The World Series rages on and the offseason hasn’t officially started, but the Boston Red Sox took the first step toward improving the team for 2026.
The Red Sox late on October 26 signed catcher Jason Delay to a minor league deal, first reported by Aram Leighton of Just Baseball Media. The deal presumably includes an invite to spring training, but that is not yet official.
Delay was drafted by the Pirates in 2017 and spent nearly a decade in their system. He made his major league debut in 2022 at 27, and appeared in parts of the next two big league seasons. The Pirates traded Delay to the Braves organization in April, where he spent the entire 2025 season in the minor leagues.
Delay has posted a .231/.295/.315 slash line and .610 OPS in 134 games across his three stints in the big leagues. His longest spell in the majors came in 2023, when he slashed .251/.319/.347 over 70 games. He batted .200/.261/.257 in 68 games between the Braves’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates in 2025.
Red Sox sign Jason Delay to minor league deal to serve as backup catcher as Carlos Narváez, Connor Wong recover from surgeries this offseason
Delay’s offensive numbers leave something to do be desired, but with any luck, he may never appear in the big leagues for the Red Sox. Boston’s catching depth was dangerously thin last season, to the point that it signed Yasmani Grandal in April after he went the entire offseason without even signing a minor league deal.
The Sox will still need the depth Delay provides since both of their big league catchers underwent surgery shortly after the 2025 season ended. Carlos Narváez had his meniscus repaired and Connor Wong underwent a carpal boss excision within days of their Wild Card elimination at the hands of the Yankees. Recovery timelines for both surgeries suggest the catchers could be fully healthy by spring training, but insurance is always nice in case there are any delays in their progression or other injuries arise throughout the season.
Delay has years of experience as a backup catcher, and he’d be a more reliable backup than Blake Sabol or Alí Sánchez, the two backup catchers who got playing time for the Sox this year while Narváez and Wong rested in-season injuries. Delay is a solid first offseason signing for a team in need of depth behind the dish — teams can rarely go wrong with a minor league deal.
