Obvious Red Sox Triston Casas replacement makes himself known

The Boston Red Sox were dealt a significant blow when Triston Casas, one of their bright young stars, suffered a rib injury that will keep him out for a while. How long is unclear, but what Alex Cora had to say was less than encouraging.

Losing Casas is tough for a Red Sox team that is currently 13-10 on the season. It's been an encouraging start for Boston, particularly on the pitching side, but losing Casas for a prolonged period of time can be bad news.

The Red Sox used Bobby Dalbec as Casas' replacement when he departed Saturday's game with the injury and started Pablo Reyes at first base on Sunday. Those two players make sense as internal options, but Boston could look externally to try and plug this new major hole. The Chicago Cubs might've just gifted them an easy solution.

Garrett Cooper is an obvious Triston Casas replacement who just became available

The Cubs' latest roster move saw them promote prospect Matt Mervis to the majors. Mervis earned his shot as he continues to tear up the minor leagues. Mervis wound up taking the place of Garrett Cooper who the Cubs DFA'd on Tuesday. There's your easy Casas fill-in.

Cooper has played parts of eight seasons in the majors and the Cubs were his fourth team. He spent most of his career with the Miami Marlins where he'd make an All-Star team back in 2022. He signed a minor league deal to join the Cubs this past offseason coming off a disappointing 2023 campaign, but he wound up making the team out of Spring Training which was not the initial expectation.

Cooper has seen time at first base, left field, and designated hitter for the Cubs so far this season and performed admirably, slashing .270/.341/.432 with one home run and six RBI in 12 games and 41 plate appearances.

The 33-year-old has had trouble staying healthy throughout his career, but when he is on the field, he has been productive. He has a career 109 OPS+ which is nine points above average, and he has hit as many as 17 home runs in a single season. He's especially productive against left-handed pitching, positing a .813 OPS against southpaws.

The Red Sox claiming Cooper off of waivers would be uninspiring, but it's a move that makes sense. He's a better option than guys like Reyes and Dalbec, costs nothing, and is a fine bench bat for when Casas does make his return. As fun as it'd be for the Red Sox to make a major move, that's just unrealistic, especially for late April. This is an easy move for them to make right now.