The Boston Red Sox were hoping Triston Casas would establish himself as the long-term solution at first base this season. Instead, the future became far less certain.
Casas put up a .580 OPS in 29 games this season before suffering a torn patellar tendon in his left knee. He’s still recovering from that injury and surgery, and it’s too early to say whether he’ll be ready to start for the Red Sox (or any team, for that matter) on opening day.
Will the Red Sox look to replace Casas, who hasn’t shown the ability to keep himself in the lineup for a team that lacks home run power?
After back-to-back seasons where Casas missed the majority of the season due to injury, the Red Sox were asked about the 25-year-old’s future as the team’s starting first baseman on Monday. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s answer wasn’t a guarantee of anything, but certainly made it clear that the position was open to evaluation.
“I don’t think it makes a ton of sense, on Oct. 6, to say someone is or isn’t our first baseman,” Breslow said, via NESN. “We’ll see how things play out. Unfortunately, Triston has missed a significant amount of time over the last two years, but we’ve also seen what he’s capable of doing when he’s healthy.”
It was Breslow who stumped for Casas last offseason, saying he thought the youngster was capable of a 40-homer, 120-RBI season. Behind the scenes, though, there’s little doubt that the Red Sox were at least listening to potential trade offers for him, and may have been surprised by how little interest there was.
This winter, it’s hard to imagine the Red Sox getting anything of significant value for a player coming off a major surgery with only 92 games logged since the start of last year. If they’re going to replace him, they’ll need to either spend on a free agent and/or make a trade, while figuring out if he still makes sense for the roster at all.
Breslow also said the team is confident Casas will make a full recovery, but wouldn’t put a specific timeline on when he’d be ready to play in games.
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