Christian Vazquez

[cp176]

Back to Vazquez - I would be surprised if he is ever the long term solution behind the plate for Boston. Based on Farrell's recent lack of comments about him, i still feel that there is a story there that we don't know anything about and probably won't. If it isn't Leon (which I think it will be ) I am betting on Swihart going forward.

[Spudboy]

I agree - i just have to laugh just a little when I hear that it is impossible to compare athletes from the 70's and 80's to the present. bigger, stronger, faster actually kicked into gear a long time ago. Personally, the 1967 dream season was so unreal and just so much fun for me. I had roughly a decade where that is all I did and for the most part all I thought about. I actually think that I enjoyed the games a little more when I had to work a little harder to see and hear them.

 

I can see this. I remember living in Newton as a boy in 1967. The Sox games were on TV 38 at the time. Not all of them were broadcast either as I seem to recall. Once in a while a game would be on Ch 5 which was CBS at the time. Overall, with UHF reception sketchy at best, many games were fuzzy looking.

 

I was the only person in my family that was into the Sox so I would just sit in the basement alone and watch the faint image of the game on a black and white tv. Lol.

 

There were two Boston papers at the time and just a few minutes each day of sports news on the local news broadcasts. Sports radio did not become a thing as I recall until I was in 8th or 9th grade when Sports Huddle came to be on WBZ AM.

 

It was quite different back then.

[moonslav59]

I lived with those 1975-1978 teams too, and they were great teams, the most star-studded of all the Sox teams I've seen for sure. But they were tragic. And the loss in the 1978 playoff game was the end of the dream.

 

Yes, but it was hard to know it at the time. There "was always next year" as old Sox fans know all too well.

 

I guess I learned some lessons back then- hard ones.

[moonslav59]

I agree - i just have to laugh just a little when I hear that it is impossible to compare athletes from the 70's and 80's to the present. bigger, stronger, faster actually kicked into gear a long time ago. Personally, the 1967 dream season was so unreal and just so much fun for me. I had roughly a decade where that is all I did and for the most part all I thought about. I actually think that I enjoyed the games a little more when I had to work a little harder to see and hear them.

 

It's not impossible to compare eras, but it is hard, as I stated, for me, because I was in a different mindset back and age group in the 70's than I am now, and I had yet to be exposed to what great Sox pitching was to come, and how fun it is to enjoy watching guys like Clemens, Pedro, Schill (briefly) Beckett and Lester.

 

I loved watching and listening to the Sox of the 70's, but watching Manny & Papi lead us to multiple rings and break the long cycle of disappointment was magical in a very different way. That's what "makes it hard" for me to compare the two duos. I just can't rank one above the other: it would feel like I am cheapening one of the eras.

[moonslav59]

Back to Vazquez - I would be surprised if he is ever the long term solution behind the plate for Boston. Based on Farrell's recent lack of comments about him, i still feel that there is a story there that we don't know anything about and probably won't. If it isn't Leon (which I think it will be ) I am betting on Swihart going forward.

 

Farrell did make it sound like Vaz was out of the running for the number one catcher slot, but kind of implied he'll be the number 2 no matter who the number one is.

 

I'll be disappointed, if we end up trading Vaz, but since Leon and Vaz are out of options, and there does seem to be some sort of doghouse feeling towards Vaz, I guess it could happen.

[cp176]

I can see this. I remember living in Newton as a boy in 1967. The Sox games were on TV 38 at the time. Not all of them were broadcast either as I seem to recall. Once in a while a game would be on Ch 5 which was CBS at the time. Overall, with UHF reception sketchy at best, many games were fuzzy looking.

 

I was the only person in my family that was into the Sox so I would just sit in the basement alone and watch the faint image of the game on a black and white tv. Lol.

 

There were two Boston papers at the time and just a few minutes each day of sports news on the local news broadcasts. Sports radio did not become a thing as I recall until I was in 8th or 9th grade when Sports Huddle came to be on WBZ AM.

 

It was quite different back then.

 

Probably due to my age, but I think that the era of 24 hour news and sports has dumbed down my approach to both and made them both a lot less exciting to me. Some of my best baseball memories come from my remembering sitting in a horse barn in Conn. listening to afternoon ball games with my grandfather during the early to mid sixties.

