Red Sox catcher Ryan Hanigan has suffered a displaced fracture to his finger and is destined for surgery, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports on Twitter. He is expected to miss a significant period of time after taking a deflected ball to his hand in tonight’s game.

That’s highly unwelcome news for a Boston team that is already without the other half of its expected backstop tandem in Christian Vazquez for the rest of the season. Sandy Leon was added to the mix just before the start of the season, and the team does have both top prospect Blake Swihart and veteran Humberto Quintero available at Triple-A.

But none of those options are really ideal, for various reasons. Leon has never been viewed with much promise offensively, while Quintero is a 35-year-old career backup. Swihart is, of course, the game’s best-regarded catching prospect. But he is still completing his development and would line up as a Super Two if promoted now.

Speculation will immediately turn to the possibility of an acquisition, and indeed there seems to be good reason to think that could occur. No player is more available than former Boston backstop Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who remains in DFA limbo with a Marlins club that is highly motivated to save some money on his contract. Players like Dioner Navarro of the Blue Jays and Welington Castillo of the Cubs also remain under-utilized with their current clubs.