IMHO: VasquezAbout time to a

[bosoxmal]

About tume to put the man in the Flop category and get a catcher,It's taken awhile to admit it, but there it is!He simply can't hit!

[BillyWilliams]

Once again, but this time in English please.......

[illinoisredsox]

Once again, but this time in English please.......

 

Give the man a break, he’s 90+ years old.

 

It’s obvious what he’s saying.

[BillyWilliams]

Give the man a break, he’s 90+ years old.

 

It’s obvious what he’s saying.

 

Maybe to you......

[fxkatt]

As long as V can hit .250, he's fine, because on defense he's better than average--ON AVERAGE. (no single game can tell you how good or bad he is)

[moonslav59]

Give the man a break, he’s 90+ years old.

 

It’s obvious what he’s saying.

 

I asked my first grade nephew, if he knew what it meant.

 

He nailed it after two seconds of thought.

 

I rest my case on the reading comprehension skills (or lack there of) of Billy the Clown.

 

[BillyWilliams]

I asked my first grade nephew, if he knew what it meant.

 

He nailed it after two seconds of thought.

 

I rest my case on the reading comprehension skills (or lack there of) of Billy the Clown.

 

 

Says the egotistical ******* who claims that he posts in bold because it's easier for him to read.....

[illinoisredsox]

Maybe to you......

 

and every other poster here. Don’t be such a tool.

 

BTW, is the double ellipsis supposed to be clever?

[StephenCurry30]

billywilliams can you troll better? at least I make people laugh when I troll. you just have lame comebacks and name call people on the internet... why is a yankees fan on a red sox board, don't you have yankees stuff to talk about? I never even see you talk about the yankees, you've mentioned alex cora more than aaron boone...

[Jasonbay44]

Please get back on topic. BillyWilliams is gone, and we don't need to discuss him anymore.

 

I've never been a fan of Vazquez thought the extension was premature and unnecessary and I've always thought Swihart was a special talent. I don't think Vazquez "defense" is enough to warrant him starting over Swihart, especially with the potential Swihart has with the bat. That being said, I don't think we can blame Vazquez for the slow start, the pitching has been awful and I have a hard timing blaming the catchers.

 

However, I do wonder if Leon really was THAT good calling games, defensively and etc though...

[jung]

Leon can't hit either and his problems are simply that he has no hitting talent whatsoever. Vaz can hit if he is smart about what he is doing. He will never be able to pull anything but a pitch that is so far inside that he is forced to pull his hands inside the baseball just to hit it at all. Every other kind of pitch he sees, he needs to take to the opposite field. Its the only way he will ever hit anything because his hands are never ever anywhere near inside the baseball. Even his practice swings with no pitch coming at him are swings that will never result in swinging inside the baseball. He literally practices swinging around the baseball. So unless he goes the opposite way, he is doomed to roll over everything over and over again. He will occasionally pop the ball in the air and will make solid contact as often as if he swings with his eyes closed. Solid contact for Vaz unless he goes the other way is not even luck. Its an accident! In some ways it would be better for the team if he just missed the ball entirely when he swings at it unless he resigns himself to going the opposite way. Edited April 7, 2019 by jung

[S5Dewey]

Please get back on topic. BillyWilliams is gone, and we don't need to discuss him anymore.

 

I've never been a fan of Vazquez thought the extension was premature and unnecessary and I've always thought Swihart was a special talent. I don't think Vazquez "defense" is enough to warrant him starting over Swihart, especially with the potential Swihart has with the bat. That being said, I don't think we can blame Vazquez for the slow start, the pitching has been awful and I have a hard timing blaming the catchers.

 

However, I do wonder if Leon really was THAT good calling games, defensively and etc though...

 

I can't say this enough about BW. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Of course he probably will come back under a different iteration, but in the meantime this will be a better place to be.

 

I've always been a Vazquez 'fan boy', ever since I heard about "pop time" and how quickly he gets the ball to second base. Of course I've always loved players with great arms, probably because I didn't have one.

 

WAR and "trained observers" not withstanding, I tend to put a lot of faith in what I see when it comes to defense. When I see Vaz throw someone out who's trying to steal or I see one of out OF'ers run a long way to get to a ball I think that it was a great play, not, "Oh well, I'll bet the league is full of players who would have made that play". I know I've gone on ad nauseum about defense "stealing" an out with a great defensive play or granting a team an "extra" out by making an error... so I won't do it again. However, I'll say what I've said before, that great defense is often times unrecognized and therefore underrated.

[Slasher9]

Please get back on topic. BillyWilliams is gone, and we don't need to discuss him anymore.

 

I've never been a fan of Vazquez thought the extension was premature and unnecessary and I've always thought Swihart was a special talent. I don't think Vazquez "defense" is enough to warrant him starting over Swihart, especially with the potential Swihart has with the bat. That being said, I don't think we can blame Vazquez for the slow start, the pitching has been awful and I have a hard timing blaming the catchers.

 

However, I do wonder if Leon really was THAT good calling games, defensively and etc though...

 

Just saw his. Thank you.

 

As for the OP...I have always been a “defense first” guy but I am willing to give swi a bigger workload right now to see how he does....

[Kimmi]

Please get back on topic. BillyWilliams is gone, and we don't need to discuss him anymore.

