Red Sox Make Several Roster Decisions
The Red Sox’ Opening Day roster is coming into focus. Boston announced this morning that catcher/infielder Mickey Gasper and infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton were optioned to minor league camp. Non-roster catcher Matt Thaiss was also reassigned to minor league camp. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo suggests that Thaiss was not picked up by another club after using his upward mobility clause, so he’ll head to Triple-A Worcester as catching depth. That slate of moves sets the club’s bench with catcher Connor Wong, utilitymen Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Andruw Monasterio, and outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida.
Neither Wong nor Thaiss had a particularly strong spring, though the latter was the more productive of the two. Wong is already under contract for $1.375MM, however. He struggled through a career-worst season in 2025 but had a productive showing at the plate as recently as 2024 (.280/.333/.425).
Monasterio tops Eaton and Gasper for a bench spot after a strong spring showing: .300/.383/.425 in 47 plate appearances. The Sox picked Monasterio up alongside Caleb Durbin in the trade sending Kyle Harrison, Shane Drohan and David Hamilton to the Brewers. He’s played in each of the past three seasons with the Brewers and is coming off a career-best .270/.319/.437 slash in 156 plate appearances in 2025. Monasterio gives the Sox a right-handed bat with experience across all four infield positions.
On the pitching side of things, Rule 5 righty Ryan Watson was informed he has made the team, per WEEI’s Rob Bradford. Left-hander Tyler Samaniego has been optioned to Triple-A, Cotillo reports.
The 28-year-old Watson was selected out of the Giants organization in December’s Rule 5 Draft (by way of a trade with the A’s). He’d posted 50 2/3 innings with a 4.26 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League last year. Watson punched out 28.1% of the opponents he faced in Triple-A, walked only 7% of them and also notched a solid 43.8% grounder rate. He’s had a shaky spring, allowing seven runs on a dozen hits and three walks in 11 2/3 innings (5.56 ERA). He hasn’t missed many bats, either, but the Sox believe in the raw arsenal enough to open the season with Watson locked into a bullpen spot.
As a Rule 5 pick, Watson cannot be optioned to the minors at any point. The Red Sox will need to carry him on the big league roster for the entire season if they want to secure full contractual rights over what would be five additional years of club control. If at any point the Sox remove Watson from the roster, he’ll be placed on outright waivers and made available to every other club before being offered back to the Giants (who would not have to place him on their 40-man roster).
Romy Gonzalez Unlikely To Be Ready For Opening Day
Red Sox utilityman Romy Gonzalez has been behind in camp due to shoulder troubles. He received a platelet-rich plasma injection a couple weeks ago in hopes of being ready for Opening Day, but the righty-swinging infielder now tells Christopher Smith of MassLive.com that he doesn’t think it’s realistic. Gonzalez is running and doing agility work but isn’t fielding, throwing or swinging a bat yet. He says he won’t begin hitting until next Friday (March 6) at the earliest.
“At this point, I think the ramp-up would be a little too quick and it’d be a disservice I feel like to myself and the team if I’m not ready to roll and have a good build up,” Gonzalez tells Smith.
The 29-year-old Gonzalez suffered a shoulder injury in one of the final games of the 2025 regular season. He spent the offseason rehabbing the injury and thought he was in a good place when the calendar flipped to 2026, but he began experiencing renewed discomfort after ramping up his hitting program last month in preparation for spring training.
Gonzalez is a key part of Boston’s lineup, specifically against left-handed pitching. He’s fresh off a career-best .305/.343/.483 showing that saw him pop nine homers in a career-high 341 plate appearances. The overwhelming amount of Gonzalez’s damage came against left-handed pitching, which he torched for a .331/.378/.600 batting line (162 wRC+) in 143 plate appearances. His .286/.318/.400 line against righties (198 plate appearances) was solid as well, but even including that performance, Gonzalez is just a .243/.267/.349 hitter (65 wRC+) in 439 plate appearances versus fellow righties.
