The Red Sox have signed catcher Christian Vázquez to a three-year contract extension through the 2021 season, with a club option for 2022.
$13.55 million guaranteed from ‘19-‘21 with a buyout for 2022 if the club option is declined.Money?
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/03/red-sox-extend-christian-vasquez.htmlAccording to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, he’s set to receive $2.85MM in 2019, $4.2MM in 2020, and $6.25MM in 2021. The club option is for $7MM, and can increase to $8MM if he manages to accrue at least 502 plate appearances in each of 2020 and 2021. The option comes with a $250K buyout. The extension also comes with a club option for 2022. Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald tweets that Vazquez has offered to make an annual donation to the Red Sox foundation as part of the agreement.
So about 15M over four years...3.75M-ish AAV. Eats into their small amount of wiggle room with the cap but not dramatically so. Could be a wash if they dump Holt.$13.55 million guaranteed from ‘19-‘21 with a buyout for 2022 if the club option is declined.
6.25 for a backup C that can't hit is horrible, in a vacuum, for only 1 year of FA, but relative to their payroll (total and contents) and to what he would likely receive on the market as a starter it's certainly more than acceptable.And not a horrible contract to carry if he ends up as a backup only catcher.
Agreed. I like it.Money in this market is pretty good. If he could ever become like Yadi and develop some real offense this contract would be a steal.
Vazquez was awful at the plate most of last year too but over the last 2 months of last season he had a .404 BABIP with 17 singles to shallow right field. I think his defense is vastly overrated as well, both throwing, framing, and generally making smart decisions. I don't see the point of not going year to year with him.
Regardless. In a market where 2 players next year will be making 35 + million a year what is 3.5 - 5 million per? They can’t pay everyone and expect to sign a Buster Posey type behind the plate unless they can develop one. Vazquez hit .290 last year so he’s not a total waste. Okay player who will hit 8th or 9th depending what streak Bradley is on.If you are not a real freakish outlier in framing, like Flowers, or even second tier like Grandal or Hedges (or negatively like Lucroy), it's all jumbled noise. Again, Vazquez is very good but not one of the elites at throwing and clearly has had problems with overaggressive throwing and bad decisions. I'm trying to find it but I believe Alex Speier wrote a story about how Vazquez has not delivered on the promise of game changing defense.
But ... but ... but ... the metrics!!!In my mind, if the pitching staff loves throwing to him and he can hit like he did last year then the contract is worth it.
Pfft, the metric system?But ... but ... but ... the metrics!!!
everyone except the most valuable asset in the franchiseIn my mind, if the pitching staff loves throwing to him and he can hit like he did last year then the contract is worth it.
How many aces have their own catcher? A lot. Greg Maddux, for one.everyone except the most valuable asset in the franchise
“In 211 major league games, he has thrown out 42 percent of attempted base stealers (42 of 100), the highest rate for any catcher since at least 1987 (min. 200 games caught), ahead of Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez (41.7 percent).”Doesn't this suggest that he's good at framing, at least relative to his peers?
http://www.statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php
And this seems to suggest his throwing is also good, at least insofar as caught stealing is concerned:
https://www.foxsports.com/mlb/stats?season=2017&category=FIELDING+II&group=2&time=0
Maybe there's other measures out there. These are the first I found in each category.
It makes it likely he'll be one of their catchers in 2020. Teams need two and it's not like this contract forces them to play him 120 times a year.Does this make it much more likely Vaz is our 2020 catcher? If Swihart’s healthy and hitting (and on the team), I’m not sure.
If Vazquez has a 3-win season in 2018, the Sox have another good trade asset.
That was already likely, wasn’t it? 2020 was to be his last arb-eligible season.It makes it likely he'll be one of their catchers in 2020. Teams need two and it's not like this contract forces them to play him 120 times a year.
Vazquez was virtually identical to Hedges last year, both with 1.5 extra strikes per game. My full list is here. I show breakdowns in detail, and explain my methods here. I looked at "noise" issues here. My results turn out virtually identical to StatCorners and just about every other framing list I've seen. If it's "noise", explain why different people using different techniques get the same results. If you don't believe my results, you're welcome to calculate them yourself and explain which step is wrong.If you are not a real freakish outlier in framing, like Flowers, or even second tier like Grandal or Hedges (or negatively like Lucroy), it's all jumbled noise.
And Bogaerts and Betts must not have any intention of signing away any of their first free agency years.Sale likes the extension.
“That’s huge,” Sale said at JetBlue Park, via Boston.com’s Maureen Mullen. “He’s a younger guy, too, so having him around, he’s been around a while, around here a while, so we all love him. Well worth it. He earned it, every last penny of it.”
I'm surprised the team offered this extension now, rather than next offseason. They must really love him, Cora included.
Ask yourself this - if what kind of AAA catcher with options would you move for Sandy Leon if the roles were reversed? Is that guy any better than Austin Rei or Dan Butler?I wonder if this in any way precludes Sandy Leone being moved? Perhaps for a AAA catcher with options???
From the rest of your post I'm guessing you mean something like "presages"?I wonder if this in any way precludes Sandy Leone being moved? Perhaps for a AAA catcher with options???
If they do keep Leone around, the catching could be good, bad and ugly.I wonder if this in any way precludes Sandy Leone being moved? Perhaps for a AAA catcher with options???
I don’t think Swihart is on this team to stick as a #2 catcher. He’s here to rebuild his value as a first-division starter or 3-win utility guy. If the Sox can give him the opportunity to do that, then we trade him like one. Or we trade Vázquez, who’s a suddenly more valuable long-term asset.I suspect the answer is that they need more time to figure out what the best use of Swihart is. They probably don't want to commit to him being their #2 catcher unless/until they feel really sure he can do that job. It would make sense to make this decision when Pedroia comes back and forces roster moves. For that reason, I suspect we'll see a fair amount of Swihart behind the plate in the early going.
As for a AAA catcher with options--how's that going to work? A team interested in Leon is a team that needs to replace its second catcher because he's either terrible or hurt or both. But this hypothetical team has a AAA catcher with options who's presumably MLB-ready (if he isn't, then what good is he to us?). So why would they give up this guy for Leon instead of just promoting him?
SO much better than the "what about his sister Sierra" joke I was trying to come up withIf they do keep Leone around, the catching could be good, bad and ugly.
It's easy to get distracted after they handed Vazquez a fistful of dollars.SO much better than the "what about his sister Sierra" joke I was trying to come up with
This cannot get enough love.If they do keep Leone around, the catching could be good, bad and ugly.
This...just no.It's easy to get distracted after they handed Vazquez a fistful of dollars.
It's not. It doesn't even remotely work. It could conceivably work at another position, but even then, probably not. If Swihart can catch a couple games a week and play 2-3 more in the field somewhere, trading Leon frees up a bit of cash and might bring in a lottery ticket but the point of trading Leon isn't to get good value, it's to get something and clear salary because the alternative is just dumping him because we need the roster spot for someone better.As for a AAA catcher with options--how's that going to work?
Perhaps, but isn't the issue that the team needs more than one?Swihart just isn’t a #2 catcher. His value — both real and perceived — would deteriorate if we treat him like one for any length of time. He’s fine defensively, but there are enough fungible backup catchers with exceptional defensive skills in MLB, and we already have a fine one.
But for a few dollars more they could upgrade the spot.If they do keep Leone around, the catching could be good, bad and ugly.