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

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…

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…

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%.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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.

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…

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.

16 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…

I fully agree, and while Devers at 1B does make the most sense, playing Story, Campbell, Bregman, Abreu. Duran and others at DH seems almost as ill-fitting as Story at 1B.

Ref makes sense at DH vs LHPs, and it would improve our defense by playing Anthony or Rafaela in RF vs LHPs. Rotating the others as "rest days" vs RHPs is fine. (Abreu would never DH as a rest day, since he gets his rest on the bench vs lefties.) Romy has been hitting lefties well, too, but with Devers at 1B and Ref at DH vs LHPs, he'd be the off man out- no biggie. If the plan is to rotate Campbell, Anthony, Duran, Mayer, Story and Bregman at DH that is about once a week for everyone. That could allow them to never need a day off from the line-up- just off on D. The issue with Story being too weak a hitter to play 1B also applies to DH, so maybe he gets actual days off, and it becomes a 5 man rotation vs RHPs, only. That seems manageable, doable and maybe even beneficial to all involved.

DH: Refsnyder vs LHPs/ Campbell, Mayer, Anthony, Bregman & Duran v RHPs- every 5th time

1B: Devers

2B: Campbell & Story or Mayer

SS: Story or Mayer

3B: Bregman & Mayer or Campbell

LF: Duran or Anthony

CF: Duran or Campbell (Rafaela back-up)

RF: Abreu or Anthony (Rafaela/Refsnyder back-up)

We basically have 7 players (Bregman, Campbell, Duran, Story, Mayer, Anthony and Abreu) for 6 positions plus DH vs RHPs, but we know Abreu sits vs LHPs, so it becomes a perfect 7 for 7 match (counting Abreu and Refsnyder as one.) Devers would rotate to DH, too, and who plays in his stead would be determined (Romy, Wong or a current infielder.)