*NEWS* Red Sox Catcher Making SURPRISE PUSH For Opening Day Roster!!

0:00It looks like there's a battle brewing in Sox Camp right now that no one's really talking about. What is going on everybody welcome back to Red Sea Radio. My name is Corbin and thank you very much for clicking on this video. I feel like it's obligatory that we talk about the WBC at the beginning of every one of these videos because the Red Sox are kind of absolutely taken over the WBC. I mean last night the headline game being the United States versus Mexico was the Red Sox shell. Roman Anthony with a towering monster home run in this to announce his presence to the world. Jaren Ran had two home runs in yesterday's game and to close it out for the United States was Garrett Whitlock. I mean if you are a Red Sox fan, I don't know how that game gets any better for you. It was absolutely awesome to see the Red Sox take that one over. A lot of great science for the Sox offense coming out at the WBC here but we're not talking about that today.

1:01We are headed back to Red Sox Camp for this video because we've talked a lot about battles going on in the Red Sox roster right now right. We've talked about the kind of self battle between Marcelo Meyer and making the roster. We've talked about the fifth rotational spot on this roster. We've talked about some bullpen battles but there's one battle that has popped up recently. We really haven't been focusing on at all that could end up being a really big battle for the Red Sox down the stretch here that could ultimately determine a really important spot on the roster for the Sox coming into 2026. So I wanted to break that down in today's video, talk about why the Red Sox are considering this a battle for this position. What this could end up meaning for the Red Sox and ultimately if this battle is going to be won by the incumbent or if there's a newcomer that could end up taking that role. What I'm talking about is the idea of the Red Sox deciding whether or not Connor Wong will be on the Red Sox opening day roster. And I suppose this battle shouldn't come as much of a surprise. I imagine there are actually quite a few of you that are sitting there saying, yeah, I've always thought this right.

2:03I've sitting here saying, hey, I don't know that Connor Wong should be with the Red Sox open up 2026 and you've got good reason for that right. Last year was kind of his worst statistical season in Major League Baseball for a couple of different reasons. Offensively, it was definitely his worst season statistically, it was just a 190 average, a 262 on base percentage and a 238 slug for a 500 even OPS, which was just a 42 OPS plus. So it was 58% worse than your league average bat during the 2025 season. Defensively, we saw Connor Wong take some major regressions as well. Just that his offense stunk it up, it was the fact that he went from being a really solid defensive catcher when it came to catching runner stealing to really kind of below average when it came to that. Which was sort of the mainstay of his defense considering the fact that he's never really been a good blocking catcher and his framing has kind of been up and down, although an all fairness to Connor Wong. He did have his best year framing last year percentile wise in the 55th percentile here on top of all of this.

3:05We also know that the Red Sox were kind of also in a boat where they weren't incredibly pumped with Connor Wong in that back up position. At the deadline last year despite the fact that nothing really got done, we heard them connected to multiple different catchers on the circuit. We also have heard multiple times this offseason, the Red Sox were connected to some legit Major League guys. Victor Carnellini, who ended up going to, I believe the Tigers and then J.T. Romuto, who ended up going back to the Philadelphia Phillies on. In my opinion, quite the overpay, the Red Sox were connected to both of those players who would have been immediately probably taken over Connor Wong's role. Combine that with the fact that Connor Wong so far this spring training hasn't exactly looked much better than he did last year. Just two hits in 20 total at bat with eight strikeouts, that's almost a 50 percent strikeout right here folks. It's still relatively early, so I'm not going to make too much out of these statistics. I'm not going to declare that the Red Sox are opening up this position just strictly because of what his numerical results look like in spring training. But you got to admit, for a guy who came out of last year and really did not look like a player that made sense on a Major League roster for the Red Sox to come into spring training and kind of look exactly the same, especially offensively.

4:14It's not exactly a fantastic look, which is why it feels like the Red Sox may be looking for another option. This is where a guy like Matt Dice, who potentially could end up taking this role, starts to stand out quite a bit. Now, if the Red Sox are opening up this position to a full out battle, technically they've got three other names on this list of non-roster invitees that could potentially take on this spot. Two of these guys have already been optioned in Bias and Rosario, but you've got these two other catchers. However, the reason we're talking about Matt Dice over a guy like Jason Delay or a guy like Nathan Hickey is specifically because of what Alex Cora had to say about him earlier this week. This quote here from Tim Healy really kind of puts it into perspective exactly how the Red Sox are viewing Matt Dice right now. Quote, Matt Dice is impressing people here. His swing is really good, he's left-handed, he has been able to control the pitching staff well, he's a guy who's been catching our eye. I don't know if the pun was intended there or not, but Alex Cora kind of nailing that final line. If we're looking at what Matt Dice has done this spring, it hasn't exactly been lighting the world that fire at the plate.