If Gonzalez is indeed unavailable when the Red Sox’ season opener rolls around on March 26, that would likely improve the chances that one of Nate Eaton, Andruw Monasterio, Kristian Campbell or Anthony Seigler makes the roster. Smith calls Monasterio the early favorite, but it’ll obviously hinge on spring performances from the group. They’re all vying for the final bench spot alongside backup catcher Connor Wong, veteran utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa and outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida.
A healthy Gonzalez perhaps renders that competition moot, but it increasingly sounds as though there’ll be at least one bench spot open — possibly more, depending on health or other transactions. The Red Sox have discussed their outfield glut in trades throughout the winter, with Jarren Duran standing as the most commonly cited trade possibility. However, Boston has established a high asking price — understandably so — which has not yet been met. There’s also been plenty of speculation about Boston trying to find a taker for a portion of Yoshida’s contract, but with two years and $36MM yet to be paid out, that’s a tall order.
While the potential loss of Gonzalez is a blow to the team’s depth and potency against lefties, there’s no indication he’s suffered any kind of setback or that he’s looking at an especially long-term absence. He’s making $1.6MM this season in the first of three arbitration seasons and is under club control through 2028.
The Red Sox open with three games in Cincinnati, where they’ll likely face a pair of lefties (Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo). They’ll then head to Houston, where the Astros will deploy an all-righty rotation, before playing host to a Padres team that also looks set for an entirely right-handed starting staff.
Red Sox Designate Ali Sánchez For Assignment
1:57pm: The Sox have now officially signed Lowe and designated Sanchez for assignment. They also placed outfielder Rob Refsnyder on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 15th, due to a left oblique strain and recalled infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton.
1:26pm: The Red Sox will designate catcher Ali Sánchez for assignment today, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The team has yet to announce the move, but they’ll need roster space for their reported agreement with veteran first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
Sánchez, 28, appeared in only one game with the Red Sox and was hitless in his lone plate appearance. He was 5-for-21 with a couple doubles as a member of the Blue Jays before landing in Boston via waivers after being designated for assignment. Sánchez has appeared in parts of four major league seasons and suited up for five teams but has just 132 plate appearances in 47 games overall. He’s a .185/.222/.235 hitter in that tiny sample of scattershot playing time.
Unsurprisingly, Sánchez’s work in the upper minors has been far better. He’s played in parts of six Triple-A seasons and carries a .269/.340/.399 slash in 1266 trips to the plate. He’s a better-than-average defender who excels at blocking balls in the dirt and boasts a superlative 39% caught-stealing rate in his 12-year professional career.
Sánchez is out of minor league options, so any team that claims him off waivers will have to plug him right onto the big league roster. Waivers are the Red Sox’ only possible course of action with Sánchez, now that the trade deadline has passed. He’ll be placed on outright or release waivers within the next five days (very likely the former). He’s been outrighted multiple times in his career, so if Sánchez clears waivers, he’d be able to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency
Red Sox Notes: Abreu, Eaton, Giolito
The Red Sox held a 3-1 lead through seven innings against the Marlins today, but a bullpen meltdown resulted in a 5-3 loss. Beyond the setback in the standings, the Sox also had an injury scare when Wilyer Abreu had to leave the game prior to the top of the eighth inning due to what the club described as right calf tightness.
Speaking with MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith and other reporters postgame, Abreu called his injury “a little cramp” that he picked up while running the bases in the bottom of the seventh. He didn’t feel a trip to the injured list was necessary, though Abreu speculated that he might miss Boston’s upcoming two-game series with the Orioles before returning Wednesday for the start of a series with the Yankees.
In a related move, the Red Sox are calling Nate Eaton up from Triple-A, as initially reported by Nate Parker of Beyond The Monster. Eaton is a third baseman/outfielder who has appeared in 14 games for the Red Sox this season, and he can fill in as a depth option in the outfield either in the short term for the Baltimore series or perhaps for a longer stint if Abreu ends up on the IL.
