As Triston Casas missed most of the 2024 season for the Boston Red Sox, there were numerous conversations about how badly they needed his bat in the lineup. Even when he came back late in the year and had sporadic but minimal success at the plate, it still felt like it was due to the injury. However, people have been asking questions about Casas for a month now to start the season. And it turns out, he better start answering them before the Red Sox start to make some substantial maneuvers.
Boston fans have quickly grown weary of Casas as a hitter, despite the evidence of a breakout 2023 season. He's looked nothing like that to begin the 2025 campaign, though, hitting just .172 with a .583 OPS along with a blistering strikeout rate and much lower walk rate than expected. A notoriously slow starter, though, some have preached patience with the first baseman to see if he starts showing signs of improvement.
To Casas's credit, it appears that could be starting right now. While the average is still only at .200 over the last seven days, the OPS has been at 1.000 over that span with a .400 OBP. It seems that he might be getting back to his old, trusted approach and starting to see results.
However, the margin for error for Casas is perhaps thinner than ever. Not only could another downturn truly turn the Red Sox fanbase against him, but Vaughn Grissom, who has been getting work at first base in Triple-A Worcester, is pushing the envelope with a white-hot start to his season at the plate.
If Triston Casas doesn't get right, Vaughn Grissom opens the Red Sox to a drastic measure
Grissom, who came to Boston in the Chris Sale trade with Atlanta as one of the Braves' top prospects, failed to hold down a spot in the middle infield in several attempts across last season. However, with a crowd now in that spot, the organization made the call to start adding to his versatility at first base. So, in theory at least, he could defensively be in the same position as Casas.
What's come with the change of position for Grissom has also been a resurgence at the plate. Over 93 at-bats in Triple-A this season, he's been a star for the WooSox, hitting .301 with an .865 OPS to go along with three homers, eight doubles and 23 runs scored. He's been electric with real power, nice underlying metrics, and a stark improvement from what the club saw last year.
But would the Red Sox really replace Casas with Grissom? Well, in the name of service time manipulation, they actually could without any real issues about Casas's future if they still believe he's the long-term piece at first base.
As noted by RedSoxPayroll on X/Twitter, the Red Sox could gain an extra year of control with Casas, who still has three options left, if he's sent to Triple-A and stays there for at least 44 days. Now, that last part is critical to consider as it does make Boston a bit inflexible for a month and a half if they were to go through with it. But that's also why it would be a drastic measure.
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.
If we were to reach that point, though, the Red Sox have more flexibility than you might realize. And you probably didn't realize it because most fans believed Casas would cement his role. With how his performance started, that's been anything but the case, which brings this fascinating possibility at least into consideration.