McAdam: Red Sox make the right call at catcher - with some risks

After a full season in which they managed to keep a trio of catchers on their roster for the entire year, the Red Sox determined that, for 2019, three couldn't go into two again.

Accordingly, Dave Dombrowski signaled early in the offseason, then re-affirmed more strongly in January, the Sox would have just two catchers on the roster when Opening Day rolled around.

On Tuesday, that became a reality, with Sandy Leon, having cleared waivers, was outrighted off the 40-man roster and assigned to Pawtucket. Leon will have 48 hours to accept or refuse an assignment, but since refusing it would also mean forfeiting his $2.4-million salary for the year, it's a virtual certainty he'll accept.

He'll be just 45 miles away should an injury befall either Christian Vazquez or Blake Swihart, the two survivors of the spring catching competition.

BSJ ANALYSIS



Choosing Vazquez as the primary catcher with Swihart as his backup was the proper move here. Vazquez, though highly inconsistent a year ago and prone to some bad habits in the first half of 2018, possesses one of the game's strongest throwing arms and has grown as both a pitch framer and game-caller.

Moreover, Vazquez has at least hinted at some offensive upside -- both in 2017 and again in the postseason.

Swihart, though he's yet to fully establish himself as a major league catcher, has shown tremendous growth in the last year behind the plate and earned the trust of the pitching staff and coaching staff. And Swihart still has the potential to be a significant offensive contributor. His athleticism and versatility only add to his appeal.

But this move, logical though it may be, carries with it some risk.

Leon was a favorite of staff ace Chris Sale, who placed total confidence in Leon to call a game and threw his pitches with added conviction.

"I trust him implicitly,'' gushed Sale last season.

Sale wasn't alone in his faith in Leon. Last year, with Vazquez sidelined with a broken finger and Swihart not yet fully vested enough to catch a veteran rotation on a regular basis, the Red Sox had a stretch in which they won 26 of 27 games with Leon behind the plate. In his career with the Sox, Boston pitchers compiled a 3.51 ERA.

In the end, however, Leon's offensive contributions were nearly non-existent for the last year-plus. In the second half of the season, he had an anemic .330 OPS and collected just 11 hits in his final 42 games.

Some of that offensive drop-off could be attributed to fatigue as Leon started virtually every game for a period of almost five weeks. But even when Vazquez returned in August and September, providing opportunities for Leon to rest more often, his offense was negligible.

This spring, Leon insisted that his poor season at the plate was more the result of "trying to do too much,'' while hitting coach Tim Hyers observed that Leon wasn't selective enough.

But in Grapefruit League play, Leon showed little improvement, hitting .233 for the spring. That made him the logical choice to be the odd-man-out.

Had the Sox begun trying to market one of their catchers earlier in the offseason, they might have realized some return in a trade and shed a salary. (Even though Leon will be off the 40-man roster -- assuming he accepts the assignment -- his money will count against the salary tax threshold).

But a second straight slow free-agent market left teams with cheaper options, without any accompanying player cost. The Kansas City Royals, who had shown interest in Swihart, opted to sign free agent Martin Maldonado to replace the injured Salvador Perez earlier this month at $2.5 million, rather than give up prospects for one of the Sox catchers.

Leon's absence from the major league roster will require some adjustment, particularly for Sale, who, like most veteran pitchers, is most comfortable maintaining a familiar routine. Pitching to Vazquez (and occasionally, presumably, to Swihart) will require some getting used to.

But Sale has changed catchers before and will undoubtedly adjust in time.

Boxed in and in a numbers squeeze, the Red Sox had to make a call. Had they given up on Swihart, after developing him for the past seven years in the organization, they would run the risk that he would go elsewhere and emerge as the catcher they've long envisioned.

As for Vazquez, he may hardly qualify as an All-Star. But as someone who has established a rapport with virtually every pitcher on the staff and can shut down an opponent's running game as well as anyone in the league, there's value to his presence, too.