FredLynn

My original response to Georom (I think it was him) regarded baseball players in general not being on the field with what seem to be minor injuries. Here is what I wrote: "And football and hockey are not a recipe for disaster? I agree with Geo: players seem to get DL'd because of ingrown nails nowadays." In no way am I dismissing the fact that baseball pitchers get injured a lot. They get injured about 34% more than those players who play in the field. I understand that the repetitive nature of the motion that they use predisposes them to injury. That said, I could not find a single bit of data that tells me the incidence of injuries per year for all pitchers. I found that football players get injured about 15.3% of the time, and its clear that there is a much higher percentage of severe injury in contact sports than in baseball. When I see guys like Bergeron out there playing, or trying to play, with broken ribs and a punctured lung, and when I see football players giving it their all, playing with gruesome injuries-and then look at some of these baseball players who are out for weeks with minor injuries-thats what I am talking about. Seems they never want to play unless they are in nearly perfect health.

I am not saying that baseball players, especially pitchers, are not at risk for significant injuries. They definitely are. But they are not NEARLY at as high a risk as in a few other sports. Throwing a baseball is stressful on the arm; getting tackled by a 250 pound linebacker running at full speed or getting hit blindside by a cornerback after you make a catch are far more dangerous.

Sorry. Not buying it. Contact sports, by their very nature, are FAR more dangerous than baseball. Pitchers certainly have their risks, but hockey players in particular get back on the ice with absurd kinds of injuries. Patrice Bergeron, a couple of seasons ago, was back on the ice with broken ribs. Other players play with other kinds of fractures. When was the last time a baseball player got back on the field with broken ribs? How many concussions do baseball players suffer compared to hockey players or football players. Go and take your pet peeve and put it back in the land of fantasy where it belongs. Baseball players are weenies compared to hockey or football players.

And football and hockey are not a recipe for disaster? I agree with Geo: players seem to get DL'd because of ingrown nails nowadays.

I think he was only touching 91 with his fastball. This is great if he can locate it, but unless he develops more velocity, which is entirely possible at his age, he is going to have to pitch like Buehrle or Maddox to be effective. Lots of time to develop.....

I think we will need another SP even with Kendrick. I am not going to depend on the likes of Owens and Johnson to supply even a single quality start.

We are going to need one more potentially decent SP. What's Fister up to nowadays?

There is no way Bogaerts should move to 3B. Last season he made huge strides defensively at SS. There is no need to mess with that.

The "drop" in his velocity is less than 1.5mph on his fastball, which was never fast anyway. Furthermore, there is a simple explanation: many pitchers do not regain full velocity until several months into the season. I remember this discussion about Price last year. Yes, he started off slowly, but he regained his form, and his velocity, as the season progressed. If Pomeranz had a significant injury from which he has not yet recovered he would not be out there pitching at all. If its July and he has lost velocity, I worry. Not now, not in spring training.

That is true as long as the other top five pitchers in the rotation remain healthy. There is a steep dropoff if someone else goes down for an extended time, or if several of them go down for shorter times. Unfortunately, there is a reasonably strong likelihood that without Price we would have to use what would amount to our #7 SP for many games. Then I could see his absence costing us 6 or more games.

Last year his average FB was 91.2. This guy is not a hard thrower. And its still spring training. Not worried at all about his velocity.

I voted for 81-86 wins, but only for the benefit of Harmony and Jacko. I agree with Jacko's assessment: 93-94 wins with Price; 87 without him.

Unless you are 80 with a lot of medical problems, its either surgical or its not. I cannot imagine what the real diagnosis is if he would be a surgical candidate 8 years ago, but he is not one now. That said, so far so good from all the reports. We will see how he does when he actually gets on the mound in real games, if he makes it that far.

The problem with Vasquez is not his defense. That is already more than acceptable. The problem is that he cannot hit. And that doesn't take all that long to develop. Although he missed a whole season he already had nearly 400 ABs. By July, if he plays much, he might get another 100 or more. By then we should have an idea of where his offense is at. So far its been pretty disappointing. Hey-I hope he turns it around because he is a lot of fun to watch behind the plate. So far, I don't see it.

