The Red Sox surprisingly shuffled one of their position groups in the lead-up to the MLB trade deadline.
After facilitating a reunion with starting pitcher James Paxton, Boston struck a deal with the rival Toronto Blue Jays to acquire veteran catcher Danny Jansen. One day after the Jansen deal, the Red Sox officially cemented their new catching platoon when they designated Reese McGuire for assignment.
McGuire, who had been with Boston since August 2022, hadn’t been playing all that poorly before he was DFA’d. But you only can carry 26 players on the active roster, and as Alex Cora explained before Sunday’s loss to the New York Yankees, the club felt Jansen currently makes the group better as a whole.
The Red Sox manager also acknowledged McGuire eventually found himself in a tough situation to make a strong case for a roster spot.
“Reese did a good job, especially defensively the last month and a half,” Cora told reporters, per the Boston Herald. “You look at the numbers as far as framing he was top three in the league and did an amazing job with the pitching staff. It was tough because he wasn’t playing that much and so for him to get into a rhythm, coming into the season I expected him to play more, but then Connor (Wong) happened.”
Jansen swings the kind of right-handed bat the Red Sox needed, and both Cora and Craig Breslow believe the newcomer’s game can really pop at Fenway Park. The ex-Blue Jay hit the ground running Sunday night in his Boston debut when he was one of two Red Sox to log multiple hits against the Bronx Bombers.
Will swapping McGuire for Jansen make the Red Sox a World Series contender? No. But even if it only marginally improves the club, Boston surely will take the upgrade as it vies for a postseason spot.
