Rival teams have shown interest in Boston’s catching trio of Connor Wong, Carlos Narvaez, and Mickey Gasper, The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey reports. It seems like Wong may be viewed the most expendable of the group, as McCaffrey writes that “the Red Sox are shopping Wong in particular.”
The 2024 season was seemingly a breakout for Wong, who hit .280/.333/.425 with 13 homers over 487 plate appearances. Last year, however, Wong stumbled to a .190/.262/.238 slash line over 188 PA. His playing time was reduced first by a pinkie finger fracture that cost him a month of action early in the season, and then as Wong struggled following his IL activation, Narvaez emerged as Boston’s preferred option behind the plate.
The situation has flipped to some extent in 2026, as Wong has rebounded to hit a respectable .264/.338/.375 over 82 PA, while Narvez is hitting only .214/.290/.313 over 125 PA. Gasper wasn’t called up from Triple-A until May 7, but over the last month has also gotten a good chunk of playing time both as a catcher and a DH, as Gasper is batting .306/.353/.387 in 69 PA.
Most teams only carry two catchers on their 26-man roster, though Gasper has hit well enough to earn himself more of a look on an offensively-challenged Red Sox team. The other wrinkle is that Narvaez is clearly the best defensive catcher of the group, which may be why Wong could be the relative odd man out, if the Sox prefer Gasper’s bat and Narvaez’s glove as the preferred catching combination. Gasper and Narvaez are also both pre-arbitration players, though Wong isn’t exactly expensive — he is earning $1.375MM in 2026 in the first of his three arb years.
With former big leaguers Jason Delay and Matt Thaiss both at Triple-A, the Red Sox may feel they have enough catching depth to move Wong elsewhere if the right offer emerges. Given that catcher is a traditionally thin position around the game, it isn’t surprising that Boston is getting calls on its backstops, even if it relatively rare to see a starting-level catcher dealt in-season.
The first week of June is also a little early for trades of true consequence, as clubs generally wait until much closer to the trade deadline for such moves. The amount of parity in the American League has also made trade talks more difficult to parse, as Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow alluded to when speaking with McCaffrey and other reporters yesterday.
“[We’re] having a lot of conversations, a lot of discussions, and I think it’s been kind of true industry-wide,” Breslow said. “But there are a lot of teams that probably feel pretty similar to us, which is to say that they have confidence in their rosters, they know they’re not playing as well as they’re capable of, and really, nobody is kind of putting the postseason out of reach. So there are a bunch of teams that are in it right now and are thinking along the same lines as we are.”
While the Red Sox have a 27-35 record, they are also only 3.5 games behind the 31-32 Rangers for the last AL wild card slot. To this end, Boston has been looking to add to its roster, with right-handed hitting a particular desire for the club. Wong is a right-handed hitter with roughly even splits for his career, though 2026 has been a reverse-splits year, with Wong enjoying far more success against right-handed pitchers than against southpaws.
If the Sox do fall out of the race and decide to sell, the team would have plenty of trade chips available, particularly from its relief corps. McCaffrey notes that the Red Sox have gotten calls on Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Whitlock, and Justin Slaten, but the club currently has “no interest in dealing anyone from that bullpen trio.” That stance is understandable given how Boston’s pen has helped carry the team this season, so even in a strength-for-strength scenario, the Red Sox might not want to deplete the bullpen to address another need.
Chapman and Whitlock are technically both in the final years of their contracts, but with some level of additional control. The $13MM mutual option for Chapman’s 2027 season vests into a guaranteed salary if he pitches only 40 innings, and he has already logged 19 2/3 frames. The Red Sox hold an $8.75MM club option (with a $1MM buyout) on Whitlock for 2027, and a $10.5MM club option ($100K buyout) on his services for 2028. Slaten would probably be the toughest to pry away in a trade due to his affordability, as the right-hander doesn’t reach arbitration eligibility until this winter.
And what would the return be, a bucket of balls and maybe a A-level prospect?
If Wong had any value he’d be the starting C 🙄
Or he’d still be the backup due to Narvaez being better defensively
The team cant carry 3 catchers and Wong has the least amount of time (2 years) left of control.
Trading him makes sense, especially when several teams have injured starters.
He wouldn’t return much, but that’s not really the point of the article, bro.
There’s something Wong with it…..
Sox brass fussing with the deck chairs as the ship sinks lower in the water.
Not really understanding the point here since Wong’s arb2/arb3 years aren’t going to be valued highly enough to bring back the kind of player this roster needs. I’ve been thrilled with the quality of Gasper plate appearances; this is also a 30yo whose OPS struggles to get out of the .700s when he’s hitting .340. Wong isn’t the defender Narvaez is, but Gasper lags behind both. I’m not sure why Gasper is a guy you make long term room for instead of being thrilled for him to get MLB service time and to have received positive contributions out of high minors depth.
Narvaez played through a knee injury requiring offseason surgery, and he dislocated a finger earlier this season without an IL stint. All three rostered catchers are guys you’re looking to PH or def replacement for in many situations, so it does make some sense to carry three, especially when there aren’t any clearly better ideas kicking around in Worcester. And you’re one Narvaez IL stint away from starting Gasper ahead of Thaiss or Delay? I can’t imagine Wong trade return upside exceeding the significant downside of turning an averageish position (mostly carried by Narvaez defense) into a bottom 3 position in the event of a Narvaez absence. Upper minors totally empty of prospect help, too.
Phillies could be a match. They could use a back up C upgrade.
Breslow’s answers make me cringe. He just dances around every question with BS answers.
Also what would the return be for Wong? I can’t imagine anything more than cash or some office supplies. No one is trading a player for him
That’s just Wong.
Whatever they do, I’m sure they will find a way to make their team worse. Trade away Devers and then trade away Harrison and Tibbs. Nice moves.
FSG needs to take the keys to the car away from Bres the stiff before he donks up something else! He should NOT be allowed to make any major changes to the team! If Henry had balls and any compassion, he’d put him out of his misery today!
Breslow has made good deals and bad deals. Garrett Crochet, Carlos Narvaez, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Adolis Chapman, dumping Devers, are all examples of good deals.
Making deals, although not perfect, is the fastest way to improve your team.
I don’t know who will get traded and for what in the next 2 months, but what I do know is that the returns will be vastly underwhelming.