 

I've never been a fan of Vazquez thought the extension was premature and unnecessary and I've always thought Swihart was a special talent. I don't think Vazquez "defense" is enough to warrant him starting over Swihart, especially with the potential Swihart has with the bat. That being said, I don't think we can blame Vazquez for the slow start, the pitching has been awful and I have a hard timing blaming the catchers.

 

However, I do wonder if Leon really was THAT good calling games, defensively and etc though...

 

I am a huge Vazquez fan and was a huge fan of his contract. I don't care what catchers do offensively. I care about how they handle the pitching staff and what they do behind the plate.

 

If the rest of the line up does what it's supposed to do, the team can carry a weak hitting catcher in the #8 or #9 spot.

 

Of course, when playing in a National League park and having the pitcher batting, the weakness gets a little more magnified.

[Kimmi]

Just saw his. Thank you.

 

As for the OP...I have always been a “defense first” guy but I am willing to give swi a bigger workload right now to see how he does....

 

As a prospect, Swihart was projected to have above average defense, and with his offense, he was projected to be the better overall catcher between him and Vaz. Let's hope that with regular playing time, he will finally live up to that projection.

[S5Dewey]

As a prospect, Swihart was projected to have above average defense, and with his offense, he was projected to be the better overall catcher between him and Vaz. Let's hope that with regular playing time, he will finally live up to that projection.

 

That's where I am with the catching too. Before Swihart got hurt in the outfield he and Vaz were the heirs apparent to the catching duo in Boston with Swi being better with the bat and Vaz better with the glove. I've thought for some time that Swihart only needs to get some meaningful playing time behind the plate and he'd be fine back there.

[notin]

So you’re leaving the Vazquez train, mal?

 

Personally I always felt he filled the profile of a backup catcher. And this is one area the Sox could have tried to upgrade in...

[Kimmi]

That's where I am with the catching too. Before Swihart got hurt in the outfield he and Vaz were the heirs apparent to the catching duo in Boston with Swi being better with the bat and Vaz better with the glove. I've thought for some time that Swihart only needs to get some meaningful playing time behind the plate and he'd be fine back there.

 

Exactly. I don't think he has ever been given a fair chance.

[jacksonianmarch]

Something to chew on here, having rapport with your catcher as a pitcher is very important. I’d say a bad catcher takes more from a pitcher than a good catcher will add. If Swihart is that bad behind the dish and the pitching doesn’t improve, the psychological effect to thevstaff that a Leon return could bring would be worth it

[notin]

Something to chew on here, having rapport with your catcher as a pitcher is very important. I’d say a bad catcher takes more from a pitcher than a good catcher will add. If Swihart is that bad behind the dish and the pitching doesn’t improve, the psychological effect to thevstaff that a Leon return could bring would be worth it

 

But this is just a hypothesis...

[moonslav59]

But this is just a hypothesis...

 

Yes, and he said "...could..."

[cp176]

I do not believe that there is a single person posting her who does not value a catcher's defense far more than a catcher's offense. The rub for me personally is that I am just not sure that Vazquez is all that good. he is a decent catcher for sure but anyone painting him to be a lot better than average I think is stretching things a bit.

[notin]

I do not believe that there is a single person posting her who does not value a catcher's defense far more than a catcher's offense. The rub for me personally is that I am just not sure that Vazquez is all that good. he is a decent catcher for sure but anyone painting him to be a lot better than average I think is stretching things a bit.

 

Not to mention, there is a big difference between "ignoring catcher defense" and wanting a catcher who can do both...

[cp176]

Not to mention, there is a big difference between "ignoring catcher defense" and wanting a catcher who can do both...

 

It really is and has been a been a balancing act. I wish that i could buy into the idea that either Vazquez or Leon were so good at their craft that it isn't important that either of them hit basically at all. I can't. I understand the arguments about not fixing what ain't broke or look what we did last year but I just don't think that means we should accept that we cannot do better. Swihart might ultimately be the guy or he may not but I feel that if the Swihart experiment does not work out and Vazqueth just does not hit, we likely will see someone entirely different catching for us in the near future.

[moonslav59]

I do not believe that there is a single person posting her who does not value a catcher's defense far more than a catcher's offense. The rub for me personally is that I am just not sure that Vazquez is all that good. he is a decent catcher for sure but anyone painting him to be a lot better than average I think is stretching things a bit.

 

I used to think Vaz was much better on D than I do now.

 

He's probably still better than Swihart when you look at all the factors behind the plate, but he better start hitting or we'll be hearing a call for Leon to replace him- not Swihart.

[Bellhorn04]

Vazquez has much better numbers than JBJ (and a few others) so far. Is it time to start up the annual 'Trade JBJ' thread already?

[notin]

Vazquez has much better numbers than JBJ (and a few others) so far. Is it time to start up the annual 'Trade JBJ' thread already?

 

Robot “trade JBJ” threads now!!

[kenmeister]

I used to think Vaz was much better on D than I do now.

 

He's probably still better than Swihart when you look at all the factors behind the plate, but he better start hitting or we'll be hearing a call for Leon to replace him- not Swihart.

 

Had contracts not been a factor, I would have liked to have seen the Red Sox go with Leon & Swihart.

[Bellhorn04]

Vazquez was the starting catcher for 8 of our final 9 postseason games in 2018. We won 7 of those games. So yeah, let's get rid of him!

[Slasher9]

Vazquez has much better numbers than JBJ (and a few others) so far. Is it time to start up the annual 'Trade JBJ' thread already?

 

pipe down HFX!