Red Sox make trade to address Triston Casas injury
The Boston Red Sox are not sure when star first baseman Triston Casas, who has landed on the injured list with a significant-sounding rib issue, will be back in action for the club.
Casas himself has talked about the recovery timeline ranging anywhere from three weeks to nine weeks. It is clearly going to be for what the club views as a notable stretch, however, with Casas placed on the 60-day injured list on Saturday. But it’s also an absence that the club does not want to see completely doom their 2024 season at the position, as the Red Sox swung a trade for some additional depth at the position Saturday, with Garrett Cooper added to the fold by way of a trade with Chicago.
Acquired from the Cubs in exchange for cash considerations, Cooper’s move to the Red Sox comes five days after he was designated for assignment by the Cubs, and amid a 2024 start that included one home run and six RBIs in 12 games. Cooper also posted a .270 average, along with a .341 on-base percentage and .774 OPS, during that 12-game run in Wrigleyville.
COOP THERE IT IS pic.twitter.com/OGzLQniqV2
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 3, 2024
An offseason target of the Red Sox before he ultimately landed in Chicago, the right-swinging Cooper is coming off a 2023 campaign that included a career-high 17 home runs and 61 RBIs in 123 games between Miami and San Diego.
A veteran of 493 MLB games over eight seasons, the 33-year-old Cooper has totaled 57 home runs and 228 RBIs, along with a .269 average and .774 OPS, between the Yankees, Marlins, Padres, and Cubs.
Mazz: Red Sox pitching now the clear priority
Tanner Houck
CLEVELAND, OH – APRIL 23: Tanner Houck #89 of the Boston Red Sox pitches against the Cleveland Guardians during the first inning at Progressive Field on April 23, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Ron Schwane/Getty Images)
While Kutter Crawford currently leads the American League in ERA – not a misprint – Houck may be the biggest development on the staff thus far. A former first-round pick with the build (6-foot-5, 230 pounds) to be a horse, Houck has average nearly 6.2 innings per start, which is a big number in this day and age. Can he keep it up? Time will tell. But he’s throwing strikes at a career-best rate and has the kind of movement on his pitches that makes him difficult to hit. His delivery looks much cleaner and tighter than years past. He has five walsk in five stars. Good stuff.
Brayan Bello
PITTSBURGH, PA – APRIL 19: Brayan Bello #66 of the Boston Red Sox pitches in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates during inter-league play at PNC Park on April 19, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
Though still a little erratic, Bello’s last two starts have been his best of the season, producing 15 strikeouts against just four walks and seven hits and 11.1 innings. The Red Sox have already committed to him in the form of a six-year, $55 million contract because he has higher upside than perhaps anyone else on the staff. How good can he be? That depends on the finer details, which include tightening up his delivery and showing a more consistent ability to command and spot the ball. (He has been better at this in his last two outings.) For now, let’s leave it at this: Bello can be a front-end starter. How high that is depends on where he goes from here. But for the first time in a while, it feels like he’s improving again.
Kutter Crawford
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA – APRIL 20: Kutter Crawford #50 of the Boston Red Sox pitches during the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on April 20, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
Since the Red Sox committed to him as a full-time starter at the beginning of June last year, Crawford has posted a 3.43 ERA in 26 starts with 9.64 strikeouts and 2.93 walks per nine innings. Will that get him into the Hall of Fame? No. But it will make him a potential anchor to a big league rotation. Again, this year, Crawford leads the American League in ERA thus far. And while the walks are up, so too are the strikeouts. (If the former can back to last year’s level without sacrificing the strikeouts, that would be ideal.) He hasn’t allowed a home run this season. (Jinx.) With Crawford right now, there’s a longer sustained record of success than with anyone else on the staff.
Garrett Whitlock
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – APRIL 11: Garrett Whitlock #22 of the Boston Red Sox pitches in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park on April 11, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Paul Rutherford/Getty Images)
Let’s make something clear here: the Red Sox don’t need all four of these guys to pan out. If the first three all succeed, the Red Sox could easily put Whitlock back in the bullpen, where he probably belongs. (He is currently on the disabled list again with an oblique injury.) Even if Whitlock stays healthy as a starter, he hasn’t been remotely as pitch efficient as he has been as reliever, which is concerning. His ERA (1.96) is good, but walks are up and strikeouts are down, which is consistent what he has previously been as a starter. In a best-case scenario, he ends up back in the bullpen to fortify an area that use a good, reliable young arm.
