Nate Eaton Optioned To Worcester, Ryan Watson Makes Red Sox's Opening Day Roster

[Nick John]

The Boston Red Sox have seemingly decided upon their bench for Opening Day, as Nate Eaton has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester according to MassLive's Chris Cotillo. Eaton was in a competition with Andruw Monasterio for the final bench spot, but in the end, it was Monasterio who won it.

What may have swung the decision towards Monasterio was his ability to play second base and the potential to platoon with Marcelo Mayer by hitting left-handed pitching well.

Eaton signed as a minor league free agent prior to the 2025 season and played well enough to garner a call up to Boston. In 41 games with the big-league club, Eaton hit .296/.348/.383 with four doubles, one home run, four RBIs, and nine stolen bases. He can also play all three outfield positions and third base will provide excellent depth in Worcester. He will likely be one of the first players called up should injury or inconsistent play occur.

The Red Sox's bench now should look as such come Opening Day: Connor Wong, Masataka Yoshida, Andruw Monasterio, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

In other roster-related news, Ryan Watson was informed Monday that he made the team. Watson was a Rule 5 pick over the winter and was required to be on the active roster in order to remain with Boston. In response, Boston optioned Tyler Samaniego to Worcester per MassLive's Chris Cotillo. 

The roster is nearly complete, as the only spots remaining is who out of Johan Oviedo, Connelly Early,  and Payton Tolle will be the final member of the rotation and who might be the final bullpen arm.

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[JoeBrady]

I like Samaniego over Watson, but given the options, maybe???

[Larry Cook]

Kind of odd that we only played Eaton in the outfield!!  
 

Overall, I like our hitters for 2026, but story does not look right at the plate!  Not sure if he is changing things up or is this a drive time thing????

[moonslav59]

32 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I like Samaniego over Watson, but given the options, maybe???

The Rule 5 aspect of Watson was enough to keep him around, but my guess is, he's on a short leash. (There is also the IL- phantom or otherwise.)

I was wondering more about Coulombe's readiness for opening day than the choice to give up on Watson.

[notin]

49 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I like Samaniego over Watson, but given the options, maybe???

Watson either makes the team or the Sox have to work out a deal (player or cash exchange) if they want to keep him.  Samaniego is Sox property no matter what…

[notin]

15 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The Rule 5 aspect of Watson was enough to keep him around, but my guess is, he's on a short leash. (There is also the IL- phantom or otherwise.)

I was wondering more about Coulombe's readiness for opening day than the choice to give up on Watson.

I’d think Kahnle is more prepared than Coulombe.  At least Kahnle was pitching in the WBC…

[notin]

26 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

 

Overall, I like our hitters for 2026, but story does not look right at the plate!  Not sure if he is changing things up or is this a drive time thing????

That 1.015 OPS definitely doesn’t look right!

[Kimmi]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

I like Samaniego over Watson, but given the options, maybe???

Right or wrong, I'm usually of the opinion of keeping as much depth as possible, at least until you know what you have in these players.  We had to give Watson a shot.

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, notin said:

That 1.015 OPS definitely doesn’t look right!

I was going to say something similar.

I hope he keeps "not looking right" all season long.

[Kimmi]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

I was going to say something similar.

I hope he keeps "not looking right" all season long.

The Trevor Story bandwagon is loaded and ready to go.

All aboard!

[Old Red]

4 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

The Trevor Story bandwagon is loaded and ready to go.

All aboard!

Hopefully Story Land stays open again this year, and doesn’t need repairs. He’s had a good ST, and healthy so far.

[Larry Cook]

Tolle, Kelly, uberstine and kanehle sent down 

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Tolle, Kelly, uberstine and kahnle sent down.

Kind of expected.

[JoeBrady]

17 hours ago, notin said:

That 1.015 OPS definitely doesn’t look right!

The 1.015 includes a .517 BABIP.  The more I see of Story, the more I see a HOF player that has trouble laying off a variety of bad pitches.  With a 176/33 K/W, why do pitchers even throw strikes to him?

[moonslav59]

55 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

The 1.015 includes a .517 BABIP.  The more I see of Story, the more I see a HOF player that has trouble laying off a variety of bad pitches.  With a 176/33 K/W, why do pitchers even throw strikes to him?

Because he lays off 70% of balls outside the K zone.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Because he lays off 70% of balls outside the K zone.

