Do we need an offensive catcher?

[mvp 78]

Can't have All-Stars at every position, man. It gets a tad expensive, for one thing.

 

For real tho.

[Jasonbay44]

Sandy Leon has been on fire and actually is having a positive WAR season now. Vazquez has been horrendous, but one has to think he isn't THIS bad, and will eventually at least somewhat turn it around.

[a700hitter]

Sandy Leon has been on fire and actually is having a positive WAR season now. Vazquez has been horrendous, but one has to think he isn't THIS bad, and will eventually at least somewhat turn it around.

He has head up ass disease so far this season. A bad mental frame of mind will affect your performance.

[devildavid]

question in the title. CV and Leon both have very good track records for their defense, but Vazquez is below the Mendoza line, and Leon is just barely above it. We are getting negative oWAR from the catching position right now, and while it's not the end of the world, it's something to think about.

 

Do you think the Red Sox make a move at some point to pick up a catcher with a bit more stick? Or is the obvious defensive skills of Vazquez and Leon and success of the rotation under their guidance enough to make up for the hole in the lineup?

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Personally I'm satisfied with the catching tandem we have, at least in theory. But watching either one of those men walk up to the plate with 2 outs and a RISP is not fun sometimes, and it's easy to lose perspective when an inning doesn't go your way because one of those guys came to the plate, wet paper bag in hand. I can kind of see both sides here, but I lean towards being happy with the catcher situation.

 

No. Next question?

[devildavid]

Sandy Leon has been on fire and actually is having a positive WAR season now. Vazquez has been horrendous, but one has to think he isn't THIS bad, and will eventually at least somewhat turn it around.

 

And Sandy is the one that many thought was expendable. He is a very good catcher and I hope they hold onto him.

[Natick to NC]

And Sandy is the one that many thought was expendable. He is a very good catcher and I hope they hold onto him.

 

Are you serious with this ??? oMg now Sandy Leon is a verrrry goooood catcher ? Based on what ? He suuuuucks is a fat f*** and is horrendous at calling games ...both our catchers suck .bottom of league suck for both leagues ...f*** Vaz f*** fat Sandy ....we need better

[OH FOY]

He has head up ass disease so far this season. A bad mental frame of mind will affect your performance.

 

This ^^^^ More games in any sport is won by brains.

Edited May 27, 2018 by OH FOY!

[devildavid]

Are you serious with this ??? oMg now Sandy Leon is a verrrry goooood catcher ? Based on what ? He suuuuucks is a fat f*** and is horrendous at calling games ...both our catchers suck .bottom of league suck for both leagues ...f*** Vaz f*** fat Sandy ....we need better

 

Yes, I'm serious. Are you? If he is so horrendous at calling games why do our pitchers perform so good when he catches? He is solid defensively and has baseball smarts. He also contributes keys hits at times.

[moonslav59]

MLB catcher numbers this year:

 

.229 BA

.306 OBP

.372 SLG

.678 OPS

 

Maybe a certain poster believes the catcher position is some great offensive weapon for most teams.

 

[moonslav59]

Last 28 days Sox OPS

 

1.225 Betts

1.201 Moreland

1.164 Martinez

.901 Leon

.858 Beni

.784 Holt

.736 Bogey

.630 Devers

.606 Nunez

.542 HRam

.439 JBJ

.432 Vaz

.350 Swihart

 

For someone who loves judging players on 1 play, 1 game, 1 series or 1 week, you'd think you'd love Leon by now.

 

[moonslav59]

Differential between the mean of team OPS and Sox OPS by position:

 

-.161 Catcher

-.027 3B

-.024 CF

-.002 2B

+.063 1B

+.073 DH

+.105 LF

+.105 SS

+.377 RF

 

[notin]

Realmutto is the guy we need to get .

 

Would you trade Benintendi for him? That's probably close to what Miami would want...

[Bellhorn04]

Are you serious with this ??? oMg now Sandy Leon is a verrrry goooood catcher ? Based on what ? He suuuuucks is a fat f*** and is horrendous at calling games

 

Seriously how in the f*** can you say Leon is horrendous at calling games? How in the f*** do you see this when no one else does?

[notin]

Seriously how in the f*** can you say Leon is horrendous at calling games? How in the f*** do you see this when no one else does?

 

He judges it by batting average. But apparently not recent batting average,,,

[Natick to NC]

Last 28 days Sox OPS

 

1.225 Betts

1.201 Moreland

1.164 Martinez

.901 Leon

.858 Beni

.784 Holt

.736 Bogey

.630 Devers

.606 Nunez

.542 HRam

.439 JBJ

.432 Vaz

.350 Swihart

 

For someone who loves judging players on 1 play, 1 game, 1 series or 1 week, you'd think you'd love Leon by now.

