FORT MYERS — To cover for the costly loss of catcher Christian Vazquez, the Red Sox yesterday acquired Sandy Leon from the Washington Nationals.
Vazquez was placed on the 60-day disabled list with an elbow sprain.
Leon, known for a strong throwing arm and solid defensive skills, has the inside track on the job share with Ryan Hanigan, although Humberto Quintero is still under consideration. Quintero, however, has an opt-out clause in his contract that he may invoke.
“I want to wait and see a bit what happens,” Quintero, who has 471 games in the big leagues versus 34 for Leon, said. “I’ve played well here. I’m happy for him, he’s my friend, but we’ll have to see what happens.”
Quintero started last night’s 14-2 Grapefruit League win against the Minnesota Twins and went 1-for-4 with an RBI single. The Twins did steal a base on him.
The Red Sox paid cash for Leon, who is out of options. Should Quintero opt out, the depth chart at catcher would appear rather shallow with Luke Montz and Matt Spring the other non-roster invitees.
Prospect Blake Swihart surely appears headed to the minors to begin his 2015 season.
“The view is that, with a young player like Blake, we’d prefer to get them on a little bit of a roll at the minor league level before they come to us,” manager John Farrell said. “There’s also a need to continue to refine the receiving side of things. He’s had quite a bit of opportunity here in camp. He’s shown well. Just in the big picture, I think we can probably all benefit by playing every day and continuing to work on the areas, the developmental areas that are there.”
Leon’s strength is his defense.
“Someone that we have always graded fairly high on the receiving end of things at the position,” Farrell said. “We have every intention of him being behind the plate (today) up against the (Tampa Bay) Rays. The remaining days will be taken advantage of to get a look here.”
Leon arrived at JetBlue Park before the game.
“I’m happy to be here, just to be on a new team with new teammates, new pitchers, start communicating with them and start learning a lot with them,” Leon said.
Leon has seen only sporadic major league action over the last three seasons. He appeared in a career-high 20 games last year.
Like Vazquez, Leon is known for his throwing arm. Offense is not his calling card — in eight minor league seasons he hit .236 with 21 home runs and a .324 on-base percentage.
Vazquez will seek a second opinion from Tommy John surgery specialist Dr. James Andrews tomorrow in Pensacola, Fla.
Uehara’s not close
Farrell did not mention the disabled list, but he all but eliminated closer Koji Uehara (hamstring) from consideration for the Opening Day roster next Monday in Philadelphia, when the Sox will play the first of three games against the Phillies.
“I don’t think there’s anything to suggest that come next Monday he’s in our bullpen,” Farrell said.
Uehara threw a bullpen session but said he felt discomfort. He brought up the disabled list.
“I don’t know when I’ll be back, it’s a day-to-day process — I have to do what I have to do to get ready,” Uehara said. “I think I’m going to start on the DL just because I haven’t had the games.”
Rotation unsettled
Farrell said the identity of the No. 3 starter behind Clay Buchholz and Rick Porcello, either Justin Masterson or Wade Miley, is still up in the air. The availability of No. 5 starter Joe Kelly (biceps) also remains an unknown.
Masterson allowed the Twins an unearned run on five hits in 52⁄3 innings. He struck out four and walked one. . . .
Matt Barnes, Robbie Ross and Tommy Layne remain in contention for a bullpen spot, but Farrell made it clear the composition of the relief corps is a work in progress.
“I don’t have seven names to give you right now,” he said.
Ross struck out two and allowed one hit in 11⁄3 scoreless innings last night.
Gone in a snap
First baseman Mike Napoli crushed a broken-bat home run to left field in the fourth inning.
It was Napoli’s fourth homer of the spring, but the first that saw him leave the batter’s box with only the handle of the bat in his hands. He also singled and is hitting .433.
Red Sox Notebook: Leon in for Vazquez - Boston Herald
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