His chase rate was 12th percentile last season. Really, really bad. 

He hasn't had an average chase/whiff rate since 2018. 

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

His chase rate was 12th percentile last season. Really, really bad. 

He hasn't had an average chase/whiff rate since 2018. 

I get this.

Do the math, though. If a pitcher never throws a strike, and Story swings at 30% of them, even if he misses every time, what's the most common result going to be?

Hint: not a K.

The question was, why do they every throw a strike to  him?

[mvp 78]

31 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I get this.

Do the math, though. If a pitcher never throws a strike, and Story swings at 30% of them, even if he misses every time, what's the most common result going to be?

Hint: not a K.

The question was, why do they every throw a strike to  him?

This supposes that all balls are the same. Some pitches outside the zone are barely outside the zone and he's more likely to chase. If a pitcher is living on the edge of the zone, rather than down the middle or throwing waste pitches, Story will be more likely to chase. 

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

This supposes that all balls are the same. Some pitches outside the zone are barely outside the zone and he's more likely to chase. If a pitcher is living on the edge of the zone, rather than down the middle or throwing waste pitches, Story will be more likely to chase. 

Okay, but this doesn't address my point.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Okay, but this doesn't address my point.

Yes it does. 

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

Yes it does. 

He lays off 70% of pitches outside the zone. 

The math is not hard.

[mvp 78]

30 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He lays off 70% of pitches outside the zone. 

The math is not hard.

The math seems to be hard for you. 

It was 65% last season, but that number is irrelevant if the way the pitcher approaches Story changes. 

[moonslav59]

23 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The math seems to be hard for you. 

It was 65% last season, but that number is irrelevant if the way the pitcher approaches Story changes. 

No need for condescension.

If pitchers totally stop throwing strikes, as was mentioned, Story would probably decide to never swing, so yes, the approach changes and Story might walk 100%. I'm not sure why your hypothetical aspect is the assumed result.

Assuming the pitchers misses the K zone by less than 1 cm every time, it may or may not change anything.

Change it from 70% (career) to 65% (2025)- fine, too.

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

No need for condescension.

If pitchers totally stop throwing strikes, as was mentioned, Story would probably decide to never swing, so yes, the approach changes and Story might walk 100%. I'm not sure why your hypothetical aspect is the assumed result.

Assuming the pitchers misses the K zone by less than 1 cm every time, it may or may not change anything.

Change it from 70% (career) to 65% (2025)- fine, too.

If he never swung again, would pitchers continue to throw outside the zone? C'mon, man. 

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If he never swung again, would pitchers continue to throw outside the zone? C'mon, man. 

I didn't make the claim that pitchers should stop throwing him strikes at all.

That was the hypothetical put forth.

Of course it would never happen.

[mvp 78]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I didn't make the claim that pitchers should stop throwing him strikes at all.

That was the hypothetical put forth.

Of course it would never happen.

In that hypothetical, Story is obviously continuing with his current approach. 

[JoeBrady]

20 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I didn't make the claim that pitchers should stop throwing him strikes at all.

That was the hypothetical put forth.

Of course it would never happen.

Mine was a hypothetical as well.  But if I were a manager, I'd be fining a pitcher for throwing anything near the heart of the plate for the first 2-3 pitches.  For comparison purposes, Story got to a 3-0 count 5x, and Duran had 14.  Story got to 3-1 14x and Duran 37x.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

21 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

In that hypothetical, Story is obviously continuing with his current approach. 

The big change in his approach has been that Story is not flailing as much at outside pitches but intentionally hitting them to the opposite field. 

It's nothing new for good batters at any level, mainly because it keeps their head on the ball, which is the key to contact. 

And fans have been hearing it for years on broadcasts from guys with experience like Remy and Merloni (or watching it for the past four decades since Boggs played Jai-Alai with the Monstah).

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

Mine was a hypothetical as well.  But if I were a manager, I'd be fining a pitcher for throwing anything near the heart of the plate for the first 2-3 pitches.  For comparison purposes, Story got to a 3-0 count 5x, and Duran had 14.  Story got to 3-1 14x and Duran 37x.

I dont think managers have the ability to "fine" for performance related reasons. I hope not.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

I dont think managers have the ability to "fine" for performance related reasons. I hope not.

Do they still have 'kangaroo courts'?