 

 

Nice sample size for Swihart there moon ...Vaz and Sandy Leon as a tandem are terrible .

[Natick to NC]

He judges it by batting average. But apparently not recent batting average,,,

 

do you ??? Good lord is JBJ a good player by your standards now ???? Give me a break .Folks this is about Winning the division and the World Series ....Vaz and Sandy are terrible period .Yes I blame both for our pitching woes the last couple years because both call horrendous games .

Edited May 27, 2018 by Natick to NC

[Thunder]

Yes, I'm serious. Are you? If he is so horrendous at calling games why do our pitchers perform so good when he catches? He is solid defensively and has baseball smarts. He also contributes keys hits at times.

 

I agree. I don't think Dombrowski would have kept him around this long if he didn't have high value defensively.

[Bellhorn04]

I agree. I don't think Dombrowski would have kept him around this long if he didn't have high value defensively.

 

No kidding.

[Slasher9]

Seriously how in the f*** can you say Leon is horrendous at calling games? How in the f*** do you see this when no one else does?

 

Uh oh. Natick got bell to drop multiple F bombs....

[Bellhorn04]

Uh oh. Natick got bell to drop multiple F bombs....

 

Just trying to talk his language.

[Thunder]

Uh oh. Natick got bell to drop multiple F bombs....

 

This is why I hate negativity, especially when we're the best team in league at the moment.

[Thunder]

Just trying to talk his language.

 

Don't stoop down to his level. Just ignore him.

[Bellhorn04]

Don't stoop down to his level. Just ignore him.

 

I'm just having fun, Thunder. I'm in a great mood Red Sox-wise today. If this was after a nasty Red Sox loss my comments could be interpreted differently.

[Thunder]

I'm just having fun, Thunder. I'm in a great mood Red Sox-wise today. If this was after a nasty Red Sox loss my comments could be interpreted differently.

 

Good. I'm having fun too. Whenever we get on a roll, I can't wait for that day's game. Today is one of those days, after missing most of the weekday games over the last few weeks.

[cp176]

Seriously how in the f*** can you say Leon is horrendous at calling games? How in the f*** do you see this when no one else does?

 

what what what did I read - who is the enigma now? I'm kidding with you. Sometimes you have to say it the way it feels. I don't make a habit of it myself but to me it's called passion and I feel badly for those who do not have it. We have two pretty reliable catchers. Neither can hit but not a big deal when you are talking catchers as we all know.

[Bellhorn04]

what what what did I read - who is the enigma now? I'm kidding with you. Sometimes you have to say it the way it feels. I don't make a habit of it myself but to me it's called passion and I feel badly for those who do not have it. We have two pretty reliable catchers. Neither can hit but not a big deal when you are talking catchers as we all know.

 

I curse and swear a lot in real life, trust me. I just try to pick my spots here.

[mvp 78]

Seriously how in the f*** can you say Leon is horrendous at calling games? How in the f*** do you see this when no one else does?

 

f***ing for real tho?

[Spudboy]

Yes, I'm serious. Are you? If he is so horrendous at calling games why do our pitchers perform so good when he catches? He is solid defensively and has baseball smarts. He also contributes keys hits at times.

 

Boom.

 

He is exactly what Kimmi said he would be when he was acquired.

[oldtimer]

In the game today we faced very good Braves pitching and they have a decent lineup as well. We had Sale going for us and that gave us a chance but our guys were not htting a lot so down we go. I can't moan about a lost as we are bound to have some along the way. The point of this loss is we had Betts out with a precautionary tightness and JDM out for a rest so were really weakened against a good foe.

 

Beni went one for three and a walk and Moreland did his thing, but it was hardly enough as we are currently carrying weak hitters in too much of the lineup.

 

Pedroia is just back so it is being optimistic to expect him to come right in and be sharp at the plate. We are probably going to have a fairly trying transition period until he is nack in better form.

 

Beyond him we have Bradley, Swihart and Leon who aren't hitting their weight and both Nunez and Devers are not scarying a lot of pitching staffs.

 

The question was asked "Do we need an offensive catcher?" I think we can see from today that yes, we could use an improvement at both catcher and center field becauswe we are only an injury to a key player from being a much weaker hitting club. I for one hope that DD will use some of the luxury tax money freed up with the DFA of Hanley to make some kind of continuous improvement acquisition in the field.

[moonslav59]

Nice sample size for Swihart there moon ...Vaz and Sandy Leon as a tandem are terrible .

 

Nothing Swihart has done gives any hint that he's better than leon or Vaz.

 

He is likely a slightly better hitter.

 

He's clearly worse on defense.

 

You can see what you want, feel what you want, and keep spouting nonsense, but Swihart is not going to catch any significant time this year, unless there's an injury.