Red Sox Star Suddenly on Thin Ice After Alex Bregman Signing

The Boston Red Sox made a seismic move late on Wednesday night, signing Alex Bregman to a three-year, $120 million contract. The deal gives the Red Sox a former Gold Glove winner, two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion to their lineup but not everybody will share the same enthusiasm.

Bregman is expected to move to second base and it creates a domino effect around the Boston infield. While Rafael Devers is currently at third base, he’s one of the worst defenders in baseball at his position and could create more significant moves if he’s unable to clean it up.

With Trevor Story at shortstop and top prospect Kristian Campbell in the minors, it creates a good problem for the Red Sox to have. But it leaves another infielder on thin ice and sets him up for a pivotal year as the team arrives at Spring Training.

Triston Casas Stands On Thin Ice After Alex Bregman Joins Red Sox

Triston Casas was a former top prospect in the Boston organization, ranking as high as 16th ahead of the 2022 season and ranking 23rd ahead of the 2023 season in MLB Pipeline’s prospect rankings.

Casas showed promise in his first full season in the majors, hitting .263/.367/.490 with 24 home runs and 65 RBI in 132 at-bats and was entrenched as the Red Sox starting first baseman on Opening Day. But he suffered torn cartilage in his left rib cage in April and missed two months before aggravating the injury in a June 26 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. 

After nearly spending two more months on the IL before returning on Aug. 16 and putting up respectable numbers with a .241/.337/.462 batter’s line with 13 homers and 32 RBI.

While the 25-year-old mitigated the damage during a lost season, there were a few aspects he’d like to leave in 2024. According to Baseball Savant, Casas’s strikeout rate jumped from 25.1% to 31.7% last season and while he still drew walks at a 12.3% clip, he also whiffed more than usual going from a 28.1% rate in 2023 to a 32.2% whiff rate last season.

Casas’s issues in the field also continued in 2024. Casas logged a minus-10 in Baseball Savant’s outs above average metric during the 2023 season and logged a minus-2 in 512 innings at first base last season. Casas also struggled in defensive runs saved posting a minus-4 in 2023 and a minus-2 in half the innings last season.

This could be why Casas was mentioned in trade rumors throughout the offseason as the Seattle Mariners reportedly tried to acquire him in a trade for Luis Castillo. The chatter got so loud that Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow came out and declared he wasn’t trading the young first baseman but that could change if he struggles this season.

Devers has his own flaws defensively, leading the American League with 12 errors last season. But he makes up for it at the plate, hitting .272/.354/.516 with 28 home runs and 83 RBI last season. Mix in a 10-year, $313.5 million contract that doesn’t expire until the end of the 2033 season and he’s more likely to move across the diamond to first base or to designated hitter than to a new team.

There’s also the wild card of Campbell. The No. 7 prospect on MLB Pipeline’s top prospect list, Campbell will likely start the season at Triple-A after Bregman’s arrival. While he also has experience at shortstop and third base, the Red Sox could move things around if they don’t work defensively with Campbell taking over second base, Bregman moving to third and Devers heading to first base.

Then again, that plan could be foiled if Casas becomes the player he can be, making 2025 an important year for the young slugger.

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