Swihart traded to Dbacks

nattysez

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Sources: The Red Sox have DFA'd catcher Blake Swihart. He’s effectively gone, presuming he won’t pass waivers. Stunning move early in the season for a struggling team.
I'm baffled by this. Why give him such a short leash? What are they going to do at catcher now? What about his performance merited completely cutting bait on him? Seems like, if nothing else, he could at least be a helpful multi-position backup.

The Sox (across multiple administrations) have jerked him around his whole career -- I'm curious to see if he can go to another org, get regular playing time, and turn into something.
 
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Sandy Leon Trotsky

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Yeah that’ll fix the team! Bring Sandy up and the starters will pitch better and the weak offense will get hot
 

Max Power

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Are they seriously going to pin the shitty pitching on him?

It's even more strange a move when they had to use their other catcher at second base. You'd think you'd want more positional flexibility in that case rather than less.
 

Murby

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Did they think keeping him on the roster in attempt to add value and then trade for something tangible, realized it hasn't worked, so they just dumped him? I'm happy for the kid as I feel they've royally hosed him multiple times through his Red Sox tenure. I don't get the asset management, but maybe it speaks to the law value of the asset?
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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This is baffling to me. If it's early, it's early, and you hang on to him and let things shake out.

They do realize that there will be a day when Sandy Leon isn't playing professional baseball any more, right?

This strikes me as a hasty waste of a good player.
 

E5 Yaz

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I hope he lands someplace where he'll get a chance to play ... whether that's at catcher or as a multi-positional guy.
 

jon abbey

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It's the same thing as Leon, though, right, he's only gone if someone else claims him and otherwise they can send him to AAA like they did Leon? Admittedly he is more likely to be claimed than Leon, but I think farewells are a bit premature.
 

BoSox Rule

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Kind of a baffling move, but shouldn’t be a surprise considering they’ve fucked up his development in the Majors for years.

Good luck on your future 4 WAR seasons for Oakland, Blake.
 

Mueller's Twin Grannies

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Does this mean they explored a trade for him first and found no takers?

The lack of teams willing to trade for a catcher that probably wouldn't cost more than a middling prospect or the last arm out of a 'pen is kind of shocking. Is the league that down on Swihart as a player that he's not worth a trade as a catcher?

I realize that they now have the 10 days to trade him but one has to assume that they aren't going that route if they went straight to the DFA. If a team claims him do the Sox really let him go for free?

There seems to be a lot of panic in this move and it doesn't bode well. Has Leon been recalled?
 

PC Drunken Friar

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The Sox may have jerked him around and mismanaged him, but if they weren't going to get anything out of him, then let him go. He has been nothing but a legitimately awful baseball player
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Showing my age here, but the Sox are doing this on a night Sale is pitching against the Yankees. Very reminiscent of the Sox re-acquring Mirabelli from SD in a "panic" trade and rushing to get him to the park in time to catch Wake against...the Yankees.

Both trades very early in the season as well.
 

nattysez

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It's the same thing as Leon, though, right, he's only gone if someone else claims him and otherwise they can send him to AAA like they did Leon? Admittedly he is more likely to be claimed than Leon, but I think farewells are a bit premature.
Both Chicago teams and the A's, to name 3, all have garbage backup catchers. They'd all be crazy not to sign him.
 

Harry Hooper

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I am wondering if he refused to play LF yesterday, and Cora said goodbye.


Edit: Emphasis added. Sandy catches Sale tonight?
 
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Koufax

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It certainly sounds like a disciplinary move.
 

Bozo Texino

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Showing my age here, but the Sox are doing this on a night Sale is pitching against the Yankees. Very reminiscent of the Sox re-acquring Mirabelli from SD in a "panic" trade and rushing to get him to the park in time to catch Wake against...the Yankees.

Both trades very early in the season as well.
I thought of that, too. So ridiculous. I'm just glad we weren't subjected to a Waldman-esque call during the incident.
 

dhappy42

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This is a stupid, reactionary move by the Red Sox. Swihart was progressing with the increased playing time both at and behind the plate.

Yes for those who are asking, Sandy Leon is being recalled.
Can Magic Sandy stop the pitchers from giving up six runs per game?

This reeks of excuse-making and bad clubhouse management. And panic.

But good for Blake. I’ve always liked his never-realized upside and hated the way the Red Sox have repeatedly hosed him. Hope he’s the next Josh Reddick.
 

Ale Xander

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I loathe this move.
Same here.

I just had 2 wishes in ST
1) health
2) They don't get rid of Blake for nothing

Uggggh. Just carry 3 catchers then, and put Blake in corner OF and 1B from time to time and CV at 2B
 

soxin6

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6 wins in 17 games. 2 starting pitchers (of 6) with an ERA under 7.90 and a WHIP under 1.50.
But Swihart hasn't been the primary catcher. If we are going to blame the catchers for the fact that the pitchers have underperformed expectations then we got rid of the wrong one.
 

Pozo the Clown

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In 2018, everything the Sox touched turned to gold. This year it's been the polar opposite. Hindsight will prove this move to be a massive mistake.
 

glennhoffmania

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While it probably won't have a significant impact long term this is one of the dumbest personnel move I can remember this team making in a while. It's like everything that could possibly have gone right did so last year and they think they're infallible now because of it. This is very strange.

I also had flashbacks of the Mirabelli trade, which was also a very questionable move at the time.

But if Leon catches tonight and Sale looks great it will be difficult to convince supporters that it was still a weird decision.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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MYRTLE BEACH!!!!
I can only assume they've tried to move him the last week or so and got crickets for offers. This is odd however. If you felt he could handle the 2nd catching duties and provide some offense a month ago, what exactly changed the opinion on a team where nearly everyone is underperforming? I guess time will fill in the blanks.
 

kelpapa

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But Swihart hasn't been the primary catcher. If we are going to blame the catchers for the fact that the pitchers have underperformed expectations then we got rid of the wrong one.
The Sox are 3-3 in games Swihart has caught, including a 1-0 victory. I don't understand this move.
ETA: they have allowed 38 runs in the 6 games he's caught, and 68 runs in the 11 games that Vazquez has caught. 6.33 runs/game for Swihart and 6.18 runs/game for Vazquez.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I am pretty shocked by this move. I know why we couldn't do this Vazquez, but it can be argued that he's had a much more negative impact on the Red Sox as anyone. Hitting below .200, behind the plate for four passed balls and three wild pitches, he's the one that should be farmed out to Pawtucket.

I'm sorry to see Swihart go. I hope that he catches (HA! Pun) on somewhere and kicks ass.

I love the Red Sox, but the Red Sox organization baffles me sometimes.
Me too, brother.
 

Harry Hooper

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But Swihart hasn't been the primary catcher. If we are going to blame the catchers for the fact that the pitchers have underperformed expectations then we got rid of the wrong one.
Apparently the team believes Blake was the clubhouse Jonah taking them all down.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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What a weird end to the Swihart saga. I know he's fluctuated between binky and scapegoat and everything in between.

I suppose there has to be a story here we don't know. My guess is that he got a vote of no confidence from the starters. Whether that's really a Swihart issue or the starters blaming their own failings early in the year on him, we may never know.

Like many surprising moves, it will be interesting to see whether the press starts to get leaked criticisms of the player on the way out the door. Though, I guess the way that Hanley went down last year, there are reasons to believe this will be handled without disruption and that Cora has a sense of what makes addition by subtraction possible.
 

Marbleheader

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What a waste of an asset. They should have dealt him a while ago when he had value as a prospect. Poor talent evaluation has been an issue here since Theo left.