The Red Sox landed an impact bat in Willson Contreras on Sunday. The longtime catcher made the move to first base last season, and that’s expected to stick in Boston. “We see him primarily at first base, maybe some DH opportunities. But the more that we can get his bat in the lineup, the better off we’re going to be,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters, including Sean McAdam of MassLive.com.
Contreras bounced around a bit when he first came up with the Cubs, even logging innings at third base and the corner outfield spots, but spent the majority of his time behind the plate. He served as Chicago’s primary catcher from 2017 through 2021. Conteras split his time fairly equally between catcher and DH in 2022. He went to St. Louis in 2023 and continued to play both catcher and DH somewhat evenly. The Cardinals changed course this past season, slotting Contreras in as their primary first baseman. He also made the occasional start at DH.
Heading into 2025, Contreras only had 11 career appearances at first base. He made 119 starts at the position this past season. Contreras delivered fine to solid defensive results, depending on the metric. Outs Above Average looked favorably on Contreras, with a +4 grade. Defensive Runs Saved wasn’t as kind at -1. Given Contreras’ significant contributions as a hitter, Boston will likely be fine with close to average defensive numbers. The 33-year-old has posted a wRC+ of at least 124 in four straight seasons.
Boston has Carlos Narvaez and Connor Wong penciled in as its two backstops. Narvaez had just six games of big-league experience when he was dealt from the Yankees to the Red Sox last offseason. He emerged as a reliable offensive contributor, hitting 15 home runs and slashing .241/.306/.419 across 118 appearances. Wong fell off significantly after a strong 2024. He failed to get on track at the plate after missing most of April with a broken finger. Wong has shown enough in the past to be relied on as a backup heading into next season, and it seems he’ll maintain that role if Boston isn’t interested in playing Contreras at the position.
The Contreras addition immediately puts Triston Casas’ role into question. For his part, Breslow expressed optimism about Casas’ outlook. “We still have a ton of confidence and belief in Triston. What he needs to do is commit to doing everything possible to get back on the field. He’s doing that right now,” Breslow said, relayed by Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Casas is currently recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon that cost him most of 2025. His status for the start of next season is uncertain.
Casas has frequently come up in trade rumors this offseason, even before Boston acquired Contreras. The fact that the team added a player at his position could increase the chances he’s on the move. The main inhibitor toward a potential deal is Casas’ recent performance, both in terms of production and health. He hit just .182 over 29 games before going down with the knee injury. Casas was better in 2024, but also spent three months on the injury list with a rib strain.
It’s not just Contreras pushing Casas, either. Boston has another DH option in Masataka Yoshida, who’s been squeezed out of the outfield mix by Jarren Duran, Roman Anthony, and Ceddanne Rafaela. Wilyer Abreu also performed well last year, mostly against right-handed pitching. Breslow didn’t sound overly concerned about the potential roster glut. “Those things tend to work out. (It’s an) opportunity to keep everybody fresh, to keep everybody involved and engaged at the same time.”
Sliding Rafaela to the infield could help alleviate some of the roadblocks for Casas and the young outfielders, but that isn’t the current intention of the club. “We’re a better team with Ceddanne in center field, and we’ll try to keep (him) there,” Breslow said, per Ari Alexander of 7News Boston WHDH. Rafaela earned a Gold Glove in center field this past season.
After splitting his time between shortstop and center field in 2024, Rafaela was primarily on the grass this past season. He made 19 starts at second base, but the rest of his appearances came in the outfield. Rafaela was one of the most impactful defenders at any position in 2025. He tied for second with Alejandro Kirk in Statcast’s Fielding Run Value metric. Patrick Bailey was the only player to be more productive as a defender.
Second base is an area of need for the Red Sox at the moment. If the season started today, Boston would likely be rolling with an uninspiring platoon of Romy Gonzalez and Nick Sogard at the position. Kristian Campbell could factor into that mix, though he’ll need to show more in the minors to earn another big-league opportunity.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images
If the Red Sox play Rafaela in the infield for more than an emergency situation, the entire front office should be fired.
Totally agree. He makes the entire OF defense better and you get the most value from him out there. It’s nice to hear they are finally starting to realise that. Either trade or sign another IF player; simple as that.
It wasn’t as simple as that on first reading but duh I get it. My thought for them to solve this was in trading an outfielder not an IF. Last winter I hoped Cleveland would trade Clase for a Boston outfielder, maybe Abreu, or possibly with the Dodgers. Oh well. That clears up things too and gives Rafaela a no doubt home.
