BOSTON — It’s likely infielder Enmanuel Valdez will only be in Boston for a few days with Yu Chang on the paternity list, but his promotion came at an interesting time nevertheless.
Valdez was one of two prospects the Red Sox acquired from Houston last summer for Christian Vázquez.
Vázquez, drafted by Boston in 2008, had been the longest-tenured member of the Red Sox organization at the time of his Aug. 1 trade to the Astros, and spent eight seasons as part of the club’s catching corps. He was in town this week with his new team, the Minnesota Twins, for the first time since departing last year.
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“It’s weird,” Vázquez said ahead of the first game of the series, noting that he came to the park with former teammate Kiké Hernández, who picked him up at the hotel before the two departed toward different clubhouses upon arrival at Fenway. Vázquez wasn’t in the lineup Wednesday, but his Twins pummeled the Red Sox and Corey Kluber 10-3. Valdez, meanwhile, recorded his first two big-league hits, while also picking up his first error at second base.
Vázquez is content now, having signed a three-year, $30 million deal this winter with the Twins, but the trade shocked him at the time — as it did many in the Red Sox clubhouse, especially with the Red Sox beginning a series in Houston the night of the trade.
“It was hard to me that … the trade was hard,” he said. “But after a couple of weeks I flushed it and it was easier when the Red Sox left town from Houston. It was a little hard to play against them in that series. But they have (Connor) Wong now, who is doing good and catching good. He’s going to help that team a lot. I’m very happy for him.”
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom had suggested there might be catcher additions this winter, but the Red Sox didn’t aggressively pursue a reunion with Vázquez in free agency and instead moved forward with a tandem of Wong and Reese McGuire, acquired in a separate trade with the White Sox last summer. Jorge Alfaro briefly appeared as competition for Wong and McGuire in spring training but has been at Triple-A Worcester to start the year.
It hasn’t been the easiest transition without Vázquez behind the plate.
Red Sox starters have a 6.77 ERA through 19 games. In the first week of the season, opponents went 14-for-14 in stolen bases against Red Sox catchers, the most allowed through six games since the 1987 Montreal Expos.
McGuire has allowed 15 of 16 base stealers while Wong has fared better, cutting down four of six base stealers. For what it’s worth, Vázquez has allowed five of six base stealers to reach safely this year. But his institutional knowledge always added a level of confidence behind the plate, one that the Red Sox are still searching for early in the season. Wong is young and has potential defensively with a pop time (1.87) trailing only J.T. Realmuto (1.82) among catchers with at least five stolen base attempts against. Wong only has six hits on the season, but four of those six have been doubles. McGuire is hitting well going 13-for-32 (.406) in 12 games, but has faltered defensively. The Red Sox catching situation this season, much like the rest of the team, has been in flux.
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Manager Alex Cora talked at length earlier this week about the improvements Vázquez made over the course of his career.
“It’s not that I took him for granted, but you see him now, and it’s, ‘Ooof,’” Cora said of Vázquez. “There’s a lot of good things that this guy can do. He’s becoming a leader. He’s learned a lot throughout the process not only with us, but I think last year with Houston he learned a lot about using pitches and the analytic side of the game there too.
“The most talented? No,” Cora added. “And he’s the first one to admit that. But of all the guys that I have been able to coach, kind of like, investing in himself, nutrition, swing guy, all the stuff that you have to do to become that guy, he does it.”
The Red Sox recognized Vázquez with a video montage on the video board before his first at-bat on Tuesday and he tipped his helmet and tapped his chest as the crowd cheered.
“It’s cool to be back here with the fans and everybody,” Vázquez said. “A lot of memories, good memories. A lot of wins.”
For years, the Red Sox didn’t have to think about who would be behind the plate, but now there’s much less certainty about both the present and future with Wong and McGuire splitting time. The 26-year-old Wong has started 11 games behind the plate while McGuire has started eight. There have been growing pains and there are bound to be more.
Meanwhile, Vázquez met his trade counterpart Valdez for the first time on Wednesday during batting practice and congratulated him on his big league debut. With Chang out and Christian Arroyo nursing a sore hamstring, the Red Sox infield depth is thin and Valdez is on the 40-man roster. He spent a good portion of spring training with the big league club and while he’s only 7-for-39 in 11 games at Triple-A Worcester, four of those seven hits have been for extra bases. Last season between Double A and Triple A, he hit. 296 with 28 homers and 107 runs driven in.
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Valdez isn’t among Keith Law’s top 20 Red Sox prospects, but is ranked 17th in the system by MLB.com and 19th by Baseball America. The other prospect in the trade, Wilyer Abreu, was ranked 22nd by both outlets.
Valdez and Abreu may well turn out to be contributors in the future, but the Red Sox clearly were ready to move on from Vázquez and deemed his value as diminishing in the future. Now they’ll have to ride their catching inconsistencies as they enter a new chapter behind the plate.
(Top photo of Vázquez: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)