The Boston Red Sox will look to avoid a third straight loss when they host the Texas Rangers for the start of a three-game series on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the Red Sox's latest home series — and the rest of the campaign — will be played without first baseman Triston Casas, who underwent season-ending knee surgery over the weekend.
With Casas' year over, Red Sox fans have spent the last few days brainstorming a solution for the Red Sox's first-base woes, however, most have been a pipedream. Rafael Devers doesn't seem to want to play at first, while Boston is refusing to change top prospect Roman Anthony's position.
In other words, the pickings are slim in Beantown. It's gotten to the point where one Red Sox insider is urging the club to sign a former rival slugger for help.
Red Sox Urged to Sign Anthony Rizzo After Losing Triston Casas to Injury
In an interview with "Foul Territory" on Monday, MassLive's Chris Cotillo floated the idea of the Red Sox potentially signing former New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo to help address their hole at first base.
"I think the wild card here... is Anthony Rizzo," Cotillo said. "I don't know if the Red Sox are interested in bringing him in. If he's going to demand a Major League deal with a $4 million to $5 million salary, I doubt that they would do it. But if he's going to take a minor-league deal, something he's said earlier that he didn't want to do, maybe they bring him in."
It's hard to remember that Rizzo was once a part of the Red Sox organization. The Parkland, FL native was drafted by Boston in the sixth round of the 2007 draft, spending a few years in the system before being traded in a five-player deal that saw the San Diego Padres send Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox in December 2010.
With that in mind, signing with the Red Sox would be a homecoming and, potentially, a solid way for Rizzo to end his career. Since being shipped out of Boston, the 35-year-old slugger has racked up 303 home runs, 965 RBIs, 781 walks, and a .261/.361/.467 slash line in 1,727 games played with the Padres, Yankees, and Chicago Cubs.
That's without mentioning his plethora of accolades, which include four Gold Gloves, three MLB All-Star appearances, and a 2016 World Series ring.
While signing Rizzo would help bolster the Red Sox's 1B depth, a deal will hinge on his willingness to take a pay cut. Despite his play noticeably declining in recent seasons, the former Silver Slugger told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Brendan Kuty that he wasn't interested in playing on an MLB minimum contract back in February.
"The fact that teams want you to play for basically league minimum ($760,000), I’m like, you guys are crazy," Rizzo said. "You’re almost trying to ruin the market for the next guy."
If a Rizzo-Red Sox connection is in the cards, either the player or club will need to change their stance on financial expectations. Rizzo wants to be played like a starting big-league first baseman, whereas Boston likely doesn't want to break the bank on an aging former star who's yet to play this season.
In the meantime, the Red Sox will continue with May, tied for the eighth-best 2025 World Series odds (+1800) on FanDuel Sportsbook.
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