I had the same exact thought. This is puzzling. Comparing it to Hanley doesn't make a ton of sense either because there was a major money component there. Part of me wants it to come out that there's off the field issues so that this makes some sense, but in reality I hope this is just a performance decision and he turns into Josh Reddick elsewhere.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.
What part of good defensively is Christian Vazquez? He has all 3 of the Sox passed balls this year in 91.2 innings behind the plate which is good for 3rd worst in the majors. What about the narrative that Vazquez has an unbelievable arm? Oh that's right, Swihart was 12th in MLB last year per Baseball Savant with a 1.97 pop time while Vazquez's was 55th at 2.06.The only explanation? What about "Vazquez can't hit but is good defensively, Swihart sucks at both?"
How big a sample are you looking for?He had a decent rookie season in 15 in the majors. Since then, he's not been given the sort of consistent at-bats to make this sort of statement
To be fair, he hasn't been able to face the Red Sox pitching staffLeon 2 for 25 in Pawtucket so far.
Swihart is a negative dWAR, Vaz a positive one. Vaz is replacement level at bat, Swihart slightly above.Swihart career (573 AB, 146 hits): .255/.314/.365, OPS+ 82, 0.3 WAR
Vázquez career (963 AB, 235 hits): .244/.294/.632, OPS+ 69, 1.0 WAR
There's not much difference there in hitting ability but Swihart has the edge in two categories in basically half as many ABs. He also has 9 career HR in that span vs. Christian's 12.
Having a third catcher last year was great. The Sox offense and pitching supported it. But the team is different now. How would you make room for a third catcher this year? I don't think it can be done. A six-man bullpen like last year is just not an option. Not right now at least. Not long term.Leon was 19 for 170 the last 3 months of the year. 9 for 100 the last 2 months. If he is that poor in 2019 you are playing every American League game with a National League lineup; and having two pitchers in the lineup in NL parks.
I just don't see how you can accept that in exchange for (alleged) better pitch calling. That's not putting a bad hitter in a lineup, it's conceding outs. There's a difference.
And having no third catcher means you can't pinch hit as much.
It seems that Drellich is being at least as reactionary as he is assuming Dombrowski is.Do we really think this was a hasty, overnight decision? Sox mgmt aren't just a bunch of baseball bloggers and fantasy players. I'd guess they were trying to get something for him and wanted to showcase his bat early on, but other teams figured it out so it came time to move on. I'd also guess that the feedback they are getting from pitchers on his receiving isn't good, as in he hasn't made needed improvements. Just guessing though, along with the people who are assuming it was a hasty decision. Maybe we will find out more as the day goes on.
I don't think you can equate 309 PA in one season with 317 PA over the next four combined.How big a sample are you looking for?
The decent rookie season (four years ago) was 309 PA where he hit 274/319/392.
Since then he's had 317 PA in the majors at 235/309/337
Well nonetheless Vaz has a 41% CS% and was top ten among regulars in the ML last year. For his career Swihart's is 27%. Pop times are nice but the result is what matters.What part of good defensively is Christian Vazquez? He has all 3 of the Sox passed balls this year in 91.2 innings behind the plate which is good for 3rd worst in the majors. What about the narrative that Vazquez has an unbelievable arm? Oh that's right, Swihart was 12th in MLB last year per Baseball Savant with a 1.97 pop time while Vazquez's was 55th at 2.06.
Saw that. I guess he's in the hot take business now?It seems that Drellich is being at least as reactionary as he is assuming Dombrowski is.
I admit to not really knowing too much about advanced metrics for catchers' arms but the eye test certainly suggests that Vaz is a much better catcher with respect to holding runners on and throwing them out than Swihart has ever been. And the typical counting stats do seem to back that up -- over their careers Vaz has been run on much less than Swihart and has thrown a significantly higher percentage out.What part of good defensively is Christian Vazquez? He has all 3 of the Sox passed balls this year in 91.2 innings behind the plate which is good for 3rd worst in the majors. What about the narrative that Vazquez has an unbelievable arm? Oh that's right, Swihart was 12th in MLB last year per Baseball Savant with a 1.97 pop time while Vazquez's was 55th at 2.06.
It seems that Drellich is being at least as reactionary as he is assuming Dombrowski is.
Maybe he's losing a source on the team with the move?Saw that. I guess he's in the hot take business now?