5:17It's been foreheads at 18 at bats with six strikeouts, which is really not that much better than Conor Wong. But this is why I didn't want to make too big of a deal of Conor Wong's numerical statistics here early this spring, right? Because right now the Red Sox they aren't looking at simply, hey, are you hitting 400 with 10 home runs in spring training, right? They're looking at different things that may not show up on the back of a baseball card. I'm talking things like swing decisions. I'm talking about things like how fast you swing in the bat, they're looking at things like exit velocities. They're looking at things like approach. Are you looking and being able to handle off-speed stuff early on this spring? Are you looking and being able to handle inside fastballs? That was an issue for you last year to the point where that could end up being an improvement during the regular season here, right? All of a sudden, they're looking at a hard line drive out to second base, not as a third out in the second inning, but as a legitimate display of, hey, this could be something really interesting through 162 games. So it's important to note that it's not just simply numerical values that the Red Sox are looking at and clearly something that Matt Dice is doing

6:19in terms of the stuff that we aren't seeing on the back of a baseball card is something the Red Sox are really excited about. Now, if the Red Sox may be sitting there with something going on with Matt Dice and saying, huh, I wonder how this would pair with Carlos Sarvias, right? Because ultimately what you're kind of battling for isn't really a significant role on the Red Sox. Let me put that a different way. Is it really a significant role on the Red Sox when it comes to actual innings caught? Carlos Sarvias is going to get a majority of the innings caught this year. I think that's been decided long before spring training actually started, but who you pair with them could be genuinely important to the Red Sox success this year. Last year Connor Wong did mediocre job as the backup catcher in terms of like what that role actually entails. Matt Dice, the left-handed hitter, might be a little bit more interesting, considering the fact specifically that Dice is significantly better against right-handed pitchers than he is against left-handed pitchers rocking a 668 OPS against righties versus a 570 OPS against lefties lifetime. You sit there and it's like, okay, well, those statistics aren't exactly great, but they are marginally better than what Connor Wong was giving you. It could end up pairing a bit better with Carlos Sarvias, especially later in games when you're looking to pinch hits,

7:24especially trying to get Carlos Sarvias some rest as you try to push him through a regular season without dealing with injury. Defensively, you're not really going to get a ton out of Matt Dice. The one thing that he does incredibly well is he blocks, right? We just talked about the fact that Connor Wong has never been a great blocker as a catcher. It's really interesting to me that a guy that stood out to the Red Sox is somebody who has been a really good blocker throughout his career. Maybe there's something there where the Red Sox is saying, look, maybe he's not going to get 50, 60 games this year, but if he gets 40 or 45 or whatever, we're looking for either late inning appearances where you're going to keep the ball in front of you or just simply going to give Carlos Sarvias a rest and we think that being able to keep the ball in front of you is a really, really big skill. Also on top of that too, the Red Sox organizationally have been pretty good at developing defensive catchers. I mean, Carlos Sarvias came in as a defensive whiz, but he only got better in a Red Sox uniform. So there's that to consider as well. Maybe there's something the Red Sox is sitting there saying, look, we can work with this guy a little bit and get him to a better defensive level. But there's another layer to this that makes this whole thing a little bit more interesting and that is the contract side of these things.

8:29Matt Dice signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox's off season. So if he's not on the big league team, hypothetically, all that would be happening here is he would start the year in AAA, right? Even if he's not on the 40 man roster because he signed that minor league deal, he's going to end up in AAA for the Red Sox. However, he's got a little bit of an interesting clause in this thing because if the Red Sox say to this guy, hey man, look, you're not making the team. We can't afford to have you on the 40 man roster. We got to put someone else in here. But another team, Major League Baseball, comes to Matt and goes, hey man, we actually can fit you on the 40 man roster. In fact, we could fit you on the 40 man roster. You just got to wait your time to get on to the Major League roster. Matt Dice can actually just simply leave the Red Sox and join that other team. It's called an upward mobility clause. And that's going to play an interesting part in the Red Sox decision here because that means they may have a limited amount of time to be able to not only make this decision, but see what Matt Dice looks to the Major League level, right? Combining that with the fact that Connor Wong still has an option down to AAA if they really want him to, this could be the perfect opportunity for the Red Sox to say, okay, we really like Matt Dice.

