What are the Red Sox options at catcher?
What are the Red Sox options at catcher?
Roll With What You Got
The Red Sox made a trade deadline move and brought in Reese Mcguire. They also shipped out Chrisitan Vazquez at the deadline. Then a few weeks later, they released Kevin Plawecki. That left the team having to call up Connor Wong. As it stands today, the Red Sox will be rolling into next season with a Mcguire-Wong tandem. While Mcguire had success with the bat after being acquired, the former Blue Jay turned White Sox catcher has never been the full time starter in his young career. Connor Wong has had very little opportunity at the big level to this point in his career.
While the experience may not be there for the two, a fellow teammate and pitcher on the team gave his vote of confidence in the two. Just a month ago, we had the chance to interview Josh Winckowski in regards to what he thought about the two current cactchers on the roster. While experience may not be there, many of the younger pitchers came up thru the system with Wong and are very familiar with him. Mcguire has shown he can put together a competitive at bat every time he is at the plate, so developing the chemistry behind the plate with the staff will come with time.
Explore Other Options
The one thing I have learned since Chaim Bloom has taken over baseball operations is that the front office of the Boston Red Sox moves in silence. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Bloom has checked in on guys on the open market at this position. He wouldn’t be doing his job if he hasn’t checked in on someone like Christian Vazquez. If the money and term is right, why not bring him back? One could assume a guy like Wilson Contreras is going to bring home the bank since he is the top player at the position on the open market. You also have guys like Mike Zunino, Omar Narvaez, and Jorge Alfaro who could be potential starting options.
The trade route is always a possibility too, especially with a deepened farm system Bloom has helped build up. There have been a few names thrown around so far this offseason that are on the trade block.
While it certainly is possible the Red Sox want to improve anywhere they can, it just doesn’t seem likely for them to offload anything to improve at the catcher position. If a big trade is to be made, a top tier pitcher would make a lot more sense for a team who is only returning one starting pitcher who started in the rotation last year.
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