5 Biggest Red Sox Offseason Priorities That Must Be Addressed
By Tyler Maher
4. Extend Triston Casas
One thing the current ownership group has been really bad at is locking up the team’s young players to contract extensions. Jon Lester, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts are all recent examples of this, leaving Boston during the prime of their careers because the team failed to extend them.
Perhaps ownership has finally learned its lesson based on the massive contract extension it gave Rafael Devers last winter, but don’t stop there.
The next candidate for a contract extension should be Casas, who is coming off an excellent rookie campaign with Boston. He was one of the best hitters in baseball during the second half and finished the year with 24 homers and an .856 OPS. He’s only 23, too, which means he could keep getting better. And more expensive.
Which is exactly why the Red Sox should try to lock him up now. Not necessarily for the rest of his career, but at least for the rest of his prime by buying out a few free-agent years.
Casas has already expressed interest in an extension, which is a great sign. If the two sides can hammer out a deal this winter, that will keep Casas in Boston for the foreseeable future and likely save ownership a ton of money to spend on other players.
The longer the Red Sox wait, the more leverage Casas gains and the more expensive he becomes. Ownership should make a strong push to get a deal done this offseason and show him how much he means to the franchise.