When we bought our home in Maine in 1980, I found old newspapers in the walls (insulation those days) vintage 1920's and 1930's - I really enjoyed looking through those sports sections.

[moonslav59]

Probably due to my age, but I think that the era of 24 hour news and sports has dumbed down my approach to both and made them both a lot less exciting to me. Some of my best baseball memories come from my remembering sitting in a horse barn in Conn. listening to afternoon ball games with my grandfather during the early to mid sixties.

When we bought our home in Maine in 1980, I found old newspapers in the walls (insulation those days) vintage 1920's and 1930's - I really enjoyed looking through those sports sections.

 

I still have the newspaper clippings from the 1975 WS (Globe & Portland Press Herald).

[oldtimer]

Probably due to my age, but I think that the era of 24 hour news and sports has dumbed down my approach to both and made them both a lot less exciting to me. Some of my best baseball memories come from my remembering sitting in a horse barn in Conn. listening to afternoon ball games with my grandfather during the early to mid sixties.

When we bought our home in Maine in 1980, I found old newspapers in the walls (insulation those days) vintage 1920's and 1930's - I really enjoyed looking through those sports sections.

 

I still have pleasant memories of going out and throwing the ball around with my dad and brothers in the late 40's and early 50's and then coming in and listening to the radio broadcast. We were really into the games in those days before TV (for us). We got our first TV around 1958.

[moonslav59]

I still have pleasant memories of going out and throwing the ball around with my dad and brothers in the late 40's and early 50's and then coming in and listening to the radio broadcast. We were really into the games in those days before TV (for us). We got our first TV around 1958.

 

I used to keep score of Red Sox games by radio in the 70's.

 

I also listened to Bruin games back then.

[harmony]

I rarely watch baseball on television but instead listen to radio broadcasts on a regular basis because radio does not command most of my attention.

 

Growing up in the Midwest in the 1960s I did not have radio broadcasts of my favorite team so I checked the box scores in the newspaper each morning. I would get the West Coast scores a day-and-a-half late.

[moonslav59]

I rarely watch baseball on television but instead listen to radio broadcasts on a regular basis because radio does not command most of my attention.

 

Growing up in the Midwest in the 1960s I did not have radio broadcasts of my favorite team so I checked the box scores in the newspaper each morning. I would get the West Coast scores a day-and-a-half late.

 

I usually wait to watch Sox games until about 2 hours after they start. I then fast forward through the breaks.

[cp176]

I rarely watch baseball on television but instead listen to radio broadcasts on a regular basis because radio does not command most of my attention.

 

Growing up in the Midwest in the 1960s I did not have radio broadcasts of my favorite team so I checked the box scores in the newspaper each morning. I would get the West Coast scores a day-and-a-half late.

 

I really enjoy reading these types of posts. All of our memories really are special. I learned a lot of math by studying box scores and doing my own stats.

[User Name]

Sooooo.......Christian Vasquez eh?

[Kimmi]

I agree, if they ever intended to evaluate Swihart as a catching option for 2016, the decision was rash. Therefore, we can clearly deduce that they had no such intention at any time in 2016.

 

Frankly it was very clear to me even in those first handful of games that Blake Swihart was not up to the task of catching a would-be championship contender. Besides, the organization had already made its decision about who they really wanted catching, and it wasn't Swihart -- Swihart was simply holding the post down until their intended starter was verifiably over his injury, which they hadn't established to their own satisfaction by the end of Spring Training.

 

I agree that the FO never intended for Swihart to be the starting catcher, once Vazquez was fully healthy and ready to go. IMO, they rushed Vazquez back because of what they saw in Swihart over that first handful of games. They panicked.

 

And once they sent Swihart down, they should have let him focus on his work behind the plate.

 

I certainly hope that the FO is not operating under the same 'sense of urgency' that they did last year. It's a long season. There's no need to panic in April. Patience.

[Kimmi]

It's not impossible to compare eras, but it is hard, as I stated, for me, because I was in a different mindset back and age group in the 70's than I am now, and I had yet to be exposed to what great Sox pitching was to come, and how fun it is to enjoy watching guys like Clemens, Pedro, Schill (briefly) Beckett and Lester.

