Monday, February 22, 2016

Why can't the Red Sox plan to have two "starting" catchers?

Swihart left, Vazquez right.
Christian Vazquez (now 25) won Boston's starting catcher job in 2014.  Last year, Vazquez got hurt (he had Tommy John surgery) and 23-year-old Blake Swihart took over the role.  Now there's a "battle" between the two long-time top prospects in Spring Training 2016.

My question is, do the Red Sox really need to chose?  I don't think there's an issue (other than figuring out what to do with veteran backup Ryan Hanigan).  Catchers are not everyday players.  On average, most regular backstops play about 100-110 games per season.  It seems to me there's an easy solution:

Split the 162 down the middle and it's 81 each.  Put Swihart at DH for 20 games or so when 40-year-old David Ortiz needs a day off, and that's 101 starts for both young catchers.  Problem solved.  Or at the very least, begin the season with that plan and see what happens.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Back to homepage