First baseman Triston Casas’s name has been the subject of plenty of trade rumors this winter, even as chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has roundly insisted that Casas is not being shopped. With the Red Sox apparently involved in the markets for both Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado, however, it’s not hard to see how adding another bat to the infield could spell the end of Casas’s time in Boston.
For his part, the soon-to-be 25-year-old slugger isn’t letting the noise get to him. As noted by Christopher Smith of MassLive, Casas acknowledged the possibility that he could be dealt if the right offer were to come along, adding that for the right package it could be in the “best interest” of the organization to move him or any player. Casas added that he’s been assured by the organization that there’s no substance behind rumors that he’s on the trading block before making clear that the rumors swirling around him this winter don’t bother him.
“I love Boston,” Casas said, as relayed by Smith. “I love everything about it and they’ve welcomed me with open arms since my first first professional day. So it would be great to play here as long as possible. I love the fans and they welcome me generously all the time. So I would love to play the rest of my career here. But if it’s elsewhere, I just feel like March 28, no matter where it’s at, I’m going to be playing major league games. So just focus on that.”
While he adds that he tries not to let the trade rumors “get to his head,” he reiterated his love for Boston and desire to stay in the organization long-term. That affirmation comes nearly a year after reported extension talks between the two sides, though those discussions ultimately did not lead to a deal. It appears there’s been no recent discussions about an extension, either, as Casas told reporters (including Rob Bradford of WEEI) today while appearing at the club’s Fenway Fest event that the sides have not talked about an extension since last winter.
Even setting aside the trade rumors, it’s not necessarily a shock that Casas and the Red Sox haven’t talked extension in the aftermath of the 2024 campaign. After all, last year was a difficult one for Casas. He spent much of the season on the injured list due to torn cartilage in his ribcage and when healthy enough to take the field slashed just .241/.337/.462 while striking out at a concerning 31.7% clip.
That production was still good for a 119 wRC+ overall, but that’s a step back from the 130 he posted in 2023. After an injury-marred down season that exposed a potential red flag in the form of an increased strikeout rate, the Red Sox are surely hoping to gather more information about both Casas and their outlook around the diamond before committing to him long-term while Casas surely is hoping to quell any doubts caused by 2024 with a full, healthy season before he signs a long-term deal.
Turning back to the possibility of the Red Sox pursuing Bregman or Arenado, the connection between those pursuits and the possibility of a Casas trade hinges on the possibility of installing either of those additions at third base, causing incumbent third baseman Rafael Devers to move to third base. Manager Alex Cora discussed the possibility of moving Devers off the hot corner at Fenway Fest today, as noted by Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. According to Cora, the club has not yet discussed a changing positions with Devers and that they would discuss the possibility with him before they get to the point of adding a new third baseman to the lineup. That generally tracks with the comments made by Breslow last month, which indicated the club has no current plans to move Devers off third base.
Send him to Minnesota
For Kent Hrbek!!
Olm—Wasn’t it Kent Hrbek that couldn’t hit Roger Clemens and then said after hitting a HR off Roger: “I own him?”
Roger as in Roger beshens’s patented football slider???
Not sure why you’d want to eat sliders made from footballs, sounds very tough and chewy.
1991 WS was the best I every witnessed, not a fan of either team involved, but just for the love of baseball. Only thing that tops it for me was 2004 ALCS (but that had a whole lot of personal fandom in it).
Only if Gene Larkin or Randy Bush are included in the deal
Can I add Jack Morris too?
Seems like a solid kid, saying all the right things.
Would be so foolish to let him go unless the haul was immense. That ain’t happening this off-season.
He gone!
Agreed. His fate was sealed as soon as he turned down an extension.
“Setting aside the trade rumors”
Something we all have a problem with here.
Anyone with a computer or smart device can start a rumor
And all the fan sites are way to eager to repeat them with a good dose of unprofessionalism
And most of them never turn out true !!!
Ship him out before he breaks another fingernail and misses 99 games.
North. The dude tore rib carilage ..just an fyi thats extremly painful ..stop implying this kid is soft
You probably also think football and hockey players who miss time are wimps. Cool.
“causing incumbent third baseman Rafael Devers to move to third base.”
Okay… that doesn’t seem like a big ask.
Only a 119% w/RC+? That’s actually pretty good.
The word only was not in the article. Says it was good for 119 but a step back from 2023.
I’d like to see him stay. He is young, relatively inexpensive, and a good hitter.
Yoshida is older and really only a platoon DH. Pay some team to take him off our hands, move Devers to DH, and bring in a legitimate 3B.
Reds will take him off your hands. Fits perfect in their payroll plans, league minimum
Real question, what is the liklihood that Devers could play a solid 2b? I mean, he’d have more time to react, but also he isn’t very fleet of foot for a middle infielder…
I hate the idea of trading 1 year of pre-arb + 3 years of arb Casas to pay Bregman or Arenado in their likely declining years, but also OK with signing/trading for one of them if it doesn’t involve trading Casas away. But that would mean that Yoshida needs to go, and every other team probably knows this and won’t even take him with the RS covering half of his remaining contract, despite him being a pretty good hitter (but also probably best suited to DH) – RS would need to probably pay down 75% of the contract to make it happen.
Somewhere between zero and negative 100.
Devers has lead feet and a lead glove. His range is measured in inches.
People need to stop thinking Devers is a baseball player. He isn’t. He is a hitter. END OF STORY. Burn his gloves no matter what position they are designed for so that idiot NEVER CONSIDERS HIMSELF A FIELDER AGAIN!!!
Moving Devers is like putting lipstick on a pig. It doesn’t change the fact that he can’t field, he struggles to throw accurately and he has the baseball acumen of a 10 year old, maybe.
Let him do what he’s best at, hitting. He was born a DH and will die a DH. All the rest was people humoring him to keep him happy.
The tragedy is that he has cost the team so many wins. He’s cost the pitchers so much money because their ERAs and WHIPs were far worse than they should have been and he’s cost some pitchers actual playing time. He missed a ball prior to Sale catching a line drive off his finger. If Devers makes the play the team is out of the inning and it’s not likely Sale breaks his finger like he does pitching from the stretch after yet another misplay by Devers. Nothing good has come out of him playing 3B. No good lessons have been learned by children about what it means to do things that are in the best interest of the team.
Basically, since 14 years old Devers should have been told he’s going to be a DH and close to 400 misplays could have been avoided in the minors and in the MLB.
One strong ‘no’ vote for a Devers move to 2b. Lol.
He’s cooked. Trade him to the Marlins or Rockies so he can wallow in never-ending failure.
Is he taking plenty of virtual swings to cope with the stress?