That's something that didn't occur to me until now and shows how valuable having a player who could adequately play LF/C would be to a baseball team. It essentially allows you to carry 3 catchers, which as you said, allows them to pinch hit for their catchers liberally. You wouldn't even have to use Swihart to pinch hit necessarily. Was it Tito who would never pinch hit for a catcher in fear of injury or was that basically all managers?
Regardless of this possibility, it's the right move to DL Holt if even mildly concussed. It probably should have been done before now, which can also be said for sending Smith to the DL, too.
The Yankees only developed Betances. They signed Miller and traded for Chapman, which isn't all that different than trading for Kimbrel and Smith. Hell, you may give the Red Sox credit for developing Miller into what he is today.
He played 11 games and I'm sure he did OK. But none of them involved the Green Monster or Fenway's weirdly-shaped left field.
remind me how many games in the OF Holt had played at any level before he was sent out to play in Fenway?
This is absolutely true. It has gone from forearm stiffness to elbow. Even if it doesn't require surgery now, it sure seems like a bomb ready to go off. Add to that the uncertainty of when Koji might show his age, and it's a longterm issue for the season
If we're talking to the Braves about Teheran, I hope we're talking to them about Hunter Cervenko and/or Arodys Vizcaino, too. The Braves don't have any particular reason to trade them, but I'm willing to up the prospect package a bit.
I guess this is so he can just concentrate on learning left in Fenway, but it strikes me as being a bit dumb.
I always fall back on the Pitino Axiom: What's True Today Isn't Necessarily True Tomorrow
I'm guessing Noe goes back down tomorrow when Kelly gets activated, so essentially Carson Smith's replacement is Heath Hembree, which creates a 7 man bullpen. Hopefully Hembree can continue to pitch well.
I could not possibly care less about him being in our system four freaking years ago.
Thanks for pointing this out, and it is no doubt true. Still, I want a fourth guy who can make sure Taz' arm doesn't fall off. Plus as someone mentioned above, Koji is old enough to drop off the cliff any minute.
I'm aware that Chapman was acquired via a trade and Miller a free agent. The Yankees also developed David Phelps, Shawn Kelly, and David Robertson who are excelling with other teams. Hansel Robles is another home grown reliever for the Mets.
But they examined it and it didn't need surgery, so unless he has a new injury, it definitely is not a bomb ready to go off. It's a flexor strain.
It doesn't mean that it eventually won't need surgery either. Flexor strains can be and are usually treated with the same program Smith did to come back. Andrew Miller had a similar injury and came back weeks later and has been fine ever sense. However, if the tendon does not respond well to this method and is degenerated the area has to be surgically repaired. This would not be good because Smith would be out for the season. If Smith continues to pitch through this, yes it's possible he could tear his UCL and be out much longer.
There are approximately 250 relief pitchers who have made at least 6 appearances so far this year. I think you should figure out a way to back up what you're saying by looking at them and determining how they made it to the majors, and from what systems. Hell, just pick the top 100 if 250 is too many. I'm interested in seeing if your point is correct.
I just looked at 2 NL East teams just as an example.
Crap. You're pretty much the only poster on here that can post that and not have it characterized as a knee-jerk reaction. Not good. That said, if this is where this was inevitably headed it's probably good for the future to get the surgery done and recovery timeline started.
Goddammit.
The Sox have Kimbrel, and Koji, and Taz. And 4 other guys need to not suck terribly this year -- guys like Hembree, Barnes, Layne, and Ross. None of whom have sucked terribly.
How is that relevant to Swihart? I think Blake will be fine but players are different.
Dammit, those infields are just two darn hard. They really need to be playing on bubblewrap or on one off those trampoline type fields so people don't keep getting hurt!
The point was being made that Swihart only has very limited LF experience and it might be a bad idea to put him in front of the Monster without more experience. My Holt response was that he was put in the Sox outfield in a real MLB game with zero minor league time and he turned out to be perfectly cromulent out there.
Plus, maybe JBJ can bump up his dWAR a bit by making some out of zone plays for Blake in the gap, and we can all stop making jokes about how he just needs to hit enough to cover up his lousy defense.
Nobody has come within a hundred miles of suggesting making him a full time OF.
Like what?
This is a guy who, if not for second half service time, would be the number 1 catching prospect in all of baseball.
I'm pretty sure the organization doesn't give a fuck about having the number one catching prospect in baseball when compared to having a solid contributing player at the major league level.
Which some of us have been calling for for years as a way to keep both catchers.
They have played him 15 games at C and 11 in left at AAA
The goal of the organization is not to make Blake Swihart the best catcher possible. The goal of the organization is to win games and, ultimately, the World Series. None of the other outfield options are good. A Blake Swihart that can play left and catch at the major league level is a very good asset going forward this season.
I've already addressed this point.
That's not a conclusion that you can draw from the available data. At most you can say that they value winning games more than they value developing him as a catcher. I'm sure you see that as worthy of criticism, but that's nonsense. The goal is to win the World Series, not develop catchers.
You're not reading the writing on the wall. You're applying a narrative to facts that only fits if you squint real hard and the light's not good.
Again, every single piece of evidence points to an organization that doesn't view this player as a player with long term catching prospects.
