Article: Where Do the Red Sox Turn in the Wake of the Triston Casas Injury?

[Alex Mayes]

Triston Casas suffered a “significant knee injury” in the bottom of the second inning on Friday night. He remained on the ground for quite a while as the team doctor attended to him, finally calling for the cart to take him off the field. After the game, Alex Cora informed the media that Casas was still at the hospital and that the team would know more on Saturday. 

 

Although Casas wasn’t having the season most had hoped, he seemed to be turning the corner and figuring things out at the plate. As such, he’s going to be difficult to replace in the lineup. Let’s take a look at where the Red Sox could turn to cover first base.

Internal Candidates

• Romy Gonzalez

The obvious answer here is the other half of the first base platoon. Gonzalez is currently slashing .279/.340/.419 in 14 games. He’s played well this season in limited action, mostly against left-handed pitching, and will likely get the majority of reps at first unless a move is made to bring in a big-name first baseman. 

• Connor Wong

The Red Sox have long touted Wong’s defensive versatility, but after six games at first last year, he wasn’t even in the discussion for a platoon role there this year. Don’t expect to see Wong at the cold corner unless things have gone off the rails.

• Rob Refsnyder

Refsnyder, also used in a platoon against left-handed pitching, has logged 227 career innings at first and could potentially see some time there, though he hasn’t played the position since 2020.

• Carlos Narvaez

Narvaez worked at first base while in Triple-A with the Yankees last year, so it’s possible the Red Sox could look his way. That being said, so far, Boston hasn't had him play there in any capacity. 

• Vaughn Grissom

Grissom has been getting work in at first base down in Triple-A Worcester — only four games so far — but he’s been hitting well. I don’t really believe that his offensive outburst at Worcester will translate to the big leagues, but I’d love to be proven wrong. His numbers likely give him the edge to be the next man up. He’s currently slashing .287/.369/.444 with three home runs.

• Nick Sogard

Sogard looked good in limited action once called up to the big leagues last season. He brings a lot of defensive versatility to the roster, and he’s played five different positions at Triple-A so far this season. 

• Abraham Toro

Toro looked solid in spring training and has been playing well at Worcester, slashing .310/.403/.480 with an .883 OPS. He was a dark horse to make the Opening Day roster and could be in line for a call-up sooner rather than later. 

External Candidates

• Dominic Smith

Currently on a minor league deal with the Yankees, Smith is a fan favorite but likely wouldn’t offer much in terms of offense. He’s familiar with the system, though, and would likely be welcomed back with open arms. 

• Christian Arroyo 

Another former Red Sox player on a minor league deal, Arroyo has only played nine games this season. His numbers look good, .351/.385/.703, but he’s coming off a hamstring injury and it seems unlikely that the Phillies would be inclined to get rid of him at the moment.

• Anthony Rizzo

This is more of a pipe dream for Rizzo, who had almost no attention as a free agent during the offseason. He’s 35 and has been rapidly declining since a concussion in 2023. At the very least, he was drafted by the organization in 2007, so maybe he would want to finish his career in Boston as a bench piece.

You’ll notice that Rafael Devers, Masataka Yoshida, and Roman Anthony don’t appear on the list, and for good reason. Cora has made it clear that he doesn’t want Devers in the field. It would likely do more harm than good to try and force Devers to learn a new position on the fly as he finally seems to be settling into his role as the full-time designated hitter.

Yoshida doesn’t have the frame to play first and we don’t know when he will be back with the major league club. Anthony’s defensive abilities would be wasted at first base — he profiles as a potential Gold Glove outfielder. There are trades that could happen, and Craig Breslow has proven he’s not afraid to make deals when they benefit the team, but we’re still just a month into the season, and most organizations would be unlikely to start trading major league pieces this early. Nolan Arenado said he would move to first base in the right situation, but he hasn’t been a bright spot on a middling Cardinals roster.

An intriguing name on that same team that I’ve written about before though, is Jordan Walker. Walker came up through the Cardinals system as a third/first baseman and has looked lost since the team shuffled him into the outfield mix. Getting him away from St. Louis and back to a position he’s actually comfortable with could do wonders for him.

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Are there any other options you’d consider? Leave them in the comments and let’s discuss!

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[notin]

Trade Wilyer Abreu for Tyler Soderstrom.

 

The Athletics have former C/1b/DH Tyler Soderstrom miscast in LF, because Shea Langeliers, Nick Kurtz, and Brent Rooker have taken over the other 3 roles respectively…

[harmony]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Trade Wilyer Abreu for Tyler Soderstrom.

 

The Athletics have former C/1b/DH Tyler Soderstrom miscast in LF, because Shea Langeliers, Nick Kurtz, and Brent Rooker have taken over the other 3 roles respectively…

Trivia: Triston Casas and Tyler Soderstrom were drafted out of high school with the 26th overall pick in their respective drafts, Casas in 2018 and Soderstrom in 2020.

[Randy Red Sox]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Trade Wilyer Abreu for Tyler Soderstrom.

