If there’s one thing that is ill-advised in the realm of Major League Baseball, it’s provoking the New York Yankees on the topic of championships won.
The Boston Red Sox’s apparently bitter catcher Christian Vazquez did just that after his team was swept by the Yankees in the Bronx on Monday, an occasion that marked the Bombers’ 10th-consecutive victory over the Sox.
“I think the only thing I can tell is they have no rings. I have one,” Vazquez said to media regarding Boston’s 2018 World Series championship, which included a lopsided victory over the Yankees in the ALDS that year. “We beat them in the playoffs. I like my ring.”
Interestingly enough, Vazquez’s commentary comes as Boston dropped to a measly 6-17 on the season and after former Red Sox manager Alex Cora was fired due to evidential involvement in the Houston Astros’ illegal sign-stealing scandal in 2017 and — shockingly enough — a similar one in Boston during that 2018 championship season.
So in short, Vazquez bragged that his sole pinnacle of success is both controversial and dated; not to mention his .207 batting average in 2018 didn’t quite put him up there with the ranks of catcher Carlton Fisk.
Paraphrasing what Robin Williams once said to Matt Damon, it’s not Vazquez’s fault that the 29-year-old has only played over 100 games in one season of his major-league career — or that he is a below-average lifetime batter who has struck out a near 80% as much as he’s hit.
Fortunately, Vazquez now has a chance at the spotlight this season as much of the 2018 Red Sox personnel has disbanded from either free agency or forced removal due to their involvement in disgracing baseball.
He’s off to one heck of a start this year in the batter’s box, striking out 18 times in Boston’s last 15 games.
This season, it’s unfair to criticize Vazquez’s fielding against the Yankees since he doesn’t catch much on account of the Yankees hitting almost everything in sight against the Red Sox.
As that six-win record is unlikely to manifest Boston into a playoff dark horse, Vazquez will probably have a good amount of time to develop ahead of the 2021 season.
Perhaps his future hitting progression will be improved after up-close observation of the home run record set by Aaron Judge against Boston on Sunday, August 2.
If not, then at least he had 2018!
As for the Yankees, who sit atop the MLB standings with a core deeper than Boston’s one-time 85-year championship drought, that team aims to make the catcher’s point moot in October.
