Ex-Red Sox Fan Favorite Signs With Twins, Officially Ending Any Chance Of Reunion

Boston will not bring back one of their most-beloved players

Scott Neville | Dec 12, 2022

Ex-Red Sox Fan Favorite Signs With Twins, Officially Ending Any Chance Of Reunion /

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The Boston Red Sox will not be returning one of the most beloved players of the previous two decades despite what appeared to be mutual interest.

Catcher Christian Vázquez has signed a three-year deal with the Minnesota Twins according to multiple reports. The deal is said to be in the $30 million range.

Both Vázquez and the fan base were all-in on a potential reunion, but Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom made other plans.

The 32-year-old backstop is the latest of a wave of core members of the 2018 championship roster to sign elsewhere, though Vázquez was shipped to the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros a day before the Major League Baseball Trade Deadline.

Still, given Vázquez's heartfelt post-trade comments, a reunion certainly was on the table. Bloom appears content to allocate funds in other ways but he has stated a desire to upgrade his catching group at different points throughout the offseason.

Vázquez hit .274 with 32 extra-base hits including nine home runs, 52 RBIs and a .714 OPS in 119 games last season -- though he was much better in Boston.

The Red Sox will aim to replace those numbers with a combination of Reese McGuire, Connor Wong, and any potential future addition.

More MLB: Red Sox's Chaim Bloom Says He's Looking Into 'Significant' Trades This Offseason

Published Dec 12, 2022

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu