Red Sox Trim Opening Day Roster, Option Kristian Campbell

[Alex Mayes]

The Boston Red Sox made yet another round of cuts in camp, mere days away from Opening Day. Notably, OF/INF Kristian Campbell headlines the group reassigned to minor-league camp. Pitchers Alex Gamboa, Tayron Guerrero, and Kyle Keller were also reassigned. Catcher Jason Delay, infielder Vinny Capra, and outfielder Braiden Ward were also reassigned, but they are remaining in major league spring training for now. 

Obviously, Campbell headlines the reassignment group for this round. Campbell came into camp with more muscle and with new mechanics at the plate. While he had some promising moments, his performance left a bit to be desired. He appeared in 18 games for the Red Sox this spring, slashing .220/.304/.645 with one home run, two doubles, a 23.9 K%, and a 4.3 BB%. If you’ve tuned into any spring training games so far, you’ll have noticed that he seems far more comfortable at the plate now, but he’s still adjusting to his new swing. When it clicks, he should take a giant step forward to hopefully become the player the team envisioned when they extended him at the start of the 2025 season.

Guerrero was impressive in camp but his reassignment seems to indicate that the Andrew Bailey-led pitching lab doesn’t think what he’s currently working with is sustainable at the big-league level, yet. He’s a flamethrower, but the rest of his game needs more refinement. Keller has looked overmatched for much of spring training so his reassignment isn’t surprising. Gamboa falls into the same category as Keller; both obviously need more work and aren't likely to see the big-league roster any time soon.

Delay, Capra, and Ward being reassigned also isn’t surprising. but the decision to keep them in Major League spring training is an indicator how high the organization is on them as capable depth options. Ward is likely going to be a late season call up to give the team a boost off the bench in pinch running situations, so look for him to continue to shine on the basepaths with Worcester for the bulk of the season. Delay was in the mix for the backup catcher role but this likely means he’s out of that race for now. Capra proved to be more than capable at handling infield duties while guys were given days off for rest down the stretch of spring training.

Watch for at least one more round of cuts as the front office gets the team down to the 26-man roster before Opening Day on March 26.

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[moonslav59]

So how many players do we have left to get to 26?

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

So how many players do we have left to get to 26?

On the position side, I assume we are waiting to announce Monasterio for the 13th slot.

ps-forgot about Thaiss/Wong

[notin]

3 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

On the position side, I assume we are waiting to announce Monasterio for the 13th slot.

Or Eaton …

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

On the position side, I assume we are waiting to announce Monasterio for the 13th slot.

ps-forgot about Thaiss/Wong

Today is the upward mobility choice day for Thaiss.

Montasario vs Eaton for #13?

[alsoason]

Keeping Wong is a mistake, Delay should be the backup, 2 for 26 does not cut it, I do not care how well he knows the pitchers. 2024 was a mirage with the bat, I have absolutely no faith in him and is an automatic 3 outs when he is in the lineup. Opposing managers smile when they see him in the lineup card,

[notin]

21 minutes ago, alsoason said:

Keeping Wong is a mistake, Delay should be the backup, 2 for 26 does not cut it, I do not care how well he knows the pitchers. 2024 was a mirage with the bat, I have absolutely no faith in him and is an automatic 3 outs when he is in the lineup. Opposing managers smile when they see him in the lineup card,

Wong has a career .680 OPS.  Delay has a career .610 OPS.  While Wong did struggle for the Sox last year, Delay was lighting AA and AAA to the tune of a .518 OPS as he was not good enough for the Pirates.

Don’t be fooled by 15 spring training plate appearances…

[notin]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

So how many players do we have left to get to 26?

Not sure, but I can tell you how to find out.

Take the number of players still in camp.  Subtract 26 from that number.  Boom - answer!

[Duran Is The Man]

1 hour ago, alsoason said:

Keeping Wong is a mistake, Delay should be the backup, 2 for 26 does not cut it, I do not care how well he knows the pitchers. 2024 was a mirage with the bat, I have absolutely no faith in him and is an automatic 3 outs when he is in the lineup. Opposing managers smile when they see him in the lineup card,

Wong is the primary catcher for our #5 starter so we have to keep him. LOL.

[moonslav59]

49 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

Wong is the primary catcher for our #5 starter so we have to keep him. LOL.

Bello might be our #4.

I wonder who catches Oviedo. Likely, Narvaez catches 4 of 5 starters.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Today is the upward mobility choice day for Thaiss.

Montasario vs Eaton for #13?

Eaton has a career .610.  Better last year, but courtesy of a .371 BABIP.  Monasterio has a career .672, with a .755.  Courtesy of a more sustainable .333 BABIP.  And he is having a better ST.

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Eaton has a career .610.  Better last year, but courtesy of a .371 BABIP.  Monasterio has a career .672, with a .755.  Courtesy of a more sustainable .333 BABIP.  And he is having a better ST.

I think Monasterio wins the slot.

Still no word on Thaiss, despite today being the deadline.

[Larry Cook]

Oviedo - when he has command and control, his stuff plays well.   When he does not have command and control, he is a train wreck. 
 

so far this spring, he is 50-50 on the command and control! Problem is, that’s not good enough a ratio and he would not transition well into the bullpen. 
 

he could be a long term Fenway flu candidate 

[notin]

10 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I think Monasterio wins the slot.

Still no word on Thaiss, despite today being the deadline.