 

I loved watching and listening to the Sox of the 70's, but watching Manny & Papi lead us to multiple rings and break the long cycle of disappointment was magical in a very different way. That's what "makes it hard" for me to compare the two duos. I just can't rank one above the other: it would feel like I am cheapening one of the eras.

 

That's why we have WAR.

[Kimmi]

Farrell did make it sound like Vaz was out of the running for the number one catcher slot, but kind of implied he'll be the number 2 no matter who the number one is.

 

I'll be disappointed, if we end up trading Vaz, but since Leon and Vaz are out of options, and there does seem to be some sort of doghouse feeling towards Vaz, I guess it could happen.

 

I'm not sensing the doghouse feeling towards Vaz that some others are. If he really is in the doghouse, I guess we'll know soon enough.

[Bellhorn04]

I'm not sensing the doghouse feeling towards Vaz that some others are. If he really is in the doghouse, I guess we'll know soon enough.

 

Either way, the word 'doghouse' is fun to use. Makes me think of spring too.

[notin]

I'm not sensing the doghouse feeling towards Vaz that some others are. If he really is in the doghouse, I guess we'll know soon enough.

 

It may not be doghouse for Vazquez nearly as much as the job is simply Leon's to lose...

[moonslav59]

It may not be doghouse for Vazquez nearly as much as the job is simply Leon's to lose...

 

Managers almost always pump up the egos of young players by saying things like, "They have a shot at the starting job."

 

We just haven't heard much talk like that on Vaz in a while.

 

Maybe they know his psyche and think he doesn't need the props. "Doghouse" might be a stretch, but it's hard to think everything is all swell between Vaz and Sox management.

 

Certainly, it could just be the sub .600 OPS and nothing more.

[Kimmi]

Either way, the word 'doghouse' is fun to use. Makes me think of spring too.

 

LOL I've never thought of the word 'doghouse' as being fun to use. Do people even keep their dogs in doghouses anymore? All of the dogs I know are spoiled rotten house dogs who think they are human. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Kimmi]

It may not be doghouse for Vazquez nearly as much as the job is simply Leon's to lose...

 

I think that's what it is. Leon earned the job last year with his BABIP spiked offense. Someone else will have to show that they can do better.

[southpaw777]

im a little worried how theyre talking, or not talking, about Vaz...Just Swihart and Leon. Makes me think something going on behind the scenes that us fans dont know about...

[Bellhorn04]

LOL I've never thought of the word 'doghouse' as being fun to use. Do people even keep their dogs in doghouses anymore? All of the dogs I know are spoiled rotten house dogs who think they are human. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a real doghouse - not for a long time, anyway. But like most married guys I know what it's like to spend some time in the figurative one.

[cp176]

im a little worried how theyre talking, or not talking, about Vaz...Just Swihart and Leon. Makes me think something going on behind the scenes that us fans dont know about...

 

I agree with you here. I've been saying it for awhile - there could be more to this story than we are going to find out. Hope I am wrong because I like the kid.

[moonslav59]

I agree with you here. I've been saying it for awhile - there could be more to this story than we are going to find out. Hope I am wrong because I like the kid.

 

Some personalities respond to being shunned or ignored. Maybe they know this about Vaz. Maybe myself and others are just reading things into statements and non statements than are really there. It wouldn't be the first time winter boredom leads fans to chasing wild tangents.

[notin]

I don't think I've ever seen a real doghouse - not for a long time, anyway. But like most married guys I know what it's like to spend some time in the figurative one.

 

Maybe you need to stop going on the carpet. ..

[Bellhorn04]

Maybe you need to stop going on the carpet. ..

 

Well, she won't always take me out for a walk when I want. Messages have to delivered.

[cp176]

Well, she won't always take me out for a walk when I want. Messages have to delivered.

 

How about treats? be on high alert if she tries to teach you how to pay dead.

[Kimmi]

Well, she won't always take me out for a walk when I want. Messages have to delivered.

 

I have always believed that men, kids, and dogs are all the same species. Really, what's the difference?

[Bellhorn04]

How about treats? be on high alert if she tries to teach you how to pay dead.

 

She makes me beg for my treats, every time.