León isn't even arb-eligible until after next season, either. Amazing. (Edit: Mea culpa. Looks like he's Super Two?)
Swihart just doesn't that much trade value any more, unfortunately. Mostly because he burned a full year of MLB service time on the DL last season, but also because his ankle needs time to prove it can withstand 100+ games behind the plate, and he'll need at least enough time behind the dish catching MLB breaking pitches to show he isn't going to be a liability defensively.
I know correlation does not imply causation, but I wonder if those years suggest that catcher health may be a vital part of a championship run. On mobile at the moment, but it might be an interesting study.
Well, technically 54% of the games played so far.
Mostly he needs to cut the shit with the throwing errors. 5 out of 6 of them already. He's like a right fielder who loves showing off his gun.
I thought the same. The CW on Vaz has been he's good to the opposite field as a contact hitter. Last night's hit looked to my eye like an adjustment on the fly, on a pitch that wasn't too easy to do what he did with it, namely pull it to the huge gap in left-center.
You mixed up the start counts. Leon has 28 starts at C and Vazquez now has 25 starts at C (including yesterday).
Swihart's back on the DL with left ankle inflammation. Almost a year to the date of the original ML DL stint.
I've stopped hoping for it. With reports that his ankle still hurts, there's a decent chance his development was permanently knocked off track. That's not to say he'll never get back to the majors in any capacity, but I think the days of "Buster Posey-lite" are long gone.
It's Baldwins breakout year in regards to power. He's always hit for good contact and was projected to hit for good power. He doesn't strike out a lot but he never walks either. He's also not that great at Catcher. He and Pedro Castellanos are my new binkies now that Lin is on the big club and with Dubon and the Basabe's being traded.
Which makes me wonder -- who on the Sox is currently in line to don the tools in that emergency scenario? I would have to assume that there is always somebody whose job that is, and that they know who they are. I would further assume that it's generally a bench player or other low-status guy, i.e., not a veteran starter. A healthy Holt would be a logical choice, but that's currently not an option. Travis, maybe?
Clearly LF is a much more dangerous position to play than catcher, it's just common sense.
Just to add a little to their defense, the season is far along enough that framing numbers are starting to get reliable. Briefly, Vazquez is still elite (5th-best in baseball), adding the equivalent of around 8 extra runs for the team in the first half, and León is average. Details here.
Nonsequiter is right next to iriny in my dictionary.
It would be awesome if someone could photoshop in Beltre ramming into every LFer we have.
The person who is not a fan is John Farrell. While there is some aspect of organizational decision making, the choice of starting catcher among two players with options has to be heavily, heavily weighted toward the manager. If it isn't, then nothing is.
Probably true, but I think the uncertainty over Vazquez's TJ surgery got in the way.