To include Eaton on the active roster immediately, the Sox are playing with three catchers on the active roster, so Ali Sanchez could be designated for assignment. Boston’s seemingly impending contract with Nathaniel Lowe is another factor in roster decisions, as the Red Sox would then have to make space for both Lowe and Eaton if the signing is completed by Monday. It is possible Eaton could just stick around on the taxi squad rather than being actually added to the 26-man roster, until the team knows more about Abreu’s status.
Abreu hit his 22nd homer today, and is batting .253/.325/.486 over 395 plate appearances this season. The large majority of Abreu’s playing time has come against right-handed pitching, though his .721 OPS in 64 PA against southpaws this season is a big improvement over his numbers against lefties in his previous two big league seasons. Boston’s outfield picture has been crowded enough that Abreu has almost been forced to the bench when a left-handed pitcher is on the mound, yet it bodes well for his future as an everyday player if he can hit well against all pitchers and continue his elite glovework in right field.
In other Red Sox news, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow spoke with MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and other media on Saturday, and implied that after the season, “we’ll have those conversations” with Lucas Giolito about a potential contract extension. Giolito has a 3.63 ERA over 106 2/3 innings in 2025, overcoming a hamstring injury and some early-season struggles to post a 2.34 ERA over his last 73 innings.
Perhaps the key stat is the 106 2/3 innings, as reaching the 140-inning threshold would give Giolito control over his status for 2026. The righty signed a two-year, $38.5MM deal during the 2023-24 offseason that consisted of an $18MM salary in 2024, a $19MM player option for 2025 that Giolito exercised, and then a $14MM club option for 2026 that came into play when Giolito didn’t opt out last winter. If Giolito pitches at least 140 innings this season, the club option becomes a $19MM mutual option with a $1.5MM buyout attached, and mutual options are virtually never exercised by both sides.
In theory, the Sox could maintain their club option by purposefully keeping Giolito under that 140-inning mark, whether by skipping a start or limiting his in-game workload. However, Breslow stated that “all of the decisions that we’re going to make are going to be driven by what gives us the best chance of winning games, getting into the postseason and making a deep postseason run,” rather than worrying about contracts.
“You hope that these situations are clear. When you’re pushing for a playoff spot, they are,” Breslow said. “We’re all incentivized to do whatever we can to win games. The most important thing after that is actually just making sure he’s healthy and recovering and that we’re monitoring the workload so that he’s in a position to help us every five days.”
Naturally, no executive would ever publicly admit to limiting a player’s playing time for contractual reasons, yet Breslow’s stance carries a lot of common sense. Giolito has been one of the better pitchers in all of baseball over the last 10 weeks, so it only helps the Red Sox to have him on the mound as often as possible. If Giolito did hit the 140-inning mark and take the obvious route to free agency, he has pitched well enough that a qualifying offer could be a possibility, which would allow the Sox to recoup a compensatory draft pick if Giolito signed elsewhere.
Red Sox Reinstate Masataka Yoshida, Transfer Nick Burdi To 60-Day IL
The Red Sox announced today that they have reinstated outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida from the 60-day injured list. To open an active roster spot, infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester. Right-hander Nick Burdi was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot.
Yoshida will be making his season debut in today’s game, serving as the designated hitter and batting sixth. He underwent shoulder surgery in October of last year and has been on the injured list until today. He was healthy enough to hit a long time ago but struggled to get his shoulder to a place where he could throw at full strength. That made him unable to play the field and essentially unrosterable. The Sox signed Alex Bregman in the winter and put him at third base, bumping Rafael Devers into the designated hitter spot on an everyday basis.
Much has changed since then. The DH move upset Devers and he was further rankled when Triston Casas got injured and the Sox asked him to learn first base. The relationship soured enough that the Sox flipped him to the Giants in a stunning deal.
That opened the DH spot, and Yoshida is now capable of playing the field, but the Sox still have quite a glut in the outfield. Today, Yoshida is in the DH spot with Roman Anthony in left, Jarren Duran in center and Wilyer Abreu in right. That leaves Ceddanne Rafaela on the bench, in addition to Rob Refsnyder. Yoshida has done some first base drills but isn’t considered much more than an emergency option there.