 

The Athletics have former C/1b/DH Tyler Soderstrom miscast in LF, because Shea Langeliers, Nick Kurtz, and Brent Rooker have taken over the other 3 roles respectively…

Hey the CWS just dfa'd Bobby Dalbec.  There is u r answer

[notin]

1 hour ago, Randy Red Sox said:

Hey the CWS just dfa'd Bobby Dalbec.  There is u r answer

Answer to what?

Dalbec should consider switching to pitching at this point.  Being DFAd by one of the worst teams in MLB history is not good resume fodder…

[Jasonbay44]

If we bring back Dalbec I swear… 

[BOSOX11]

My vote is for Dom Smith.

[Jasonbay44]

I know Cora doesn’t want to play him in the field but I think the answer should be Devers. A lot of players have made the switch from 3B to 1B and it’s a pretty natural switch. Miguel Cabrera. Albert Pujols, Kevin Youkilis and most recently Vladdy Jr all made the switch fairly easily. It might not be smooth at first but the team needs a long term answer with Casas out for the year and possibly part of next year. Guys like Dalbec, Dom Smith and etc aren’t the answer. 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

15 minutes ago, Jasonbay44 said:

I know Cora doesn’t want to play him in the field but I think the answer should be Devers. A lot of players have made the switch from 3B to 1B and it’s a pretty natural switch. Miguel Cabrera. Albert Pujols, Kevin Youkilis and most recently Vladdy Jr all made the switch fairly easily. It might not be smooth at first but the team needs a long term answer with Casas out for the year and possibly part of next year. Guys like Dalbec, Dom Smith and etc aren’t the answer. 

Do you think they should force devers to learn first base on the fly during the season?

[Kimmi]

7 hours ago, Jasonbay44 said:

I know Cora doesn’t want to play him in the field but I think the answer should be Devers. A lot of players have made the switch from 3B to 1B and it’s a pretty natural switch. Miguel Cabrera. Albert Pujols, Kevin Youkilis and most recently Vladdy Jr all made the switch fairly easily. It might not be smooth at first but the team needs a long term answer with Casas out for the year and possibly part of next year. Guys like Dalbec, Dom Smith and etc aren’t the answer. 

100%.

[jopete19]

What about Yasmani Grandal? Signed a minor league contract a couple of weeks ago. Has played 97 games at first. 

[jopete19]

The Casas injury really makes me wonder what would've happened if he continued to hit .180 throughout the season, we clearly have no 1B backup plan. Were we just going to continue to ride with him? 

[Kimmi]

6 hours ago, jopete19 said:

The Casas injury really makes me wonder what would've happened if he continued to hit .180 throughout the season, we clearly have no 1B backup plan. Were we just going to continue to ride with him? 

I think he would have eventually been sent down, but that would at least give our internal options, like Grissom, some time to get more reps at 1B.  

I guess the good news is that Casas was hitting so poorly that whoever replaces him short term won't provide much less production.  We might even be pleasantly surprised.

[moonslav59]

32 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

I think he would have eventually been sent down, but that would at least give our internal options, like Grissom, some time to get more reps at 1B.  

I guess the good news is that Casas was hitting so poorly that whoever replaces him short term won't provide much less production.  We might even be pleasantly surprised.

I think we all had hopes Casas was going to come back around and hit over .800. I can't see expecting any current 1Bman in our system having hopes that high.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

22 hours ago, Kimmi said:

100%.

Devers could easily play 1st. It isn't like he's replacing a gold glove 1st baseman. Unfortunately, instead of having a real manager the Sox have Daddy Day Care Cora.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

On 5/5/2025 at 12:26 PM, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Do you think they should force devers to learn first base on the fly during the season?

Devers will be better at 1st than he was at third. Moving from 3rd to 1st isn't that big a deal as has been proven many times.

[Larry Cook]

We should move story to first base and promote Mayer. I know Mayer is a bit fragile, but he drives in runners!!!!

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

18 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Devers will be better at 1st than he was at third. Moving from 3rd to 1st isn't that big a deal as has been proven many times.

That's not what I asked.

Do you think he should learn on the fly during the season?

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

5 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

That's not what I asked.

Do you think he should learn on the fly during the season?

Definitely, but Cora has already said no, so it really doesn't matter.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Definitely, but Cora has already said no, so it really doesn't matter.

I would agree with that approach if/when they fall out of playoff contention.

 

[illinoisredsox]

On 5/4/2025 at 12:41 PM, Jasonbay44 said:

If we bring back Dalbec I swear… 

Don’t see that happening.  Bobby’s best bet was a fresh start somewhere else and he failed at that as well.

[vegasbob]

1 hour ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

That's not what I asked.

Do you think he should learn on the fly during the season?

I think they should have been preparing Devers to sub at 1B during ST .  But maybe that would have been too much pressure for the sensitive  guy, Casas.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

32 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

I think they should have been preparing Devers to sub at 1B during ST .  But maybe that would have been too much pressure for the sensitive  guy, Casas.

Pretty sure devers is a sensitive guy as well........

