Triston Casas is out for the season. What it means for Rafael Devers, Roman Anthony and more

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BOSTON – Standing outside the Boston Red Sox clubhouse on Saturday afternoon, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow revealed a worst-case scenario for Triston Casas. The first baseman will miss the rest of the season with a ruptured left patellar tendon, with surgery pending.

Casas’ knee gave out as he was running to first base on Friday night. He was subsequently taken off the field on a stretcher.

“It’s tough, you feel for Triston given what he’s been through the last few years here,” Breslow said. “It seems like these injuries, they pop up in kind of unconventional ways. And unfortunately this is a serious one that’s going to keep him out for a long time.”

Manager Alex Cora said Casas told him after the injury occurred that he had felt pain in his left knee just as he was approaching the bag.

The 25-year-old Casas missed 98 games last season after tearing cartilage in his rib cage on a swing last April. He’d gotten off to a slow start at the plate this season, hitting .182 with a .580 OPS in 29 games, but the Red Sox were sticking with him at first base. Now they’ll need to find another solution.

In the immediate term, the Red Sox will split playing time at first base between utility man Romy González and infielder Abraham Toro, who was recalled from Triple-A Worcester on Saturday. In 28 games for Worcester, the switch-hitter batted .310 (31-for-100) with seven doubles, two triples and two homers while making 18 starts at third base, five at first base, three at designated hitter and two at second base.

Gonzalez, who bats right-handed, had served as the club’s backup first baseman behind Casas prior to the injury. Through 14 games, including nine at first base, Gonzalez hit .279 with a .759 OPS.

But more questions loom, including whether the club will attempt to transition Rafael Devers to first base or if they plan to promote either of their top prospects in Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer and transition them to first base.

On the Devers question, Breslow didn’t rule it out, but Cora was less definitive.

“Right now, we’re not in a place to speak to that,” Breslow said. “But obviously we’ll have conversations internally, and we’ll do the best we can to find the short-term solution, and also one that we feel like can hold up over the long term.”

He added: “We’ve largely been having the conversation about the transition from third to DH (for Devers) and helping him establish a routine and to your point, it seems like he has settled into one.”

Devers transitioned to designated hitter from third base this spring after some initial frustrations at being asked to move positions when the team signed Alex Bregman to play third base.

Devers has settled into the DH role well, particularly of late, hitting .284 with a .921 OPS over the past month after a rocky start to the season.

The Red Sox appear uncertain if adding another change to his routine would disrupt his rhythm at the plate.

“From my end right now, no,” Cora said about moving Devers to first. “We asked him to do something in spring training. And in the beginning, he didn’t agree with it, and now he’s very comfortable doing what he’s doing (at DH). So like I told you guys in spring training, he’s my DH.”

Cora noted that while the assumption is that first base is an easy position to learn, it’s not always the case, citing examples in recent years of players the team has tried to fit at first base like Hanley Ramírez and Franchy Cordero.

“It is a tough position, especially nowadays that you’re pushing that guy to the (second-base) hole with right-handed hitters,” Cora said. “We got Casas closer to the bag because we felt like he was getting late to first base. Cut-off and relays, there’s a lot of stuff. I had a conversation with (former first baseman Kevin Youkilis) a few years ago. People think that, ‘Oh, just play first base.’ No, it doesn’t work that way — the picks, the throws, everything that comes with it. It’s a tough decision to play, a tough position to learn, and like I said, I’m very comfortable with these two guys (Toro and Gonzalez) playing first base.”

When asked if a Devers move to first could open up the designated hitter position for Masataka Yoshida, who has been able to hit but continues to experience pain while throwing amid rehab from shoulder surgery, Breslow balked at the idea.

“I think it’s important to decouple those things just given that Masa, he’s had some hurdles as it relates to recovering with the throwing,” Breslow said. “We still feel like he’s a capable outfielder and want to make sure that when he comes back he’s completely healthy.”

Yoshida has been rehabbing in Fort Myers, Fla., but returned to Boston this week for imaging on his shoulder. The results were clean.

“Imaging showed the normal post-operative recovery,” Breslow said. “It doesn’t appear to be anything structural, just some kind of discomfort threshold that he hasn’t been able to get through yet. But he’ll continue throwing and we’ll continue pushing forward.”

Meanwhile, top prospects Anthony and Mayer have continued to tear up Triple A at the plate, but have been blocked positionally with promotions to the majors. Breslow ruled out either player making a move to first base.

“Both of those guys, obviously, are showing the ability to impact both sides of the ball,” Breslow said. “But given the bright futures that they have ahead of them at their respective positions, introducing additional variables doesn’t make a ton of sense right now.”

Anthony, The Athletic’s No. 1 prospect, has played all three outfield positions and is hitting .292 with a .938 OPS in 27 games. Mayer, primarily a shortstop, who’s also seen time at second and third, has hit .262 with an .827 OPS in 26 games.

“We would consider all options and then come to the conclusion that some don’t make quite as much sense as others do,” Breslow said. “I think to dismiss anything out of hand would be silly, but also to try and plug holes irresponsibly, without at least keeping an eye for what the long-term might look like, would similarly be foolish at this point.”

Last season when Casas went down with the rib cage injury, the Red Sox were aggressive in adding first basemen Dominic Smith and Garrett Cooper to the roster. Breslow said the team will be open to exploring external options on the trade and free-agent market going forward, but there is nothing imminent on that front.

“This is, unfortunately, an opportunity to explore what is available,” Breslow said. “We’ll look both internally and potentially externally as well.”

(Photo: David Butler II / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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