We have yet another questionable roster building decision from this front office.
Amid the tsunami of chaos overwhelming Red Sox fans this week, one story slipped mostly under the radar. However, I believe it deserves to get bumped to the forefront of our focus for at least a fleeting moment, so here we go:
According to Tommy Cassell, who covers the Woo Sox, Yasmani Grandal appears to be leaving the organization.
According to WooSox manager Chad Tracy, veteran catcher Yasmani Grandal is no longer with Triple-A Worcester.
— Tommy Cassell (@tommycassell44) June 3, 2025
“It was his choice. We talked yesterday … and his response was ‘It’s time to be dad.’”
— Tommy Cassell (@tommycassell44) June 3, 2025
This got my antenna up, so I asked Tommy the following question:
I need to fully understand this. Was it his choice as in he was about to be called up and decided to it was time to be a dad instead of going to Boston? Or was it his choice as in he was tired of waiting for the team to choose him over Connor Wong?
— Matthew Gross (@MattGross87) June 3, 2025
The latter. Grandal decided on his own.
— Tommy Cassell (@tommycassell44) June 3, 2025
Okay, now I’m angry! Grandal should have been offered Wong’s roster spot well before it came to this, and given the dynamics in play, it’s extremely irritating the front office didn’t act accordingly.
Connor Wong has sucked this year, and Yasmani Grandal represented the best short-term opportunity to remove that suck from the roster. It’s June 5th, and Wong has ZERO extra base hits and ZERO RBI on the season.
He’s come to the plate just 65 times this season thanks to Carlos Narvaez (thankfully) wrestling away the starting job, but as tends to happen when you’re a black hole in the lineup, teams pass on other guys to get to you in big spots. As a result, about a third of Wong’s at bats have come with runners in scoring position, and he has the second worst WPA of anybody on the team despite taking the 14th most plate appearances.
In the 23 plate appearances he’s had with runners in scoring position this season, Wong is batting zero. (ZERO!!!) He does however have two double plays, so sending a Connor Wong mannequin up there might have been more productive.
Wong is also 29, making him the third oldest position player on the active roster behind only Rob Refsnyder and Trevor Story. So it’s not like he’s some prospect you’re developing, allowing you to afford these at bats. They’re just completely empty voids of nothing!
So again I ask, why did the Red Sox choose Wong over Grandal?
Grandal’s been his typical self down in Worcester, posting a low batting average with high OBP and a bit of pop from both sides of the plate. His on base percentage (.372) is almost as high as Wong’s OPS (.419) for the season.
Worse yet, calling up Grandal would have been the move that maximized control. Wong has an option left, meaning he could be sent to Worcester for his hideous performance at the plate this year while they took Grandal for a spin. If it didn’t work, they could have easily just gone back to Wong again. Now, with Grandal headed for the door, you’re stuck with a bat that’s turned to dust. If anything happens to Carlos Narvaez, they’re beyond screwed.
For a club that absolutely loves leverage, this seems like such an obvious missed opportunity. So obvious that I feel like there’s some other piece of this story that didn’t manage to leak out.
All the factors say Grandal should be here. He played for the White Sox, meaning he has experience catching Crochet. He has over 100 postseason plate appearances, something that could help young guys, and he bats from both sides of the plate in a lineup that has a litany of platoon issues. He also doesn’t strike out as often as Wong, which in this lineup of empty at-bats should also be a big deal.
Instead, we’re stuck with Connor Wong, who still represents the last direct tie to the Mookie Betts trade and all that bad juju. With the way things are going, fans better start a prayer circle to keep Carlos Narvaez healthy.