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 hour ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Pretty sure devers is a sensitive guy as well........

Devers is a really good team player.

Of course, I'm only kidding.

[notin]

On 5/5/2025 at 11:10 AM, Jasonbay44 said:

I know Cora doesn’t want to play him in the field but I think the answer should be Devers. A lot of players have made the switch from 3B to 1B and it’s a pretty natural switch. Miguel Cabrera. Albert Pujols, Kevin Youkilis and most recently Vladdy Jr all made the switch fairly easily. It might not be smooth at first but the team needs a long term answer with Casas out for the year and possibly part of next year. Guys like Dalbec, Dom Smith and etc aren’t the answer. 

Also Triston Casas switched from 3rd to 1st…

[moonslav59]

It's not unheard of to learn a new position during a season, but not by just throwing the guy out there without a few weeks of practice. This should have been done a few off-seasons ago, instead of making empty promises to Devers about long term 3B tenure.

I'm not sure Story is the guy to pick to play 3B, out of all our infielders, but I also don't see Campbell or Mayer at 1B. Bregman could be the better 1Bman from the infield, but now we start shuffling a shuffle.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

7 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

This should have been done a few off-seasons ago, instead of making empty promises to Devers about long term 3B tenure.

I agree, management really screwed the pooch on this one.

[moonslav59]

39 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

I agree, management really screwed the pooch on this one.

I'm not bragging or anything, because I know I have been wrong enough to not be a bragger, but this one seemed obvious years ago, and I have been bringing it up for many seasons and off seasons.

[notin]

9 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

It's not unheard of to learn a new position during a season, but not by just throwing the guy out there without a few weeks of practice. This should have been done a few off-seasons ago, instead of making empty promises to Devers about long term 3B tenure.

I'm not sure Story is the guy to pick to play 3B, out of all our infielders, but I also don't see Campbell or Mayer at 1B. Bregman could be the better 1Bman from the infield, but now we start shuffling a shuffle.

I’ve seen the Story recommendation multiple times, and other than creating an opening for Mayer, there’s no real reason to consider it.  Consider a few random thoughts.

Not counting DH, first base is widely regarded as the easiest position to field.  It’s the only position where the overwhelming bulk of your chances are balls thrown to you (i.e the thrower is intending you catch it) as opposed to hit to you (the hitter does not).  There is a reason so many first basemen started out in other positions before settling there - they were hitters, not fielders.  Story is the opposite.  He is a talented defender, but a streaky hitter prone to prolonged slump in which he struggles to make contact.  He also possesses none of the physical traits (height, left-handedness) that make the position easier.  If it wasn’t for Mayer, no one would suggest this.

Campbell is at least taller.  And moving from 2b to 1b does create the middle infield opening for Mayer.  I could understand if the Sox didn’t want to bounce Campbell’s position around his rookie year, but Cora appears dedicated to doing so.  
 

To me, Devers makes the most sense.  Granted, he’s never played 1b, but no one made an issue of that while we were starting Romy Gonzalez there.  And Abraham Toro isn’t exactly loaded with 1b experience either.  Devers could be worked in to the position and create an opening for the easiest position to fill.  Especially since the guy that could fill it might be better utilized at DH than in the OF, where he has shown to be ineffective, and his recent shoulder surgery probably didn’t fix any of his issues.

But it’s kind of amazing how we had a surplus of 1b/DH players, and then after only one injury later, we have a shortage…

[vegasbob]

14 minutes ago, notin said:

I’ve seen the Story recommendation multiple times, and other than creating an opening for Mayer, there’s no real reason to consider it.  Consider a few random thoughts.

Not counting DH, first base is widely regarded as the easiest position to field.  It’s the only position where the overwhelming bulk of your chances are balls thrown to you (i.e the thrower is intending you catch it) as opposed to hit to you (the hitter does not).  There is a reason so many first basemen started out in other positions before settling there - they were hitters, not fielders.  Story is the opposite.  He is a talented defender, but a streaky hitter prone to prolonged slump in which he struggles to make contact.  He also possesses none of the physical traits (height, left-handedness) that make the position easier.  If it wasn’t for Mayer, no one would suggest this.

Campbell is at least taller.  And moving from 2b to 1b does create the middle infield opening for Mayer.  I could understand if the Sox didn’t want to bounce Campbell’s position around his rookie year, but Cora appears dedicated to doing so.  
 

To me, Devers makes the most sense.  Granted, he’s never played 1b, but no one made an issue of that while we were starting Romy Gonzalez there.  And Abraham Toro isn’t exactly loaded with 1b experience either.  Devers could be worked in to the position and create an opening for the easiest position to fill.  Especially since the guy that could fill it might be better utilized at DH than in the OF, where he has shown to be ineffective, and his recent shoulder surgery probably didn’t fix any of his issues.

But it’s kind of amazing how we had a surplus of 1b/DH players, and then after only one injury later, we have a shortage…

There's a lot of amazing things about the Red Sox . At the current moment, however, none of those things are the players, manager, nor front office.    Oh, longing for the days of a .500 team.