What should the Red Sox do with Victorino?

[Plympton91]

Yup, think of Victorino 2015 as a much more expensive, but much more recently productive, and much less critically needed version of Sizemore 2014. If he's healthy and good, that's great, if he's not, they have Holt and Betts.

 

[someoneanywhere]

I'm biased obviously being an acquaintance of Shane and his family.  But he's on my favorite team and WHEN he's healthy plays his ass off. In all likelihood, next year will be his last year with the Sox. So catch the wave of excitement and ride it out into the sunset Shane.

 
Which means, dano, that you should know Vic is not going to be content to play as a 4th outfielder if he's healthy. I am not saying he is a troublemaker or malcontent or anything like that, only that he is a major-league veteran earning $13 million who still has one more contract in him if he can get healthy. So if he sees the writing on the wall as a 4th guy, the question of the thread answers itself: he will silently, with class, ask out. 

 

[jscola85]

 
Which means, dano, that you should know Vic is not going to be content to play as a 4th outfielder if he's healthy. I am not saying he is a troublemaker or malcontent or anything like that, only that he is a major-league veteran earning $13 million who still has one more contract in him if he can get healthy. So if he sees the writing on the wall as a 4th guy, the question of the thread answers itself: he will silently, with class, ask out. 

 
You can easily get Victorino, if healthy, to play the majority of games (ie, 120+).  For 50 starts in a year, he can play CF in place of Bradley, who at this stage of his career should not be facing any lefties.  For another 70 games a year, he can give either Craig or Cespedes a day off.  Cespedes has never played more than 135 games in his career and Craig never more than 134.  That means there's, at minimum, likely another 60 starts in LF and RF for him.  Without much trouble, you've just found 110 games a year for Vic.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Such a shame that it's a wasted year. Shut him down and get him healthy for next year. I expect this team to bring Lester back and compete for a title. Nothing to be gained at all with rushing him back.

 

[bosockboy]

 
You can easily get Victorino, if healthy, to play the majority of games (ie, 120+).  For 50 starts in a year, he can play CF in place of Bradley, who at this stage of his career should not be facing any lefties.  For another 70 games a year, he can give either Craig or Cespedes a day off.  Cespedes has never played more than 135 games in his career and Craig never more than 134.  That means there's, at minimum, likely another 60 starts in LF and RF for him.  Without much trouble, you've just found 110 games a year for Vic.

Yep. That's the coveted deep depth. The bigger question is Betts. I think the rest of the season is an audition for him to take CF from Bradley.

 

[Buzzkill Pauley]

 
You can easily get Victorino, if healthy, to play the majority of games (ie, 120+).  For 50 starts in a year, he can play CF in place of Bradley, who at this stage of his career should not be facing any lefties.  For another 70 games a year, he can give either Craig or Cespedes a day off.  Cespedes has never played more than 135 games in his career and Craig never more than 134.  That means there's, at minimum, likely another 60 starts in LF and RF for him.  Without much trouble, you've just found 110 games a year for Vic.

 
You may as well make the argument that Bradley, at this stage of his career, should not be facing any MLB pitcher, rather than just lefties.
 
He's hit an equally putrid .216/.294/.313 for his MLB career against RHP as his .215/.291/.315 line against LHP.   Either JBJ will learn how to hit MLB pitching or he won't.  But platooning him just doesn't seem like the answer.
 
After 2015, the logjam clears out a bit.  And this season it looks like surgery.  But next season the Sox should plan to keep Victorino as the "deep depth" 4th OF and first bat off the bench.  When healthy, he's better than that.  If he can stay healthy, and if JBJ doesn't ever learn how to hit MLB pitching, then swap roles mid-season.
 
And if Mookie isn't traded by the end of the offseason, the Sox need to staple him to CF in winter league, spring training, and AAA.

 

[jscola85]

 
You may as well make the argument that Bradley, at this stage of his career, should not be facing any MLB pitcher, rather than just lefties.
 
He's hit an equally putrid .216/.294/.313 for his MLB career against RHP as his .215/.291/.315 line against LHP.   Either JBJ will learn how to hit MLB pitching or he won't.  But platooning him just doesn't seem like the answer.
 
