Red Sox move Vazquez to 60 day DL
By Rick McNair
The Christian Vazquez situation moved from bad to a potentially worse case scenario with his being placed on the 60 day DL. This puts Vazquez on the sidelines until late May or early June under the best of circumstances and those are fast evaporating.
The next move for Vazquez and the Red Sox is a second opinion and that will mean a visit to the famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews. The mention of Andrews is usually linked to possible Tommy John surgery, which would sideline Vazquez until the 2016 season or possibly later.
Vasquez, age 24, was slated to be the Red Sox starting catcher after a productive, especially defensively, 2014 season when he slashed .240/.308/.309 and had a 52% caught stealing percentage. Vazquez has been drawing raves for his pitch handling and general behind the plate defensive prowess.
With Vazquez gone the primary catching chores will fall on Ryan Hanigan. The catching shuffle has now taken place with the latest acquisition being a trade with the Washington Nationals for 26-year-old Sandy Leon. Leon joins the veterans Luke Montz and Humberto Quintero in camp along with long-time minor league catcher Matt Spring and highly rated prospect Blake Swihart.
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