Willson Contreras' Red Sox frustration echoes a problem that fueled his Cubs' exit

Willson Contreras is one of baseball's most outspoken players. That's been the case since he was coming up through the Chicago Cubs organization and, if anything, he's only let it fly more as he's gotten older.

That tendency was on full display following the Boston Red Sox' loss to the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series this week, when, after manager Chad Tracy came in with a quick hook for his starter, only to have it immediately backfire, he passionately stressed that winning comes down to players executing in big spots - not the data flowing from the front office and coaching staff.

Now, if this sounds familiar, it's because it should. Near the end of his Cubs' tenure, there were rumblings that a lack of data adoption drove a wedge between Contreras, the organization and manager David Ross. He closed out the 2022 season with the team, but instead of re-signing with Chicago, joined the rival St. Louis Cardinals in what wound up being a contentious marriage culminating in the team trading him to Boston last winter.

“The only thing that I can control is my part of the game,” he said Wednesday night. “Come here to work 100 percent and be out there day in and day out, taking care of my body. Create a good chemistry here with the guys. Support the guys. That’s the only thing that we can do, besides that, making decisions about data, about all the stuff we cannot do anything about it. Like I said, it’s here to help us. But at the end of the day, it’s not about data, it’s about executing the game plan.”

Data plays a huge role in the game today - and players refusing to utilize it is unlikely to be accepted by their respective organizations. I'm sure Contreras would point to the career-best season he just had as proof he knows what he's doing, but as a catcher, it seems data-driven decisions on pitching changes is what he's really taking issue with here.

Instead of trusting potential AL Cy Young finalist Sonny Gray with their season on the line, Tracy went to the bullpen - and the Yankees pounced on the Red Sox bullpen right away, the same way they did in Game 1. Now, Contreras and Boston head home, with the book closed on an up-and-down 2026 season that saw it all with some clear differences of opinion to work through before next year.

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