If Swihart has improved enough defensively in Pawtucket and Vas continues to struggle......I cut him loose by July

"An Inconvenient Truth"....as the movie by the same name says. Unfortunately, there really is no option. Best choice it seems is to allow Leon to show us what he has with the bat. Vasquez, unfortunately, has already done that. His OPS last year was .585, which placed him 29th (of 36) among catchers with at least 100 ABs. Thats just not good enough. His career OPS of .602 is not much better. If Leon can hit at least as well as the average catcher by, say, July, and Vasquez keeps not hitting, and Swihart learns to be an average defensive catcher, its then time to get rid of Christian Vasquez. A lot of "ifs"....but it might be a realistic plan

I agree with you about Swihart possibly winning the job in spring training. Its possible, but not likely-and its not because he may well prove to be the best choice. I think he has options left, but Vasquez and Leon do not (I am sure someone here knows those numbers better than I). Therefore, if Swihart is on the 25 man roster to start the season, assuming we do not keep three catchers, one of Vasquez or Leon will leave the team. If I am wrong about this then Swihart should be on the roster and one of Vasquez or Leon should start in AAA ball. Problem is, if we lose one catcher, there is really no one else who could fill in. A lot of it depends on how well Moreland and Sandoval hit. If they aren't producing then we will need more offense from the catcher's position.

Mitch Moreland last year had reverse splits, actually. His OPS v RHP was just .700; v LHP it was .799. Sandoval in 2015, the last year he played, had an OPS of .744. His OPS has decreased annually for many years. While he may improve, I would not expect it. Leon has a career OPS v RHP of .653. He is better against lefties. Like I said, the bottom third of the lineup could be problematic v RHP.

Thats a scary potential black hole v RHP with the last three guys in that lineup.

Kendrick has had a good ST. I guess he would be the #7 SP right now. I don't think its a given that Price will even play this year, not yet anyway. Even if he does, 7 SPs will probably not be enough. Assuming Owens/Johnson/Elias are useless, we will still need one more SP, at least.

The options are : Owens, Johnson, or Elias (who isn't even available yet). If Fister would take a minor league deal I would prefer him to the others.

Exactly. The only barometer of how he is doing is him pitching effectively and without pain. That is some time away yet.

No, there isn't a law that forces a patient to accurately relay to anyone else what a doctor has told him. And its unlikely that the doctor would initiate a call to his or her patient to ask them to stop propagating a lie. That said, how likely is it that both Price and Farrell are both lying about the diagnosis and prognosis, as best Dr Andrews, the world's expert on these injuries, knows? I can understand some misinterpretation, but seriously, LIGAMENT and MUSCLE are not spelled the same. Its entirely possible that Andrews covered the possibility of occult injury to the UCL in his discussions, and that that was left out of what Price and Farrell had to say. Every one of us knows by now that its possible that Andrews missed the diagnosis and that Price may still undergo TJS. I would envision that the conversation went something like this: Andrews: "Based on the results of your examination and of your MRI in my judgement you have not suffered any damage to your UCL and that the most likely cause of your discomfort is a sprain of your flexor tendon mass. I do not recommend either surgery or an injection, therefore, at this time-just rest and anti-inflammatory medications. After 7-10 days of treatment we will re-evaluate how you are doing. If your clinical course is not consistent with my diagnosis additional tests may be indicated". Now doesn't that sound reasonable? Some of us are more comfortable than others in accepting what Andrews likely said without assuming that Price misinterpreted Dr A. NONE of us assume that he is out of the woods until he starts pitching effectively. I for one believe, based on what has been written, that its more likely than not that Price will be pitching for the Red Sox again sooner rather than later.

Swihart was 1 for 3 today. He is now batting .308 in spring training in a small sample size. He proper position is catcher. Sometimes it takes a while for catchers to become excellent defensively. The Sox should exercise patience with him at that position.

I think Farrell was referring to the "best case scenerio" by saying that of the reasonable choices available, it was the best case. No one in their right mind though this was a pinched nerve. The two most like sites of injury were: ligament or muscle. Furthermore, I for one am not expecting that after the re-evaluation in 7-10 days Price will be good to go. He may need longer. That time period was just the earliest possible time that he might begin rehab. And as Jacko said below, he is far from being out of the woods; TJS is still very much on the table. That said, as happened with Andrew Miller in June 2015, sometimes a flexor mass strain is just a flexor mass strain. I am optimistic that thats all it is.