The Boston Red Sox have an impossible call to make – and one few saw coming before the start of the 2025 regular season. While the Red Sox openly shopped Casas this past winter in trade talks, especially when they were open to adding Nolan Arenado, once Craig Breslow opted to keep him it was assumed he would produce as a valuable member of the lineup.
Nope! Not so fast. Casas is a solid power hitter at his best – he hit 23 home runs in 2023, a season in which he finished third in AL Rookie of the Year – but his 2025 numbers are a reason for panic. Over the last two years combined, Casas has a WAR of -0.1 combined. In just 26 games played this season, Casas has a -0.7 WAR. He's hitting under the Mendoza line and has an OBP under .200. Casas' OPS is .594, and despite providing some decent defense at first base, he's become borderline unplayable.
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The Red Sox have to consider all options with Triston Casas
Whatever trade value Casas had is essentially gone, sadly. The Red Sox best step forward is to swallow their pride and hope Casas can turn his season around, perhaps via a minor-league rehab assignment with no guaranteed end date. In Casas' place, Boston can turn to a familiar prospect in Vaughn Grissom, who has been playing some first base with the WooSox. Grissom has a long and complicated injury history, and is far from an elite defender anywhere on the diamond. But, at the very least, Grissom's bat tends to be a positive. He can't perform any worse than Casas at the moment. Here's what FanSided's Cody Williams wrote about Grissom just this week:
"It would also be drastic in the sense that things would truly have to reach rock bottom for Casas before having that conversation and making such a move with him. What we saw at the start would have to come back tenfold in terms of his struggles. And, of course, Grissom would have to keep up his torrid pace in the minors simultaneously," Williams wrote.
Casas' service time actually could do the Red Sox some favors as well, and he has options left for this very reason. The Sox first baseman is still young enough to turn his season around, or at the very least garner some trade value if he impresses in Worcester. Grissom is a replacement-level player who should provide more offensive punch at a position which demands it.
What are the Red Sox waiting for?