the catching.

 

[chrisfont9]

Have we heard about Swihart's MRI yet?

I can't find anything as of now. Official word is "strain," which is about as clarifying as "ouchie". Probably nothing catastrophic though, if he walked off on it? Like a sprain?

 

[Dogman]

Hopefully Hanigan's neck is of the 15-day variety. The timing could be worse: the team has three days off in the next eight, so Vaz can just do close to all of the catching.

18 passed balls this year and an OPS of .479. He is the worst backup in the league. There has got to be someone better out there to play 1-2 days a week. Leon, by virtue of being somebody other than Hannigan, will likely be better.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

18 passed balls catching THAT knuckler aren't so bad.

 

[E5 Yaz]

18 passed balls catching THAT knuckler aren't so bad.

yes and no. Wright's ball moves a lot more violently than Wake's ... but Mirabelli's high for a season for passed balls was 15. So, it's probably a little of both

 

[Dogman]

It's only June. That's pretty terrible.

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

The Major League record for passed balls in an inning is four. Ryan Lavernway holds that record. He was catching Steven Wright at the time.

 

[IpswichSox]

During a pre-game interview, Farrell hinted that Blake might be out far longer than 15 days. Merloni on the radio said he had a similar high-ankle sprain and was out a couple of months. In addition to the MRI, there was some of work that was supposed to be done at game time, so we may learn more this afternoon.

 

[soxhop411]

“‪@MikeSilvermanBB‬: It’s a severe ankle sprain for Swihart. He’ll be immobilized for two weeks, so this will not be a quick DL stint.”

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

What could possibly go wrong by sticking a catcher into LF with no experience?

 

[kieckeredinthehead]

What could possibly go wrong by sticking a catcher into LF with no experience?

These guys are all athletes. The Red Sox had no reason to think that if they took a player from the infield and put them in left they'd get injured running into that wall.

 

[Mueller's Twin Grannies]

If Smith can be shifted to the 60-day DL and Swihart is going to miss the better part of a month (or more), wouldn't it behoove this team to call-up or select the contract of another AAA OF or is it not worth it with Holt on his way back? He normally plays RF but Bryce Brentz (who is already on the 40-man) is hitting over. 300 in 23 games with the PawSox. Or someone like Justin Maxwell who has ML experience? I have to think there's a better option than Castillo. Or should they target a third catcher, maybe one with knuckleball experience? Admittedly, I'm not sure who's out there that would qualify.

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

These guys are all athletes. The Red Sox had no reason to think that if they took a player from the infield and put them in left they'd get injured running into that wall.

You're right, it's not like it happened anytime recently.

 

[E5 Yaz]

BOSTON – Blake Swihart visited Red Sox foot specialist Dr. George Theodore, who diagnosed Swihart with a severe ankle sprain, on Sunday.

"He's going to be immobilized for two weeks and we'll re-evaluate at that point to see what the next steps are," manager John Farrell said after Sunday's loss. "He sustained a pretty severe ankle sprain here yesterday."

http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2016/06/blake_swihart_severe_ankle_spr.html

 

[soxhop411]

“‪@jtomase‬: Further diagnosis on Swihart, per team spokesman: has medial and lateral ankle sprain, as well as a strain of the peroneal tendons.”

 

[Saints Rest]

I'm sure they are figuring that what they want from both Leon and Castillo is defense over offense, which they both should be able to provide. My guess is that until Holt is back, Castillo will only get minimal field time

 

[E5 Yaz]

“‪@jtomase‬: Further diagnosis on Swihart, per team spokesman: has medial and lateral ankle sprain, as well as a strain of the peroneal tendons.”

Amputation

 

[mwonow]

Amputation

No $10 for you.

I like the idea of Brentz. A bench bat (not of the lil' Marco variety) would be really nice to have around.

 

[soxhop411]

“‪@jtomase‬: Bit more on Swihart: Team sources initially feared injury would be season-ending, but after followup exam, they’ll wait 2 weeks and see.”

“‪@jtomase‬: Certainly doesn’t sound good on Swihart either way, but club at least is not yet ready to rule out a return this season.”

 

[Marbleheader]

Maybe now they'll stop putting guys in left that don't have experience there.

 

[Over Guapo Grande]

What could possibly go wrong by sticking a catcher into LF with no experience?

Except for all the innings he played in LF before he became a catcher... Including the U-18 US national team ?

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

Except for all the innings he played in LF before he became a catcher... Including the U-18 US national team ?

How many of those games were played in Fenway? And how many had he played since then?

 

[Over Guapo Grande]

How many games did he catch at Fenway before he debuted behind the plate?

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

How many games did he catch at Fenway before he debuted behind the plate?

Explain the difference defensively between behind the plate in any stadium anywhere, then I'll hold your hand and explain how LF in Fenway may be a wee bit different than his time in high school.

 

[Over Guapo Grande]

I hope this helps:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=foul+ground+territory+in+each+stadium

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

I hope this helps:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=foul+ground+territory+in+each+stadium

So, you're proving my point? That the difference in dimensions, which he wasn't familiar with and what just got him hurt and likely out for a long time, is why he shouldn't have been out there?

Thanks. I appreciate you showing how dumb your argument was.

 

[Over Guapo Grande]

I will try to type slowly, so maybe you will understand.

If Swihart bangs his foot going for a foul pop up behind the plate in Baltimore, is it the fault of the Sox? After all, he had never played there.