First
He’s a wack job
Did you hear that? He saw it on the television.
Nope saw it first hand when he played for cubs blows his mouth off on the regular
Chase Burns, Matt McClain for Jarren duran Kristian campbell and Early.
Interesting
“Impact bat” huh?
A 34yr old who’s never hit 25 HRs in a season and is a 250 career hitter…… That’s a dime a dozen and about a dozen miles away from “impact bat”. What a homer charlie wright is
His exit velocity is good, and he’s going to love peppering the Monster for doubles.
bass – His Pull Percentage this year was the 2nd-lowest of his career. Hopefully he doesn’t mess up his swing with the Monsta tempting him.
Bregman was supposedly going to rake in Fenway too …. didn’t work out that way at all.
CJ- what about his 128 ops+ the past 3 years? Contreras has been very good for the Cardinals.
Red Sox fan saying “How many homas did he hit?”, is equivalent to a gym muscle head saying “How much ya bench?”
CJ
OPS+
2022. 126
2023. 123
2024. 138
2025. 123
Avg. OPS+ over past four years 128
“impact bat”…. Yes
Avg. OPS+ over past four years for Bregman is 125
Willson in 2025 hit 20 homers in 490 at bats
Bregman in 2025 hit 18 homers in 433 at bats
His wRC+ is pretty elite. Anthony is the only current Red Sox who was better last year.
Career .811 ops hitter is a dime a dozen?
So you go back 11 years on everyone’s stats, or just when it paints the picture you like?
Anything beyond three years, for any player, is irrelevant to what he’ll do in the next season.
@reggie sorry should I have referenced his ops for the last three years, which is like 12 points higher?
Or does that not fit your picture of him?
My picture is easier to see, without games, it right here:
baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/willson-contr…
xSLG 85
Barrel 86
Bat Speed 95
Wow look at all that RED!!! I see very good defense combined with very good offense for short money, and short length.
Leaving David Hamilton out of the potential 2B options seems rather intentional.
Rather have Anthony Hamilton at 2b. At least he can sing
Alexander?
As it should be. He’s only good at being fast.
Are the Sox willing to trade out prospects in order to dump Yoshida’s salary? Using BTV, a package of Kyson Witherspoon + Kyle Harrison is almost enough to offset Yoshida and his entire 37M owed. Would they even do that?
Another option is Jordan Hicks and his 25M due which by BTV could be offset with Witherspoon alone.
Question is, since they clearly have the prospect capital to clear out those two contracts of Yoshida and Hicks, would they do that in order to sign Bregman or Bichette or one one of the arms like Valdez or Gallen?
Nine – I’ve said the same thing, attaching prospects to Yoshida/Hicks in order to save some money could help sign others.
But if it was gonna happen, I would think it would have happened by now. It’s not something you can really do after signing the free agents.
Yoshida was arguably the best hitter on the team down the stretch..is he overpaid sure but its not like he isnt a solid hitter.the red sox have plenty of money to sign bregman or bichette without any of these proposals..and there has been little reported on them signing a top end pitcher
4HR’s and 26 RBI’s is hardly a “solid hitter”….the Sox have been trying to dump him since they signed him and found out he’s a singles hitter with little to no power and defensively challenged at Fenway…..your characterization as “the best hitter down the stretch” is a real stretch itself…..
Disagree Rocky on Yoshida who was injured. He was their best hitter to end the year. Injuries happen and while I expect him traded before opening day, having him around is not a bad option IF others can play multiple positions so he remains a DH only. I’d love to get rid of Hicks but that was the cost of getting Devers’ contract off the books. Just eat that contract if you can’t dump him with others in a trade.
If the season started today, the game would be snowed out.
And Wong was fine over the last two months of the season.
Let’s keep it simple here. Trade one of the four everyday outfielders, either Duran or Abreu. Play Rafaela every day in CF. Casas can battle Yoshida and Gonzalez for playing time. If he lives up to his ego, he’ll easily be the best of the three. If not, then he has an option remaining and can relearn the game in the minors or until an injury opens a job.
Isn’t really all that difficult… Contreras is the best defensive 1B and an everyday player, so that’s where he plays most of his starts.
All that just sounds too complicated and beating around the bush. Please simplify.
I don’t get why people are bagging out this trade. He’s rated well with the leather, carries an OPS .800+, is reasonably priced, the contract is relatively short and fulfills a need in a position which was questionable going into the year. Oh, and they gave up players from a position of surplus.
It ticks a lot of boxes.
But yes, they still need another infielder.