Both have options.

Monasterio had the better spring and is the more traditional utility infielder, but he is behind IKF on the deoth charts.

Eaton was with the Sox last year, played in the WBC, fills the need for an OF off the bench, and is one of the fastest runners in MLB which gives him usefulness as a pinch runner.

To me, no brainer.  Keep Eaton and demote Monasterio.

I suppose the Sox could keep Thaiss over either of them while also keeping the versatile Wong in the team, but I think that’s a long shot…

[notin]

1 hour ago, Larry Cook said:

Oviedo - when he has command and control, his stuff plays well.   When he does not have command and control, he is a train wreck. 
 

so far this spring, he is 50-50 on the command and control! Problem is, that’s not good enough a ratio and he would not transition well into the bullpen. 
 

he could be a long term Fenway flu candidate 

He also has an option remaining.  Why put him on the IL?

[notin]

I’m going to put out there mu long shot prediction for the opening day lineup /  roster, ignoring the fact that the likely opposing pitcher is LHP Nick Lodolo.

LF: Anthony

3b: Durbin

DH Duran

1b Contreras

RF Abreu

SS Story

2b Mayer / IKF

CF Rafaela 

C Narvaez

BN: Yoshida, Kiner-Falefa, Wong, Eaton.

SP: Crochet-Suarez-Gray-Bello-Early

BP: Chapman, Whitlock, Weissert, Slaten, Watson, Moran, Kahnle, Kelly.  
 

I so want to put Tolle in that bullpen (over Kelly), at least until Coulombe is deemed ready…

 

 

[moonslav59]

Can't find anything on the Thaiss decision.

I guess with Delay, Gasper and Siegler in the system, it's no biggie,

[JoeBrady]

9 hours ago, notin said:

To me, no brainer.  Keep Eaton and demote Monasterio.

Interesting.  I seldom disagree with you, but we part ways here.  We shall see.

[mvp 78]

On 3/21/2026 at 2:26 PM, JoeBrady said:

On the position side, I assume we are waiting to announce Monasterio for the 13th slot.

ps-forgot about Thaiss/Wong

Thaiss was already sent to MiLB camp.

[Deja Doh]

Campbell got paid for how he looked (6'3") for 30 games.  Isn't the team doing the same with Mayer (6'3") at this point?  

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, Deja Doh said:

Campbell got paid for how he looked (6'3") for 30 games.  Isn't the team doing the same with Mayer (6'3") at this point?  

He got paid for how he looked the prior year in MiLB. His good 30 games came after the extension.

[moonslav59]

39 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He got paid for how he looked the prior year in MiLB. His good 30 games came after the extension.

How many times does this need to be repeated?

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

How many times does this need to be repeated?

I couldn't tell if the poster was making a joke or not. If it was a joke, it would have been better to leave off the 30 games. KC looked like dog water in ST that year and then signed the extension at the beginning of April. It was clear that it had been agreed to prior, but they just wanted him on the Opening Day roster and needed to delay the extension for PPI reasons.

[Old Red]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I couldn't tell if the poster was making a joke or not. If it was a joke, it would have been better to leave off the 30 games. KC looked like dog water in ST that year and then signed the extension at the beginning of April. It was clear that it had been agreed to prior, but they just wanted him on the Opening Day roster and needed to delay the extension for PPI reasons.

From suspect to prospect to meh at this point.

[notin]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Thaiss was already sent to MiLB camp.

Just because he had the upward mobility clause doesn’t mean he has to invoke it..,

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, notin said:

Just because he had the upward mobility clause doesn’t mean he has to invoke it..,

This is true. Maybe he wants to live in Wormtown! 

[Kimmi]

On 3/21/2026 at 4:03 PM, alsoason said:

Keeping Wong is a mistake, Delay should be the backup, 2 for 26 does not cut it, I do not care how well he knows the pitchers. 2024 was a mirage with the bat, I have absolutely no faith in him and is an automatic 3 outs when he is in the lineup. Opposing managers smile when they see him in the lineup card,

For me, how well a catcher knows and handles the pitching staff is more important than how well he can swing a bat, especially for a backup catcher.  I have absolutely zero issues with Wong as our backup catcher.  He can be pinch hit for in a key situation late in the game, if necessary.

I always feel that if the rest of the lineup is hitting up to expectations, then we should have no problem carrying a light hitting catcher in the #8 or #9 hole.  Of course, if several of our other hitters are struggling at the same time, it compounds the problem.  So, the rest of the lineup will just have to hit.  :)

[Kimmi]

As far as Kristian Campbell goes, I really hope he earns his way back onto the big league roster soon.  I'm not sure where he'll play, and I'm certainly not hoping he gets called up due to other players being injured, but I'd really like to see him live up to the promise he showed.

[Old Red]

Just now, Kimmi said:

As far as Kristian Campbell goes, I really hope he earns his way back onto the big league roster soon.  I'm not sure where he'll play, and I'm certainly not hoping he gets called up due to other players being injured, but I'd really like to see him live up to the promise he showed.

For KC to make his way back up to Boston most likely someone would have to get hurt, and even then he might not be the first option. He’s got to prove himself in Woo first.

[Kimmi]

1 minute ago, Old Red said:

For KC to make his way back up to Boston most likely someone would have to get hurt, and even then he might not be the first option. He’s got to prove himself in Woo first.

I don't disagree, Old Red.  I'd just like to see him do really well.