It’s good to be Christian Vázquez, and the former Red Sox catcher could have a reunion on the horizon in San Diego.
Vázquez is arguably the top available catcher on the free agent market, so it’s not a huge surprise that backstop-needy teams are lining up for his potential services. And with Xander Bogaerts now in San Diego, the Padres, already in the Vázquez mix, could up their efforts, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
“The clubs on Vázquez include the Twins, Padres, Cubs and Astros,” Rosenthal wrote Sunday, adding the “Padres’ pursuit perhaps intensified after they signed Vázquez’s former Red Sox teammate, Xander Bogaerts.”
If Bogaerts has it his way, it’s not hard to predict where Vázquez would end up.
“It was a hard trade deadline. As I said, (Vázquez) leaving … I lived with him in the minor leagues everywhere,” Bogaerts told NESN’s Tom Caron after the deadline. “He was my Uber driver before the Uber. … If five (stars) is the max, I give him six. He was really good and helpful to me. … He was definitely close to me, and it was tough.”
One thing to monitor within the Vázquez sweepstakes is the status of Oakland Athletics catcher Sean Murphy. The A’s are reportedly receiving plenty of interest in the star catcher with three years left on his deal. According to Rosenthal, teams interested in Vázquez also could have interest in Murphy as an option. Presumably, once Vázquez signs or the A’s trade Murphy, the market for the other would intensify and get closer to a resolution.
The Red Sox, who traded Vázquez ahead of the 2022 MLB trade deadline, could also be an option, though it is telling Rosenthal didn’t mention it in his piece. In fact, the Red Sox haven’t been linked to Vázquez at all by any reporters so far this offseason despite chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom’s contention that there’s interest in a reunion.
As it stands right now, the Red Sox have Reese McGuire and Connor Wong lined up for a catching platoon.
“We have good options at that position,” Bloom told reporters last week at the winter meetings. “We should always be looking to get better everywhere.”
But if the Red Sox do feel strongly about their current catching situation as Bloom suggests, then it’s probably unlikely a Vázquez return to Boston is in the cards given how his market is developing, especially with a team like Minnesota reportedly making him a priority outside of Carlos Correa.
