By Tiffany Williams –
With speculation swirling around about the Boston Red Sox potentially making a significant move during the offseason, there remains a cloud of uncertainty regarding the team’s next steps. One prominent rumor suggests that the Red Sox could be looking to package a deal centered around infielder Triston Casas, who finished as a 2023 AL Rookie of the Year finalist and hit 13 homers with 32 RBIs and an .800 OPS over just 63 games after dealing with a torn cartilage in his rib cage for the majority of the 2024 season.
On Saturday night, a low-key yet eager Casas attended the 3rd Annual WooSox Foundation Honors Gala at Polar Park in Worcester as a special guest. Following his arrival, he engaged in private discussions with reporters from NewsTalk New England, Boston Globe, Worcester Telegram, and Channel 5 News. When the topic turned to his future and any thoughts about where he might call home in 2025, Casas candidly said, “No, I haven’t given it much thought at all. I’m getting ready to take my at bat, whatever state, city it may be in. Hopefully, it’s for the Boston Red Sox, but if not, I feel like I can bring value to any team that would need a first baseman. So yeah, I wanna stay in Boston for a really long time, but if this team feels that they need to go a different direction with the lineup or the rotation, and I’m in the middle of it, they have that ability and they’ve raised me to succeed really wherever. The examples that the front office has set for me and how everything is supposed to be from an organizational standpoint has been amazing. So I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else, but wherever it may be, I feel like I’m gonna fit in just fine.”
While the debate continues over whether Casas will remain a part of the Red Sox franchise in the 2025 season or find himself in a new city playing for a different team, one thing he is unequivocal about is that his rib cage injury is firmly in the rearview mirror.
“I’ve been hitting real baseballs now for weeks. I took a little bit of a break after the season ended, I want to say three or four weeks, before I started taking some swings, but yeah, I was hungry to get back to it,” Casas stated. “I took a lot of time off during the season, just because of the injury and stuff. So I felt like I needed to get back into the swing of things pretty early, just to get my rhythm back down, my timing and stuff. So I didn’t take too much time off, but I like where I’m at right now, and I’m just going to keep rolling, adding the volume on there.”
Casas expressed that he feels completely recovered from his injury, noting, “It’s weird to say, because I went through so much pain this summer, but yeah, I feel like I’ve been working really hard on it, a lot of abdominal work and stretching and molding that back to normal, but it feels great.”
Reflecting on his offseason, Casas said,“It’s been going great. I’ve been in South Florida, working out a lot, had a lot of things to work on after this year, and I feel like I’ve been hitting them wholeheartedly. Just working out a lot, taking a lot of swings, trying to build that volume up again. But I like where I’m at, for sure, physically.”
When probed about the specific areas he aimed to improve, whether it was purely physical or if there were other elements of his performance he wished to refine, Casas clarified, “Yeah, that is the physical part, is the aspects of the swing that I’m trying to restore. But hitting is a lot of mental. And it’s funny, when you get away from the game, and you’re in the offseason, and you’re working on stuff, you find that it sometimes can even be more mental, because you’re making up all these situations in your head, you’re trying to prepare yourself for anything that comes in the season. I can make things a bigger deal than they are sometimes, I feel like I can even get imposter syndrome out there in the cage, in the middle of the offseason sometimes. But no, it’s been great. I’ve been learning a lot about myself, a lot about the swing, what is going to make me work, and hopefully something that clicks.”
When asked about his confidence level regarding the player he aspires to be in 2025, Casas confidently stated, “I feel like I can control what I can control, and that’s been my message to myself all along, to maximize my ability and see what I can get out of myself is what I’ve made a promise to do. I work hard for it every day. I leave it out there on the field, in the weight room, in the cage, wherever it is. I have a lot of expectations for myself, and I meet every single one of them just because it has to do with controllables, right? You go out there on the field, put yourself in the best positions possible to succeed that you can, and let it rip, have fun, do it with a smile, and try to fail elegantly. That’s what we all strive for out there on the field. It’s a game of failure. The game has to end by everybody failing a certain amount of times. It’s not like basketball, it’s not like football where there’s a timer no matter what, and a quarterback could go 24 for 24 and have a perfect game, and the game would end no matter what. If everybody got a hit every single time, the game would never end. So I’m trying to figure out how to fail the right way and do it in a way that is as respectable as what I strive for.”
The offseason in Major League Baseball is also clouded with uncertainty surrounding Juan Soto, particularly regarding his potential destination for the 2025 season. Recently, Jon Heyman, a well-known columnist for the New York Post, provided some insights into the ongoing bidding war for the young superstar. According to his report from Saturday night, both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets have intensified their efforts to secure Soto, significantly increasing their offers, which now range between an impressive $710 million and $730 million.
However, the competition for Soto is fierce, as three other major teams are also vying for the 26-year-old superstar hitter including the Boston Red Sox.
Heyman emphasizes that the Red Sox are very much in the race and cautions that it is entirely feasible for the Red Sox to outbid the New York clubs and secure Soto, a talent regarded as one of the brightest stars in baseball. The dynamic nature of this “Juan Soto Derby” adds excitement to the offseason, with the potential to reshape the landscape of the league depending on where this powerhouse player ultimately lands.
When Casas was asked Saturday night how curious he was to see if Juan Soto is in the Red Sox lineup, and if so, how he would put the lineup together if Soto was in it, Casas replied, “Right, he’s a game-changing type of bat, and whatever team he goes to is going to be pretty much a World Series favorite. I think he adds that much value to a team, to a lineup. His presence is felt all over the league, whether he’s on the field or not. So he’s a once-in-a-generation type talent. I’m excited to see where he goes, if it’s Boston it’s great, if not, I look forward to seeing him on the other side. But yeah, it’s exciting to hear the numbers that are getting thrown around as well. I hear there’s only a couple more teams left, and they’re the big fish in the pond. So it’s going to be exciting to see who gets him.”
When asked if he thought the Red Sox were still in it, Casas said, “I don’t know, I’m not sure. They’re rumored to be in it, but I don’t even think he knows where he wants to go yet. So we’ll see.”
Casas said whoever gets Soto is a World Series favorite to get to the World Series. When asked if the Red Sox would be favorites to get to the World Series if they have Soto, Casas replied, “Yes, absolutely.”
On a lighter note when Casas was asked what a Cases holiday season looks like he said that he wasn’t much of a Christmas kid growing up, and he never really had a tree or got fed the Santa thing. He added, “My dad, It’s funny cuz I used to make Christmas lists and stuff. And he used to tell me, he’s like, dude, you’re doing this all wrong. You got bats on here and you got batting gloves. I need to get you these things anyway. Switch it up, get a toy, or get something I don’t need to get you. So he pretty much preached to me that if we want something, we don’t have to wait till Christmas. And I think sometimes the holidays, they have a misconstrued idea of what it’s all supposed to be. But my dad always kept it real with me. He was just like, if we want gifts any time of the year, we should treat every day like it’s a holiday. So not too much of a celebrator for the holidays, I’ll be honest. Not even New Year’s. I think the 31st is on a Tuesday, I might be asleep at 12, I’m not sure.”