After 2015, the logjam clears out a bit.  And this season it looks like surgery.  But next season the Sox should plan to keep Victorino as the "deep depth" 4th OF and first bat off the bench.  When healthy, he's better than that.  If he can stay healthy, and if JBJ doesn't ever learn how to hit MLB pitching, then swap roles mid-season.
 
And if Mookie isn't traded by the end of the offseason, the Sox need to staple him to CF in winter league, spring training, and AAA.

 
Of course - if Bradley can't show improvements with the bat the rest of the year, I think it goes without saying that he may lose his job to Betts, Holt, or someone outside the organization.  My assumption/hope is he improves.  If he does, I will imagine he will have a pronounced lefty/right split, as he did for the majority of his time in the minors.

 

[Buzzkill Pauley]

 
Of course - if Bradley can't show improvements with the bat the rest of the year, I think it goes without saying that he may lose his job to Betts, Holt, or someone outside the organization.  My assumption/hope is he improves.  If he does, I will imagine he will have a pronounced lefty/right split, as he did for the majority of his time in the minors.

 
I was under the impression that he didn't show that pronounced a split in the minors.
 
In 2013, he had a .157 OPS split to favor RHP, but in 2012 he only showed a .015 difference.  Now, it's certainly true that a greater split might result from facing more capable LHP in the upper minors, but if it wasn't a noise/luck issue I would have expected a carry over to the MLB level as an indicator by now.

 

[someoneanywhere]

 
You can easily get Victorino, if healthy, to play the majority of games (ie, 120+).  For 50 starts in a year, he can play CF in place of Bradley, who at this stage of his career should not be facing any lefties.  For another 70 games a year, he can give either Craig or Cespedes a day off.  Cespedes has never played more than 135 games in his career and Craig never more than 134.  That means there's, at minimum, likely another 60 starts in LF and RF for him.  Without much trouble, you've just found 110 games a year for Vic.

I think you misunderstand the mentality of a proven veteran. Stephen Drew sat out months rather than be moved off short (and now finds himself moved anyway, only through a circumstance out of his control). It's not a question so much of the ability to find PAs for him, but the redefinition of his role as a 4th guy. He won't accept that until he's absolutely forced to -- it's not merely about "pride," but about money and the way such a redefinition of his role might affect the last multiyear deal of his career. He'll ask to go elsewhere and be considered an everyday guy rather than a fill from deep depth.

 

[nattysez]

This does not sound good.  Curious to see what the recovery time will be. If he doesn't play again this year, I imagine trading him during the off-season is going to be more or less impossible, as teams will have no idea what, if anything, he's got left.
 

Victorino going to see Dr. Robert Watkins in LA this week. Seems resigned to fact that surgery likely to address slipped disk.
 

 
https://twitter.com/Sean_McAdam/status/495621977504485377

 

[amfox1]

This does not sound good.  Curious to see what the recovery time will be. 
 

 
I'm pretty sure it is a 2-4 month recovery time.  His season is over but he should be ok for spring training.

 

[mabrowndog]

What could possibly be better for an ailing back than spending 6 hours in an airline seat on a coast-to-coast flight?
 
Why, 6 more hours on the return jaunt.
 
Oh, and encountering severe turbulence just after you enter the spacious lavatory.

 

[glennhoffmania]

Shut him down for the year.  We have a lot of brittle or potentially brittle players on next year's roster: Victorino, Cespedes, Craig, Ortiz, Napoli.
 

What makes Napoli brittle? Unless I'm misremembering he's only missed time this year when he broke a finger.

 

[LeoCarrillo]

What makes Napoli brittle? Unless I'm misremembering he's only missed time this year when he broke a finger.

 
Probably referring to the necrotic hip, which has been a non-issue other than some moot '13 wishes that he could catch in the World Series to keep his bat in the lineup in St. Louis. 

 

[E5 Yaz]

TimBritton Tim Britton
Victorino sounded like a player expecting surgery in his future. Initial MRI was worse than he’d hoped.