Kimmi

I really have no argument with this.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. And I was just reading that the Twins gave up a draft pick to sign him.

It seems like it, but I don't want the Sox to panic and call him up before he is ready. Catchers need time to hone their skills behind the plate. I am glad that the FO decided to send him to AAA at least to start the season.

Quite modest too, I've noticed.

We likely will not need Hanigan to get through the entire season as our primary catcher. He should be able to do a good job for 2 months or so, at which time maybe Swihart will be ready. If not, the Sox can trade for another catcher. I read an article today which projected the dropoff from Vazquez/Hanigan to Hanigan/Leon to be between 1/2 and 1 win, provided Hanigan's offense rebounds some and he can manage the greater workload. Every win is important, but the dropoff should not be as bad as I originally feared. Interestingly, The Clone's offense is so pitiful that he projects to be no better than replacement level. But, his defense should still stand out, both in terms of framing and gunning down base runners, which should be good for our pitchers.

I am a huge Vazquez fan, but my understanding is that Swihart projects to be almost as good defensively as Vazquez is. He is not there yet, and not ready for major league action yet, but with a little more seasoning, he should get there. Add to that Swihart's supposed strong offense, he projects to be the better overall catcher. If that's the case, Swihart has to get the nod over Vazquez.

I think the Sox learned their lesson last year in trying to start 3 youngsters at 3 key positions, and not having the depth to cover those guys in case of injury or underperformance. The 2013 team had incredible depth. Last year's team did not. Injuries and underperformances are inevitable. The more depth and flexibility you can keep on your team, the better.

Castillo is the better player based on what? Minimal innings at the big league level? I'm hoping that he will be a far better player than Craig or Nava, but that's not a given in the role that Craig and Nava are expected to play right now as bench players. You said yourself that Castillo needs the at bats. Having him sitting on the bench is not going to do him any good. By all reports, Craig's swing looks much better this year than it did last. From what I've heard, he is looking more like that player he was a couple of years ago than the player he was last year.

I know it's only spring training, but I get the early sense that you can't count this team out of most games.

I'm not so sure that Nava and Craig are on the outs. And I'm not so sure that keeping them on the roster for now is going against the "best player for the roster spot" decision.

This is hilarious!

Could be eventually, but I'm glad that both are still with the team. I think the team's depth is one of its strengths this year.

He's probably scared to play against you in fantasy baseball too.

It is a lot of money, but it comes down to Castillo having options, and the Sox not wanting to sacrifice its depth or flexibility this early in the season. As Farrell said, Castillo is here for the long-term. If he produces, the Sox will more than get their money's worth out of his contract.

Castillo will no doubt be back up. I'm not so sure about JBJ and Humberto. That depends on a number of factors. I'm a big JBJ fan. I really hope the Sox do not trade him.

I'm not saying that preventing stolen bases is not important, just that it is the least important of a catcher's attributes. That said, I agree with you that Vazquez' ability to prevent stolen bases would have meant more with our mediocre, groundball inducing staff than it would have meant with some other staffs.

I hate it when the players get into brawls. I will never understand the appeal of boxing.

Sorry, but not every freakin catcher in MLB baseball knows how to frame the freakin plate. Some are terrible at it, and actually cost their pitchers some runs. And I will say again that of all of the defensive attributes of a catcher, CS% is the least important. While stolen bases have their importance (like Roberts steal in 2003), they are mostly overrated in more ways than one.

Castillo, JBJ, and Humberto have been assigned to Pawtucket. Craig and Nava are breaking camp with the team.

Nah, not afraid to play against you. It's more like I don't want to embarrass you.

Stylistically, I agree with you. I am a huge fan of defense, especially at catcher and SS. That said, the team has to go with the better overall player. If that means sacrificing a little defensively, then so be it. It's a similar situation to Iglesias versus Bogaerts. I loved Iglesias' defense, but Bogaerts is supposed to be the better overall SS, although we didn't see that last season.

Vazquez is a special defensive talent. No, several teams do not have catchers that can play defense like Vazquez can, though the Nationals seem to have one, at least through the minor leagues. There are no 'clones', plural. Just one clone. Who knows why the Nationals were willing to part with Leon over Ramos or Lobaton. Maybe they don't value catcher defense as much as the Sox do. Maybe they feel that with their great pitching staff, they don't need the pitch framing as much as they need the offense from that position. Maybe they felt that Ramos and Lobaton are both better overall catchers because Leon's offense is so weak. Why will there be a negative impact on our defense from losing Vazquez? For one, there will be a learning curve for Leon in getting to know our pitchers. For two, Leon will not be catching as many games as a healthy Vazquez would have been. For three, I don't know how proven Leon is at the major league level. All that said, I have also said that I feel less concerned about the loss of Vazquez since Leon was added.

I have stated that Leon's offense is mostly nonexistent. I am only speaking about the defensive side of things.

The Nats have two major league catchers already on their roster in Wilson Ramos and Jose Lobaton. I think Lobaton is known as a pretty good pitch framer. Regardless, the Nats were going to have to DFA Leon because he had no options. Good for the Sox. We picked him up for almost nothing. Leon has shown nothing yet at the major league level, but in the minors, he and Vazquez were virtual clones defensively. In fact, I was just reading that he and Vazquez are good friends, and that their careers have more or less paralleled each other. Believe it or not. As far as Hanigan goes, I agree that he is not a full time catcher. He and Leon (or Quintero) need to be able to hold things down for a couple of months.

When you say 'THAT dropoff', I'm not sure exactly what you are including in that dropoff. I guess there is no way that we will never know for sure how much losing him will affect our pitching staff. We can look at framing and caught stealing numbers, but we won't know if the staff would have pitched better and with more confidence having Vazquez behind the plate than some other catcher.