9:29We don't want to lose him. Let's try him out early on in the season and see if this marginally better bad, this marginally better fit on our roster actually does make some marginal improvements to our 20-26 team, right? And again, the Red Sox weren't incredibly pumped with Connor Wong's ability last season. Is this the prime opportunity to say, okay, well, let's try somebody else in there for a little bit. Someone who's been impressing us a little bit in the spring training games here and see what ends up happening. Because worst case scenario is, okay, Matt Dice didn't work out your DFA and you lose him anyways. And now you can bring Connor Wong up and it's like no harm, no foul. The other part of this too is that if the Red Sox is sitting there and still saying, look, we believe in Connor Wong, we think there's some stuff to work on, but ultimately that he'll get back to the player that he was pretty much in 2024 solely. Triple A may be the perfect opportunity for him to try and get back there, right? Because you're not going to get a ton of opportunities as a backup catcher to a full-time catcher at the majorly level. Connor Wong would be able to play every single day in Triple A and really work on the stuff that the Red Sox wanted to work on,

10:30both defensively and offensively. So you take a look at this contract and it's like, well, wait a second. Not only are the Red Sox impressive with his gameplay, they also have some incentive here to either put Matt and Dice on the 40-man roster or potentially even put him on the 26-man roster. And this may be the prime opportunity to do that. To put it all together here, this battle is unbelievably interesting to me. And I know that say that a lot and drives people crazy, but it generally is. Because if you look at it on the surface, again, statistically, Matt Dice is going to be nothing more than a pretty much marginally better improvement. He's not going to be a four or five win replacement for Connor Wong. He may be a one or two win replacement for Connor Wong. He's going to be, you know, to blow average offensively, but still slightly better than what Connor Wong was last year. He's going to be relatively below average defensively, but still potentially better than Connor Wong was last year in specific areas. To me, what this battle is coming down to is not so much how much the Red Sox love Matt Dice. It's how much the Red Sox aren't comfortable with Connor Wong behind the dish. Right? It really genuinely feels like the Red Sox is sitting there saying,

11:31look, we're willing to try anything to just simply try something different behind Carlos Narvias coming to camp. It didn't really feel like that. Right? It felt like this was Connor Wong's job to lose. And if he had a really terrible spring, then we'd start to have that conversation. Now it kind of feels like Connor Wong needs to have a really good spring in order to just simply keep his job, right? It went from in my opinion, hey, this is yours to lose to. Hey, this is yours to win, right? You got to win this thing in order to even get on the Red Sox regular. A roster here. And I think that's a little bit of a switch up from what we were talking about at the beginning of the off season here. Very, very interesting to me. And I think this is a really important battle for the Red Sox. It may not sound like it, right? It may sound like, okay, you're, you're no. You're marginally improving the bottom of half of this roster, the bottom half of this bench. Neither of these guys are going to be all stars. Either these guys could be superstars. But last year Carlos Narvias played through an injury for a majority of the season. Right? And we saw a little bit of a drop off in terms of his offensive ability because of said injury. If the Red Sox is sitting there saying we got to find a way to ensure that Carlos

12:34Narvias, one of the better defensive catchers in baseball and one of the more intriguing young bats we have, stays healthy. And that could genuinely be not just a marginal improvement, but a legitimate improvement to the 2026 Red Sox. How do we achieve that? This is where the backup catcher becomes really important because it needs to be someone that you're comfortable plugging in every once in a while. Maybe more than you did last year. It needs to be someone you're comfortable with defensively. It needs to be someone you're comfortable relatively with offensively. And that's why this becomes a really important role for the Red Sox, right? It's not just, hey, this is a guy that if Carlos Sarvias goes down and is going to get some shares at the catching position. It's, hey, how do we prevent Carlos Narvias get it going down? And who's the guy that's going to help us do that? Matt Dice right now feels like he could genuinely end up being that guy. I think there is a legitimate chance that Dice beats out Connor Wong for this opening day role, at least to start the season. You've got 162 games which gives you time to kind of experiment with some of these players and Matt Dice could be the perfect player to experiment with,

13:36especially with how the Red Sox have been relatively uncomfortable with Wong for a half a season at this point. So definitively, a really important battle to pay attention to for the Red Sox's spring. And this could legitimately be a guy who's making a push for the opening day roster right now. But that's just my opinion. So let me know in the comment section down below. What do you guys think? What do you think about this battle? Do you think it's possible that Wong loses his job? Are you sitting there saying, ah, they're still in a way? Do you sit there saying, thank God. Let me know all your thoughts in the comments as always. If you made it see end of this video, do me a favor. Make sure you guys have hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. If you're new here, we talk Red Sox content almost every single day. Also, make sure you guys hit the like button on this video as well. Just to be upside down. It's the best way to let me know you're enjoying the content. Thank you all very much for clicking on this one. And I will see you in the red seats. Thank you.