Quoting this for emphasis. I think Leon's the new primary catcher till Vaz figures something out.I’m not reading all 81 posts but isn’t the answer here that they think Vaz is coming up short but that Leon is better positioned to take Vaz’s load than Swi?
He had an absurd BABIP fueled hot streak that still left him as a below average hitter. When the BABIP inevitably came down he fell off a cliff. If you're expecting Swihart to keep up a .359 BABIP, I have a bridge to sell youHe had a decent rookie season in 15 in the majors. Since then, he's not been given the sort of consistent at-bats to make this sort of statement
Using a pop-time to illustrate Swihart's defensive prowess is like saying that Wily-Mo Pena was one of the best hitters in baseball because he had a great exit velocity in batting practice. Pop-time is a means to an end, not the end itself, which is catching runners stealing. At that, Vazquez is far better than Swihart. 59 career CS to 86 SBs for Vaz compared to 23 and 63 for Swihart. Vazquez's career DRS is +32 while Swihart's is -19.What part of good defensively is Christian Vazquez? He has all 3 of the Sox passed balls this year in 91.2 innings behind the plate which is good for 3rd worst in the majors. What about the narrative that Vazquez has an unbelievable arm? Oh that's right, Swihart was 12th in MLB last year per Baseball Savant with a 1.97 pop time while Vazquez's was 55th at 2.06.
I admit to not really knowing too much about advanced metrics for catchers' arms but the eye test certainly suggests that Vaz is a much better catcher with respect to holding runners on and throwing them out than Swihart has ever been. And the typical counting stats do seem to back that up -- over their careers Vaz has been run on much less than Swihart and has thrown a significantly higher percentage out.
Swihart was actually a competent catcher when it came to catching basestealers but Vaz is above average.
I think this is the right answer. The Red Sox under Dombrowski have been well run. It's like when Belichick cuts a guy - he knows more about football than guy on the internet. It reminds me of when they dumped Hanley early last season. There's some story related to performance (which we know) and off the field issues which we may never know.Wow, the reactions in here are pretty aggressive for a guy with 600 plate appearances that has 9 HRs and a .679 career OPS.
Whether or not he has been dicked around by Sox management the last 5 years or not, he has not been a very good baseball player, and the Red Sox cannot carry 3 catchers again this year. Unless there was something +else+ involved here, I doubt they would have made this move without shopping him around a bit. He is 27 years old, and so far, kind of has stunk at baseball — and it seems, nobody else wanted him at any sort of player cost.
We’re on to Sandy. . . . . .
SJH's post was initially about when he scouted Bill Carrigan before he edited it.Yeah....but I'm not.
Swihart gets his starts for shitty pitchers or on getaway days? How about he tells us what the numbers mean.
Who cares if he is a switch hitter if he can't hit? I understand he's been one of SoSH's biggest binkies ever...but he is 27 and simply can't hit . The Sox may have had a role in helping that suckitude...but he still sucks. 6 year veterans rarely just figure out how to hit.With rosters expanding to 26 men next season, Swihart will be the type of asset that many teams will covet. A switch-hitting, multi-positional utility guy who can actually catch and run, will provide plenty of value.
Whatever the reasoning, I think the team thought -- as did most here -- that the risk of actually losing Leon right around Opening Day was minuscule.The striking thing to me isn't the question of whether or not cutting Swihart is a mistake or if they dicked him around with the position changes and burying him on the bench for much of last year. It's that three weeks ago, management decided to keep Swihart and lose Leon (or more accurately, risk losing him to stash him in Pawtucket). Now, three weeks later, Swihart is gone and unlikely to be stashed in Pawtucket and Leon is back. And nothing really happened in those three weeks to make it glaringly obvious that this had to happen.
The pitching has been a mess, but most of the pitchers that are a mess haven't been throwing to Swihart so it's hard to pin that on him. I suppose that makes the argument that the mess is attributable to Leon's absence and they needed to find a way to get him back on the roster. The question in my mind is did that need to happen today and is dumping Swihart the most effective way to get Leon back.
I'm wondering how Pedroia fits into this. He understandably didn't play the field yesterday with the rain and threat of more. But he's not playing at all tonight. That's three days in a row he's not taking the field. Fair to question if he may not be destined to go back to the DL or are they still being extremely cautious with his playing time?