For now, manager Álex Cora will seemingly take turns benching guys from that mix, with Rafaela getting the first taste of that. Perhaps that can work for the short term but it’s an inelegant mix for the long term. Due to this cluster, there have been plenty of trade rumors surrounding players like Yoshida, Duran and Abreu, as observers speculate about the possibility of the Sox flipping one of them for some pitching.
Duran and Abreu are both strong players in their 20s, with Duran having three years of club control after this one and Abreu four. Yoshida, almost 32 years old, is seemingly less a key piece of the club’s future but his trade value wouldn’t be terribly high at the moment. He is making $18MM annually through the 2027 season. In his major league career, he’s been a poor fielder while his offense has been decent but not astounding. He currently sports a .285/.343/.433 batting line and 113 wRC+. As mentioned, he’s been on the IL all year until today.
Put it all together and it’s a tricky calculus for the Sox. Moving Yoshida is likely preferable for the long term but he would bring back less in a trade than some of their other players. With just a few weeks until the trade deadline, perhaps they will field some interesting calls from other clubs.
As for Burdi, he landed on the 15-day IL in early June due to a right foot contusion. He started a minor league rehab assignment a few weeks ago but only made two appearances. That was due to a hip issue, according to Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald. Injuries have been a persistent problem for Burdi. He has appeared in six different major league seasons, debuting back in 2018, but he has just 30 1/3 big league innings under his belt.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
Red Sox Place Justin Slaten On IL, DFA Blake Sabol
The Red Sox announced a flurry of roster moves this morning. Right-hander Justin Slaten was placed on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation, and was replaced on the roster by right-hander Luis Guerrero. Meanwhile, Boston selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton. Infielder Nick Sogard was optioned to Triple-A in order to make room on the active roster, while catcher Blake Sabol was designated for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot. The additions of Eaton and Guerrero were previously reported last night.
Slaten, 27, has emerged as a crucial piece of the Red Sox bullpen over the past two years. Plucked from the Rangers in the 2023 Rule 5 draft, the right-hander has posted a 3.09 ERA with an even stronger 2.77 FIP across 78 2/3 innings of work. That’s been enough to make him one of the top set-up men on the roster in both of his years with the Red Sox, serving in a high-leverage role setting up closer Kenley Jansen last year and Aroldis Chapman this season. Impressive as those results have been, however, Slaten’s taken a bit of a step back this year. His strikeout rate has dipped to 17.8%, his walk rate has jumped to 7.8%, and he’s shaved nearly ten points off his ground ball rate relative to last year.
Perhaps today’s placement on the injured list offers some level of explanation for that step backwards in production. The right-hander told reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive) that he’s just dealing with some “fatigue” in his shoulder and hopes to be back in action after only a minimum stint. Losing a key piece of the bullpen is never a good thing, but if a two-week trip to the shelf can help Slaten get back to the dominant form he flashed in 2024 that could be well worth it for the club.
As for Sabol, the 27-year-old is a fellow alumnus of the Rule 5 draft. Selected by the Giants in the 2022 installment of the draft, Sabol hit .243/.313/.392 (95 wRC+) in 121 games with the Giants between the 2023 and ’24 seasons while splitting time between catching and the outfield. Unfortunately, Sabol did not show enough offensive potential to serve as a regular outfield option nor enough growth defensively behind the plate to be rostered as a regular catcher in the eyes of San Francisco. That led the club to designate him for assignment back in January, and he was traded to the Red Sox shortly thereafter.
Sabol has largely been a depth option for the Red Sox this year, and has only appeared in eight games with the big league club with a -14 wRC+ in that extremely limited opportunity. The Red Sox will have one week to trade Sabol or attempt to pass him through waivers. If he goes unclaimed, Boston will have the opportunity to outright him to the minor leagues to use as non-roster depth going forward. Connor Wong and Carlos Narvaez have settled in as the club’s primary catching tandem, and depth options like Yasmani Grandal and Seby Zavala remain in the fold at the minor league level.
Red Sox To Select Nate Eaton
The Red Sox are poised to select the contract of infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton ahead of their game against Atlanta tomorrow, according to a report from Chris Henrique of Boston Sports Journal. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo adds that the Red Sox are expected to recall right-hander Luis Guerrero tomorrow. The club’s 40-man and active rosters are both at capacity, meaning additional corresponding moves will be necessary to complete those transactions before tomorrow’s game.
Eaton, 28, made his big league debut with the Royals back in 2022 and posted solid numbers for the club across 44 games with a .264/.331/.387 slash line in 122 trips to the plate. The performance was enough to earn him a role on the 2023 club, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to maintain the previous year’s league average production in year two. His slash line collapsed to just .075/.125/.075 in 56 plate appearances, and that was all she wrote for Eaton’s big league career until now. He spent all of last year at Triple-A Omaha with the Royals but didn’t get called up to the majors, and this past offseason he signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. He’s hitting a solid but unspectacular .277/.364/.446 (117 wRC+) in 225 plate appearances for Triple-A Worcester so far this year.
It’s not the most exciting profile, and it certainly won’t sate Red Sox fans who have been calling for the promotion of star outfield prospect Roman Anthony since Opening Day. With that said, Cotillo made the observation in the aftermath of today’s reporting regarding Eaton that Boston is likely to face a number of left-handed starting pitchers in the near future during series against the Angels and Yankees; given that the Red Sox have previously cited Anthony’s work against left-handed pitching as one area where they hope to see growth from the budding star, it’s not hard to see why the club might prefer an extra right-handed bat in the mix rather than bringing another lefty bat like Anthony into the fold, at least in the short term.
Turning back to Eaton, the 28-year-old offers another right-handed bat for a heavily left-handed Red Sox lineup and can bring versatility to the table. He’s played all three outfield spots and third base in the majors, with additional cameos at both second base and shortstop during his time with the WooSox. He’s also a threat on the basepaths, having swiped 27 bags in 31 attempts for Triple-A Omaha last year. It’s unclear what the corresponding move for Eaton’s addition to the roster will wind up being, and as such it’s hard to predict where exactly the Red Sox plan to use him in the coming days. If an outfielder like Rob Refsnyder or Ceddanne Rafaela is headed for the injured list, it would make sense for Eaton to get most of his reps on the grass. Meanwhile, if he subs in for a player like Nick Sogard or Abraham Toro, perhaps he’ll see most of his time bouncing around the infield.
As for Guerrero, Cotillo notes that the right-hander is not yet eligible to be recalled back to the big league roster unless it’s to replace an injured player, which suggests at least one member of Boston’s pitching staff is headed to the injured list. Whoever he may end up replacing, Guerrero has long looked ready for an extended opportunity in the majors. Since making his big league debut in 2024, the right-hander has pitched to a 0.59 ERA with a 2.42 FIP and a 22.8% strikeout rate. Those are excellent numbers, but they’ve come in just a 15 1/3 inning sample size in the majors with less encouraging results at Triple-A. Even so, given his success in short bursts at the big league level there’s little harm in giving Guerrero a longer look given the recent struggles of more established arms like the recently-injured Liam Hendriks.
Red Sox Agree To Minor League Deals With Seby Zavala, Nate Eaton
The Red Sox have agreed to minor league deals with catcher Seby Zavala, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Boston is also in agreement on a minor league deal with utilityman Nate Eaton, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Eaton would earn a $780K base salary if selected to the 40-man roster. Both players will be invited to major league spring training.
Zavala, a client of Headline Sports Group, spent the 2024 season in the Mariners organization. Seattle acquired him alongside flamethrowing relief prospect Carlos Vargas in the trade sending Eugenio Suarez to the D-backs. The hope was that Zavala, a terrific defender behind the plate, could hold down the backup job to workhorse catcher Cal Raleigh.
