The Houston Astros would be wise to acquire more depth at catcher before Tuesday's MLB trade deadline, and one option for them is Boston Red Sox veteran Christian Vazquez.
The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported Monday that the Astros are "focusing more on Vázquez" than Chicago Cubs star Willson Contreras in their pursuit of a catcher.
Vazquez is batting .282 with eight home runs, 42 RBI and a .327 on-base percentage in 84 games for the Red Sox this season.
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Tomase: Red Sox players losing faith in Chaim Bloom as deadline nears
The 31-year-old catcher is in the final year of his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in the winter. His salary for 2022 is $7 million, per Spotrac.
If the Red Sox are not super confident they will re-sign Vazquez in the offseason, then it would make sense to trade him before the deadline and get some kind of value in return, whether that's major leaguers or prospects.
The Red Sox, who sit at the bottom of the American League East division, are 3.5 games behind the third and final wild card playoff berth in the AL, but there are four teams ahead of them in the race for that spot.
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It wouldn't be surprising to see the Red Sox act like sellers at the trade deadline, but it's also hard to envision any major subtractions from the roster.