Red Sox Reveal Puzzling Roster Cuts Ahead of Opening Day

With Opening Day only days away, MLB teams are beginning to finalize roster spots before the season starts.

That includes the Boston Red Sox, who announced some surprising roster decisions on Monday.

Red Sox Roster Cuts

Perhaps Boston's most surprising roster move was keeping utilityman Yu Chang over Bobby Dalbec for the final infield spot, with Dalbec being demoted to Triple-A Worcester. Dalbec has been a significantly better hitter than Chang throughout their careers with a 115-point advantage in OPS. Chang is more versatile defensively, however, so the Red Sox appear to be prioritizing flexibility over offense there.

Boston also made a curious choice at catcher by sending down Jorge Alfaro and keeping Connor Wong as the backup catcher. Wong is still largely an unknown quantity with just 33 MLB games under his belt. He also struggled mightily last year with a .188/.273/.313 slash line, looking overmatched in his first extended taste of the big leagues.

Alfaro isn't great offensively either, but he's at least close to being a league-average hitter and has far more experience. The 29-year-old has seven seasons and 478 games under his belt with a decent .256/.305/.396 career batting line. He was also on fire in Spring Training with a 1.390 OPS in nine games, making his demotion to Triple-A even more puzzling.

The Red Sox still need to decide who will get their final outfield and bullpen slots, so hopefully those choices make a bit more sense.