And I am trying a search, but it is a little slow here. I am sure you were against Betts playing RF, right?

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

Let's start with this. Cite me an injury for a catcher where it can be directly attributed to the unique dimensions of the ballpark, where the player injured was unfamiliar not only with playing the position, but more specifically with those said dimensions.

I'll start with LFers. Hanley Ramirez, 2015. Now you go. Type as slowly as you like.

 

[Rasputin]

Let's start with this. Cite me an injury for a catcher where it can be directly attributed to the unique dimensions of the ballpark, where the player injured was unfamiliar not only with playing the position, but more specifically with those said dimensions.

I'll start with LFers. Hanley Ramirez, 2015. Now you go. Type as slowly as you like.

You should fight the reflex to blame someone every time something goes wrong.

 

[Plympton91]

I wonder if the Red SOX ANALYTICS TEAM calculated the difference in injury rates for players shifted to a new position conditional on the length of time since the switch. If it is higher, I wonder to what extent management would take it into consideration.

Since it seems Swihart should be considered gone for most of the season, hopefully this intensifies the search for a guy who can be the strong side of a LF platoon. Of corse, they are increasingly desperate for a 4th starter as well, so resources will need to be allocated efficiently.

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

You should fight the reflex to blame someone every time something goes wrong.

Sometimes things are bad ideas. And sometimes these bad are ideas are called such when the decisions are made. Many here thought this was a bad idea from jump street. Some because of his development as a catcher would be impeded, some because of his inexperience might lead to issues and some because it seemed like trying to force a square peg into a round hole to fill a minimal need (that could have been filled in many other ways).

He's now out. For a couple months, likely. And on top, our backup catcher is out, so instead of plugging Swihart in there, we get the return of Sandy Leon. When if the Sox had just gotten a replacement level LHH LFer, we could be calling him up to catch. If you want to throw your hands up and say "hey man, shit happens", knock yourself out. Sometimes shit happening is precipitated by bad decisions from above. This being one.

 

[JohntheBaptist]

Wait so Fenway's LF is so perilous a space that if you've never played there, it is irresponsible for a team to put you out there? Does this extend to visiting clubs? Should rookies not play there? Is time spent there when a game is not being played, becoming familiar with the dimensions--meaningless?

Blake Swihart wasn't unfamiliar with playing the OF, certainly not to the point that you'd blame his injury on it. Fenway's wall is something the unfamiliar have to encounter fairly regularly during the season, and I would call it a stretch to charge anyone with threat to physical harm for putting a player like that out there.

A quip's a quip I guess.

 

[E5 Yaz]

They should have covered him in bubble wrap before putting him out there

 

[JohntheBaptist]

Man those goalposts are dancing. Started as "putting a C in LF without experience," morphed to being about playing the unfamiliar in Fenway's LF, and now it's all about the "bad decision" to convert a C to LF from a roster perspective.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Man those goalposts are dancing. Started as "putting a C in LF without experience," morphed to being about playing the unfamiliar in Fenway's LF, and now it's all about the "bad decision" to convert a C to LF from a roster perspective.

 

[Hendu for Kutch]

I'm curious which players had experience playing LF in Fenway before they started playing LF at Fenway. Seems like it would be a short list.

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

Man those goalposts are dancing. Started as "putting a C in LF without experience," morphed to being about playing the unfamiliar in Fenway's LF, and now it's all about the "bad decision" to convert a C to LF from a roster perspective.

Not moving any goalposts. I'm pointing out oppositions that were raised and have come to fruition.

If you think playing OF in high school and then a handful of games in AAA makes one experienced enough to be able to handle it at he ML level, then we just disagree. As cited Hanley Ramirez. And if you don't see today's injury as a direct result of not being familiar enough as an OFer, and specifically LF at Fenway, then we can disagree there too. Also cited, Hanley Ramirez.

If you want to call moving the goalposts knock yourself out. I'm saying there were multiple reasons it was a bad idea to begin with, which were stated by many people and the result is what we are looking at now. There's some unfortunate coincidences that make it worse but simple fact is that it wasn't a bright idea to begin with.

 

[YTF]

What could possibly go wrong by sticking a catcher into LF with no experience?

I hope they've learned their lesson from this fiasco. I hate to think what might happen if they take a fine second baseman like Mookie Betts and stick him in outfield because the guy that's been deemed the centerfielder of the future can't hit at the big league level.

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

I'm curious which players had experience playing LF in Fenway before they started playing LF at Fenway. Seems like it would be a short list.

An even shorter list would be ones who have had a total of 91 innings in any outfield since high school six years ago.

 

[JohntheBaptist]

Your first pass at an argument was that Swihart got hurt because he doesn't, as a C, have experience playing LF. He clearly has enough experience playing it to avoiding getting hurt simply as a result of his lack of experience. The stuff about it being the wall is pretty weak too, for obvious reasons.

I didn't like putting him in LF either, he has more value as a catcher and didn't seem to be the answer in LF either. Doesn't mean it has anything to do with him getting hurt to the point you'd offer up some self-satisfied snark in response.

 

[E5 Yaz]

The injury doesn't validate the argument. He was hurt through over-aggressiveness, not because he had relatively little outfield experience.

If he had looked as awkward as Hanley in the outfield, you have more of a case. But he didn't; quite the opposite, in fact. You can't use Hanley as an example of what could/would/did happen to swihart, because they are entirely different athletes, at different stages of their careers and were shown to adapt to the change in widely different ways.