Holt to concussion DL and Smith to DL. Swihart and Noe Ramirez recalled.

mfried

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Sounds like an audition for him in left. When Holt comes back, one of the utility guys goes down and we have a new LF.
The Swihart solution is the one I have been advocating for the LH-side of the platoon. Given Rutledge's productive hitting I guess he's around for a while.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I don't think you can just throw a guy on there unless he actually fails a concussion test, but I can't find the actual protocol.
But baseball officials are adamant that this list is for concussions only, and they are taking steps to prevent abuse of the system. McWane said the team will have to submit a report to Green with as much detail as possible, including any available video of when the injury occurred, to prove that the player does have a concussion and not, say, a pulled hamstring.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6270514
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Don't know how to embed tweets. From the Red Sox.

Holt retroactive to yesterday. Smith to the 15th.
 

joe dokes

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Sooner than I expected (but if Holt is hurt, he's hurt) but good to see if Swihart is viable on the LF platoon well in advance of trade season.

The promotion of Blake Swihart tells us all we really need to know about how the Red Sox view Rusney Castillo's singles-heavy hot streak.
I think this goes back to last year after DD's hire. He had time to evaluate players with his own eyes. I dont think he thinks that Rusney is anything more than a fringe major leaguer. It's why they got Young; it's why they gave Swihart reps in LF.
 

Doooweeeey!

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He' s been dizzy again. Explains his last week or so.
I'm not sure how to take this post. Any facts to back up the statement or is it just snark?

Here all I can find about it on MLB.com:
"As for Holt, he also suffered a concussion that forced him to miss the final month of the 2014 season.
It hasn't been revealed yet how or when Holt suffered this most recent concussion."

So Lose may be on to something?

Edit: Yeah 2014. Weird.
 

RIrooter09

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You'd think based on the results of the Melancon, Bailey, and Hanrahan trades this organization would realize that relievers are too easy to develop internally and too volatile to trade significant assets for. Hopefully Smith isn't another example of this.
 

Toe Nash

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You'd think based on the results of the Melancon, Bailey, and Hanrahan trades this organization would realize that relievers are too easy to develop internally and too volatile to trade significant assets for. Hopefully Smith isn't another example of this.
Wade Miley is a significant asset?

Plus they got back Elias as well. And they haven't done a great job of developing relievers internally; otherwise they wouldn't be trading for them.
 

E5 Yaz

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Well has Blake been hitting? He didn't exactly rip the cover off the ball either in his earlier call up.
Which "call-up" are you talking about? He started the year on the team and had 18 at-bats.

Last season, with steady play, he came on strong in the second half of the season (.805 OPS)
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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If the Pawsox website is to be believed, it looks like Swihart has had all of 23 chances in left field in his career. Fenway is not an easy place to start.

So this officially burns one of Swihart's pre-arb years, right?
Is there something about coming up twice that does that? He's already been up once this year, and I thought pre-arb salary entitlements were based on service time anyway.
 

joe dokes

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If the Pawsox website is to be believed, it looks like Swihart has had all of 23 chances in left field in his career. Fenway is not an easy place to start.



Is there something about coming up twice that does that? He's already been up once this year, and I thought pre-arb salary entitlements were based on service time anyway.

Right. I think the OP is conflating service time with option years. They burned an option *year* when they sent him back upon CV's return. Multiple back-and-forths in one season dont change that.

Arb, as you say, is service time related. Thus the delayed debuts of Trout and Bryant, to name 2 recent ones.
 

Bowlerman9

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Is there something about coming up twice that does that? He's already been up once this year, and I thought pre-arb salary entitlements were based on service time anyway.
Has nothing to do with the number of times he is called up and everything to do with the number of days on the roster.

172 days = 1 season.

He started the year with 156 days and was up for about 7 days. If he spends the rest of the year in the minors he finishes with under 172 days and will be under the Sox control for another 6 seasons.
By getting called up again, he will definitely cross the 172 day threshold and only be under the team control for 5 years after 2016.
 

joe dokes

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Well has Blake been hitting? He didn't exactly rip the cover off the ball either in his earlier call up.
I think that's the point. Neither one has been hitting much at AAA. But it would appear that the FO thinks Swihart will hit. It appears they think Castillo will not.
 

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Castillo can't hit offspeed pitches:

Castillo continues to work on hitting curveballs and sliders with Triple-A Pawtucket hitting coach Rich Gedman, the Providence Journal reports.

Most of the problems experienced by Castillo, who lost his starting left field job during spring training when he hit .183 with a .200 slugging percentage, stems from an inability to hit offspeed stuff at the big league level. "We've seen him aggressive against the fastball," PawSox manager Kevin Boles said. "We need to see a better pass, a better approach against the breaking ball. We've seen at times where, with two strikes, he's been able to take the ball to right field -- but sometimes there's some length there with the swing and there's some swing and miss on the breaking ball." The ability to recognize the breaking stuff and adjust is a major need for Castillo, who must also refrain from expanding the strike zone when behind in the count. If it's to happen, it will take some time, so we're not hopeful that Castillo will be up with Boston anytime soon.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/players/playerpage/2145913/rusney-castillo
 

RIrooter09

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Wade Miley is a significant asset?

