Red Sox’ Triston Casas reacts to recent trade rumors
As the Red Sox’ 2025 offseason rolls on, the rumor mill revolving around the team has continued to stir. Now that many of the ‘big fish’ in the free agency pool have signed, the focus in town has turned to potential trade prospects.
There has been significant buzz in recent weeks surrounding the future of Sox first baseman Triston Casas. According to multiple reports, Casas is available for a potential trade.
In his three years with the team, Casas has been largely productive in the middle of Boston’s lineup. In 2023, his sophomore season, Casas stood out: 132 games played, with a .263 batting average, 24 home runs, 65 RBIs, and an .865 OPS. The young slugger missed significant time in 2024, but managed 13 more home runs in just 63 games.
That being said, the Red Sox’ batting order lacks sizably in right-handed hitting, and Casas, a lefty, is one of the few players on the big-league club who has garnered some potential trade value around the league.
Casas missed most of 2024 due to a rib injury that kept him out from late April until mid-August, with one June appearance mixed in. Even when returning to the lineup, the first baseman was still battling the injury.
“[The pain is] tolerable, it’s manageable. It’s not going to be a reason why I don’t play well. It’s going to be 100% soon. I don’t know when but it’s not going to affect the play on the field. It’s going to be fine moving up,” via MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.
Despite not playing at 100%, Casas was still effective at the plate in the latter half of 2024. Over his 153 plate appearances, after his return, in the months of August and September, Casas registered a .239 BA, .333 on-base percentage, and a .433 slugging percentage; he also hit seven home runs along with knocking in 22 runs.
However, the issue still remains, Boston needs more right-handed batters. In 2024, the team only had five righties who played in at least half of the Red Sox’ games and only two (Connor Wong and Tyler O’Neill) rank in the top-10 of Sox batters. Moves seem inevitable.
So, Casas feels like an obvious piece that could be moved for an effective right-handed bat in return.
However, Casas is unconcerned with the rumors. “I try not to get too caught up in it… I [try] to disassociate with the emotion of the business part of baseball, so I feel like it’s just part of the nature to check in on guys and constantly want to bolster your roster, and sometimes it takes shaking up an organization to do so,” Casas said, via Ian Browne at MLB.com.
Casas also said that the Red Sox have informed him “that none of the rumors are true,” he continues, “I love Boston…I love everything about it, and they’ve welcomed me with open arms since my first professional day. So it’d be great to play here as long as possible. I love the fans, and they’ve welcomed me generously all the time. So I would love to play the rest of my career here.”
So, it appears both sides want him to continue his career at Fenway. But what other factors may be at play that could result in Casas being moved?
If the Red Sox were to move Casas, it would have to be under certain circumstances or else they would be left with a hole at first — flashbacks to the days of Bobby Dalbec struggling to figure out the first base position prior to Casas becoming a regular player at the major league level.
Therefore, the move would likely have to be a one-for-one trade: Casas for a right-handed batting first baseman, or they could make a move that would result in Rafael Devers moving to over to first — something the organization has been trying to do as the star’s third base defense game has progressively deteriorated over his career.
That leaves only a few clear options for Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow.
Ian Browne points out the obvious choices: Nolan Arenado, current third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, whom they could make a trade for, and Alex Bregman, the 30-year-old third base free agent whom the Red Sox, among many teams across the league including fellow AL East teams: the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, have been reportedly in on for the entirety of the free agency period. Bregman is widely considered to be the last available ‘big fish’ of the off-season.
However, in the case of Bregman, there has been little progression towards bringing him to Boston over recent weeks. In fact, Sean McAdam of MassLive.com, reported on Dec. 10 from the MLB Winter Meetings that, “Boston’s pursuit, according to an industry source, is somewhat complicated by some internal disagreement over Bregman. While manager Alex Cora and team president Sam Kennedy are known to be big proponents of Bregman, the source said some members of the baseball operations staff, including chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, are more circumspect when it comes to the player.”
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, reiterated this on Jan. 10 by saying, “The Boston Red Sox’ seeming resistance to Alex Bregman makes sense only if the team is playing a game of chicken with agent Scott Boras, believing Bregman won’t go to Toronto and the Detroit Tigers won’t pay him.”
All of this is to say that until other moves are resolved, the Casas situation remains in limbo. It is unclear what Craig Breslow and the Red Sox will do to address the lack of right-handed batting, but it seems that despite the reports, Casas will remain in Boston at least until the Bregman situation is addressed.
There is no telling what the front office is truly planning for the Casas ahead of the 2025 stanza. But what is for sure regardless of where he lands, Triston Casas will be prepared and ready for the upcoming year, and he will be looking for a bounce-back year in his redemption season.