Things didn’t pan out that way, however. The 31-year-old Zavala has never hit much, but last year’s .154/.214/.282 slash (in a tiny sample of 43 plate appearances) was too anemic for the M’s to stomach. Zavala was designated for assignment three different times but opted to stick with the M’s via outright assignment each time. He became a minor league free agent at season’s end.
Zavala has appeared in 194 big league games. He’s a career .205/.271/.342 hitter in that time. He’s shown passable power for his position and also displayed some pop in the minors, but Zavala has punched out in a staggering 35.9% of his 557 big league plate appearances. That lack of contact leaves him with practically no hope of producing at even an average level.
Defensively, it’s another story. Zavala regularly posts elite framing marks and draws above-average grades for his ability to block pitches in the dirt, per Statcast. He posted a below-average caught stealing rate in 2023 but was within one percentage point of league-average in both 2024 and 2022. The Red Sox currently only have two catchers on the 40-man roster: Connor Wong and Mickey Gasper. Adding some experienced depth is a sensible endeavor.
Eaton, 28 next month, is a client of Gaeta Sports Management. He didn’t play in the big leagues this past season but logged 72 games and 178 plate appearances for the Royals from 2022-23. He batted only .201/.266/.283 in that time, but the versatile right-handed hitter has a far better track record in the upper minors. In parts of three seasons in Triple-A Omaha, he’s a .261/.320/.455 hitter with 40 homers and 60 steals in 255 games (1060 plate appearances).
Eaton has played primarily third base in his professional career but has at least 600 innings at each of the three outfield slots in addition to another 350 frames at second base and 60 at shortstop. Statcast credited him with 97th percentile sprint speed in his two big league seasons, measuring him at a blazing 29.6 feet per second.
Boston’s bench should have some spots up for grabs. Utilityman Rob Refsnyder, another right-handed bat, figures to have one spot locked down, and Gasper does as well for the time being, currently profiling as the backup to Wong. Romy Gonzalez, Nick Sogard, Enmanuel Valdez and Vaughn Grissom could all be in the mix for spots as well, but they all have minor league options remaining. Eaton’s versatility could earn him a look in the majors with a big spring or a strong early showing with the Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Worcester.
Royals Outright Nate Eaton
The Royals have sent outfielder Nate Eaton outright to Triple-A Omaha, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.
Eaton, who will turn 27 in December, has been serving as a depth outfielder with the Royals since being added to the roster in the second half of 2022. He was put into 72 big league games since that time but hasn’t hit much. He currently sports a batting line of .201/.266/.283 in 178 plate appearances, going down on strikes 28.7% of the time, but he has stolen 14 bases and his defense is generally regarded well.
Players with three years of service time or a previous career outright can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. But neither of those criteria apply to Eaton, so he will stick with the Royals as some non-roster outfield depth. He will likely receive an invitation to major league Spring Training, where he will try to earn his way back into the mix.
Royals Designate Nate Eaton For Assignment
The Royals announced that they have designated outfielder Nate Eaton for assignment. The club has been doing some roster maintenance in the past week-plus, putting various players on waivers in order to open space for the eight players they had on the 60-day injured list. Those players have now been reinstated and Eaton’s removal puts the 40-man roster count at exactly 40.
Eaton, 27 next month, was added to the Royals’ roster in August of 2022. Since then, he has served as optionable depth for the club, appearing in 72 big league games over the last two seasons. His defense is generally regarded well and he has stolen 14 bases in that small amount of time, but he hasn’t been able to hold his own at the plate. In 178 appearances, his batting line is .201/.266/.283, striking out at a 28.7% clip. He has had some better offensive seasons in the minors but struggled in Triple-A in 2023. His .252/.312/.441 translates to a wRC+ of 84, indicating he was 16% below league average at that level.
The Royals will now have a week to trade Eaton or pass him through waivers. Despite the tepid offense, his speed and defense give him a solid floor that could perhaps entire other clubs. He’s also still optionable and wouldn’t require an active roster spot once the season begins. He doesn’t have a previous career outright or three years of service time, meaning he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency in the event he were to be passed through waivers unclaimed.