Plus they got back Elias as well. And they haven't done a great job of developing relievers internally; otherwise they wouldn't be trading for them.
Miley would certainly represent an upgrade over O'Sullivan, Buch, Kelly, and Owens. I guess we'll see if Elias pans out, but so far the results are middling and he hasn't been able to crack the major league rotation despite multiple opportunities.

With regards to your second point, it has been frustrating to see many other teams in baseball load their bullpens with hard throwers from their minor league systems while we continue to struggle. I don't think continuing to pay a relatively high price for "proven" relievers on the trade market is the answer though.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Has nothing to do with the number of times he is called up and everything to do with the number of days on the roster.

172 days = 1 season.

He started the year with 156 days and was up for about 7 days. If he spends the rest of the year in the minors he finishes with under 172 days and will be under the Sox control for another 6 seasons.
By getting called up again, he will definitely cross the 172 day threshold and only be under the team control for 5 years after 2016.
If Holt is activated in 6 days and Swihart goes down, he's right on the cusp, but doesn't your analysis assume that Swihart plays a full or nearly full service next year on the 25? He still has options.

Edit: Also, it occurs to me that if the team is in contention, I assume the team will bring Swihart up in September anyway. If that counts as service time -- I think it does but admit I'm not sure -- I don't think he was staying under 172 this year anyway.
 

joe dokes

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With regards to your second point, it has been frustrating to see many other teams in baseball load their bullpens with hard throwers from their minor league systems while we continue to struggle. I don't think continuing to pay a relatively high price for "proven" relievers on the trade market is the answer though.
I know it seems this way, but how many teams have actually succeeded at it?
 

LahoudOrBillyC

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With all healthy I think a Swihart/Young platoon with Holt in a supersub role is a big upgrade for the team. Holt is mismatched as a starting LF.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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With all healthy I think a Swihart/Young platoon with Holt in a supersub role is a big upgrade for the team. Holt is mismatched as a starting LF.
Are you saying this because you think the upgrade at LF is a big one or that the upgrade at utility man is a big one. I might agree with the latter -- Holt over Rutledge/Hernandez should be a good upgrade and should provide more flexibility because Holt plays more positions. But what's the basis for saying that he's an upgrade at left? Maybe some day, but with 309 PAs in the MLB, and over 100 in AAA, he's certainly not yet the hitter that Holt is. Plus, we know that Holt can handle LF at Fenway.
 

DeadlySplitter

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Last I saw Miley was doing awful with the Mariners. Addition by subtraction regardless of return there.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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I don't know the answer to this, but that scoreboard's a menace. They need to make a replica that looks the same but isn't so dangerous to bang into.
They should put a net in front of it!

Or cover it in bubble wrap due to all the injuries that are happening. TRAGIC!


And that mound! It's a tripping hazard! They should get rid of it!!!
 
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E5 Yaz

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Swihart is indeed starting tonight

Betts RF, Pedroia 2B, Bogaerts SS, Ortiz DH, Ramirez 1B, Shaw 3B, Bradley Jr. CF, Vazquez C, Swihart LF, Buchholz RHP
 

Cesar Crespo

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Mets, Royals, Yankees, and Orioles immediately come to mind.
Not trying to sound snarky, but that is only 4 teams out of 30 and would suggest most teams aren't successful at developing their own MRs. You could make an argument the Redsox keep guys as SP's too long in the minors (Webster, Ranaudo, RDLR, etc) but the counter argument is it allows the pitchers to get more work in/develop quicker. I'd also guess if a team was lucky with developing starters it probably didn't have much success developing MR's or vice versa. Unless you are the Mets.

Re Swihart: Maybe he's one of those guys who performs better in the bigs for whatever reason. I don't think it's an outlandish argument to think he could outhit Brock Holt, especially since in 2015 he did just that against RHP. He does have 17bb/17k in 127 PA in AAA this year, so maybe they aren't too worried about the .244 average and lack of power to date and see a guy who has become more patient at the plate and has more than doubled his walk rate since last year.

edit: Tensing.
 

LahoudOrBillyC

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Are you saying this because you think the upgrade at LF is a big one or that the upgrade at utility man is a big one. I might agree with the latter -- Holt over Rutledge/Hernandez should be a good upgrade and should provide more flexibility because Holt plays more positions. But what's the basis for saying that he's an upgrade at left? Maybe some day, but with 309 PAs in the MLB, and over 100 in AAA, he's certainly not yet the hitter that Holt is. Plus, we know that Holt can handle LF at Fenway.
Swihart has a 89 career OPS+, while Holt is 91 since start of 2015 (when he was an All-Star). So comparable, but Swihart has been much better since mid-season last year and is several years younger. So I think its an upgrade.

But its mainly an upgrade because Holt improves the bench, and is likely better than a 91 OPS+ guy if he is a supersub.