Holt having his eye re-installed should address some of this.It's certainly true that the roster doesn't make a lot of sense. Things I would have done before this move:
- Returned Pedroia to the IL. He needs to post an .800 OPS in a meaningful Pawtucket rehab stint before I want him back with the club. Having him rehab as the major league team's DH is a luxury we simply cannot afford.
- DFA'd Núñez. He's doing exactly nothing well.
- Promoted Lin. We need someone who can play 2B/3B/CF on the roster.
- Acquired a minor league OF with options. Like... anyone with any kind of upside whatsoever. A classic 4th OF.
- Stopped playing JDM in the OF, where he's been awful. I know small sample defensive stats aren't worth anything, but... his are real gross, and correspond with the visual impression. Except in emergencies, he shouldn't be out there.
- After all that, think about the catchers.
Well, except that he was drafted out of HS where he played C and 3B his senior year, this is spot on.Dude was a shortstop in college and got converted to catcher.
It's either panic now or wait too long later. Just depends on which kind of second-guessing they prefer.nice panic move.
this isn't necessarily the wrong move, but to do it this early is panicking. and I still think Swihart gives more upside as an overall player than Vaz, but that fucking extension he's on.
someone like the Royals will claim Swihart I think, he won't get too far down the trail.
I'm not sold on Sandy that he is the game changer. If so, why was HE released and NO ONE picked him up? Ultimately he is gonna have to hit and the moment Chris Sale goes South, do we blame Sandy? I find it real hard to believe that the lack of Sale's success is "the catcher". So swapping out one shitty player for another.I think most people, myself included, are more upset at the squandered opportunity that Swihart presented.
It never felt like he was given a fair shake at staking a claim to any position, and ultimately it seems the Red Sox botched the development of a player that seemed to have a high ceiling at one point.
There’s no question that Swihart wasn’t exactly blowing people away so far this year, but I think we know exactly who/what Sandy Leon is, whereas I don’t think we’ve really seen what Blake Swihart can be given regular playing time and consistent at bats.
Yep. This organization just panics at the first sign of trouble. I'm not sure why you are surprised anymore!nice panic move.
this isn't necessarily the wrong move, but to do it this early is panicking. and I still think Swihart gives more upside as an overall player than Vaz, but that fucking extension he's on.
someone like the Royals will claim Swihart I think, he won't get too far down the trail.
The swiftness of this move – and what led up to it — has the distinct smell of panic for a team which has been unable to get out of its own way early in the 2019 season.
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The organization insisted throughout spring training that it had full confidence in Swihart as a major league catcher, but today’s move belies that faith.
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Leon, meanwhile, will be placed in the unenviable position of serving as staff savior, and while his presence will likely be of some comfort to Sale and Porcello in particular, it’s unfair to expect that the veteran catcher can help an underperforming staff execute an early-season turnaround.
Moreover, the Sox can’t expect to get much in the way of offensive contributions from him. Throughout spring training and early in the year at Pawtucket, he looked no more confident at the plate than he did last year, when he delivered just nine hits in the final two months — covering 35 games — of the season.
And given Jackie Bradley Jr’s all-too-familiar early-season struggles at the plate, the Red Sox again find themselves with a black hole in the bottom of the third lineup — the very same issue they experienced in the first half of last season.
Yup, and this highlights the fact that we don't have enough real OF on the roster. We ended up with two games of a glove-first DH and a bat-first RF.I thought JDM had been in the outfield more cause JBJ is down with the flu?
Vazquez has a substantial edge in strikeout rate; I'm surprised no one has mentioned that Swihart has struck out 161 times in his 626 MLB PA. He simply does not have the power or on base skills to carry that strikeout rate. He's been over 20% every year with a 24.1% for his career. Vazquez is at 17.9% for his career, and all the way down to 15.2% last season (even though 2017, not 2018, has been his best triple slash season). I think there's a reasonable argument to make here that Vazquez is at least on equal footing with Swihart at the plate.Swihart career (573 AB, 146 hits): .255/.314/.365, OPS+ 82, 0.3 WAR
Vázquez career (963 AB, 235 hits): .244/.294/.632, OPS+ 69, 1.0 WAR
There's not much difference there in hitting ability but Swihart has the edge in two categories in basically half as many ABs. He also has 9 career HR in that span vs. Christian's 12.