Red Sox Announce Willson Contreras Decision, Full Roster Before Yankees Series

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The Red Sox announced a Willson Contreras decision and their full roster before the playoff series against the Yankees.

Willson Contreras is on the Red Sox’s official American League Wild Card roster, and Boston expects him in the Game 1 lineup Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

But is Contreras’s right hand fully healed? He returned Sunday as the designated hitter after missing eight games, went 0-for-2 and exited in the fifth inning. Manager Chad Tracy said Contreras should be “good to go,” but availability and a full, pain-free swing are not necessarily the same thing.

Contreras finished his first Red Sox season with a career-best 27 homers and 81 RBIs, both team highs, while batting .275/.386/.516 for a .902 OPS. His 153 OPS+ was the best on the club, and his 4.6 WAR reflected a full-season impact Boston cannot casually replace.

Can Contreras be the Same Hitter With Hand Injury

At age 34, after arriving from St. Louis in December, Contreras gave the Red Sox something they did not really possess — a proven middle-order hitter capable of changing the score with one swing.

That matters in a short playoff series, where top-quality pitching makes it extremely difficult for offenses to string together big innings based on singles, doubles and walks. Home runs win playoff series.

Boston scored 71 runs in 24 September games, the fewest in Major League Baseball. The Red Sox will face Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler in Game 1, left-hander Max Fried in Game 2 and, if necessary, Gerrit Cole in Game 3. That’s a tough assignment.

Tracy called Contreras’s return “huge … massive” before Sunday’s regular-season finale.

“Even with a layoff, with a guy like that, you know what he’s capable of doing with one swing of the bat,” Tracy said. “It’s pretty well documented.”

The point was clear enough. Contreras gives Boston its best chance to turn a close game into something else, a deficit into a lead.

He was struck on the right hand by a pitch from Texas Rangers pitcher Jakob Junis on Sept. 17. X-rays and a CT scan found no fracture, but Contreras said last week that the pain had prevented him from swinging. He had only 14 plate appearances in September before Sunday’s return, leaving the Red Sox to weigh rust, grip strength and pain tolerance against postseason urgency.

He is likely to start at DH in Game 1. Nick Sogard becomes the obvious first-base alternative if the hand limits Contreras defensively or forces a midgame move.

Red Sox Roster Carries 12 Pitchers, But Not Sandoval

The official 26-man roster includes 12 pitchers. They are Brayan Bello, Jake Bennett, Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Crochet, Alec Gamboa, Sonny Gray, Erik Miller, Wyatt Olds, Ranger Suarez, Payton Tolle, Greg Weissert and Garrett Whitlock.

Adley Rutschman and Connor Wong are the catchers. The position-player group also includes Caleb Durbin, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Andruw Monasterio, Trevor Story, Wilyer Abreu, Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jahmai Jones, Nate Eaton and Sogard.

Crochet made the roster after being reinstated from the 60-day injured list, though he has not appeared in a Major League game since April 25. Boston moved Justin Slaten to the 60-day IL to create the necessary 40-man opening.

Minor league base-stealing specialist Braiden Ward did not make it. Neither did left-handed starter Patrick Sandoval.

But Contreras remains the roster’s defining inclusion. Schlittler held Boston to a 0.74 ERA across four starts this season, and the Yankees own home field throughout the best-of-three series.

The Red Sox’s route is low-scoring baseball, clean bullpen work and somebody providing one explosive swing. For Boston, that somebody is supposed to be Contreras.

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