Boston – Standing outside the Boston Red Sox Clubhouse on Saturday afternoon, Baseball Craig Breslow revealed the worst case for Triston Casas. The first basic player will miss the rest of the season with a broken left ball joint tendon, with a pending surgery.
Casas’ knee released on Friday as he presented himself to the first goal in the second round of Boston’s 6-1 victory against the Minnesota Twins. He then left the ground on a stretcher.
“It’s difficult, you feel for Triston given what he has experienced in recent years here,” said Breslow. “It seems that these injuries appear unconventional. And unfortunately, it is a serious that will keep it away for a long time.”
Manager Alex Cora said that Casas had told him after the injury he had felt from the left knee pain when he was approaching the bag.
Casas, 25 years old, missed 98 games last season after having torn the cartilage in his rib cage on a swing in April. He took a slow start to marble this season, reaching. 182 with a .580 OPS in 29 games, but the Red Sox remained with him at the first goal. Now they will have to find another solution.
In the short term, the Red Sox will divide play time to the first goal between the man of the utility Romy González and the interior player Abraham Toro, who was recalled from Triple-A Worcester on Saturday. In 28 games for Worcester, the Switch-Hitter struck .310 (31 per 100) with seven doubles, two triples and two circuits while making 18 departures at the third base, five at the first base, three to a designated striker and two to the second goal.
Gonzalez, who beats right, was the club’s first base player behind Casas before the injury. During 14 games, including nine at the first base, Gonzalez hit. 279 with a .759 OPS.
But no more questions are looming, especially if the club will try to transform Rafael Devers at the first basis or if it plans to promote one of their best hopes in Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer and to transmit them to the first basis.
On the issue of Devers, Breslow did not exclude it, but Cora was less definitive.
“Right now, we are not in a place to talk about it,” said Breslow. “But obviously, we will have internal conversations, and we will do our best to find the short -term solution, and also the one which, in our opinion, can hold in the long term.
“We have largely had the conversation on the transition from the third to DH (for Devers) and helping him to establish a routine, and to your point, it seems that he has settled in one.”
Devers has moved to a shot referred to this spring after some initial frustrations on the passage of the third goal when the team signed Alex Bregman.
Despite a difficult start to the season, he has settled in the role of DH, especially lately, reaching 0.284 with a .921 OPS in the last month.
The Red Soxs seem uncertain if the addition of another change to its routine would disrupt its pace on the plate.
“From my end at the moment, no,” said Cora about moving the deours first. “We asked him to do something in training in the spring. And at the beginning, he did not agree with this, and now he is very comfortable doing what he does (in DH). So, as I told you in training in the spring, he is my DH.”
Cora noted that if the hypothesis is that the first basis is an easy -to -learn position, this is not always the case, citing examples in recent years of players that the team has tried to stick to it, like Hanley Ramírez and the Cordero franchise.
“It is a difficult position, especially nowadays that you push this type to the hole (second-base) with right-handed strikers,” said Cora. “We brought the casas closer to the bag because we felt like we were going late to the first goal. Cut and relay, there are a lot. I had a conversation with (the former first goal player Kevin Youkilis) a few years ago. People think, “Oh, play just the first goal”. No, this does not work this way – the choices, the throws, everything that accompanies it.
Vaughn Grissom is another option in Triple-A and saw a certain time at the first goal, but because he strikes on the right side, Cora said he liked to have the striking toro alongside Gonzalez.
When asked if a removal of a delay could first open the position of designated shot for Masataka Yoshida, who was able to strike but continues to feel pain while throwing in the middle of the rehabilitation of shoulder surgery, Breslow fell to the idea.
“I think it is important to decouple these things, just since Masa, he has had obstacles because he relates to recovery with the launch,” said Breslow. “We always have the impression that he is a capable voltiseur and want to make sure that when he returns, he is entirely healthy.”
Yoshida rehabilitated Fort Myers, Florida, but returned to Boston this week for imaging on his shoulder. The results were clean.
“Imaging has shown normal postoperative recovery,” said Breslow. “It does not seem to be structural, just a kind of discomfort threshold that he has not yet been able to pass. But he will continue to launch, and we will continue to move forward.”
Meanwhile, the best hopes Anthony and Mayer continued to tear triple-a marble, but were blocked on position with promotions to the majors. Breslow said one or the other player going on to the first goal.
“These two guys, of course, show the ability to have an impact on both sides of the ball,” said Breslow. “But given the brilliant future they have in front of them in their respective positions, the introduction of additional variables does not make much sense at the moment.”
Anthony, Athletic N ° 1 Prospect, played the three outdoor fields and reached. 292 with a .938 OPS in 27 games. Mayer, mainly a short stop that also saw the time in the second and third, reached .262 with a .827 OPS in 26 games.
“We would consider all the options and then arrive at the conclusion that some do not make sense as others,” said Breslow. “I think that all rejecting everything aside would be silly, but also trying to clog holes irresponsible, without at least keep an eye on what the long term might look like, would also be stupid at this stage.”
When Casas fell with the rib injury last season, the Red Sox was aggressive to add the first base players Dominic Smith and Garrett Cooper to the list. Breslow said the team would be open to exploring external options on the commercial market and free agent in the future, but there is nothing imminent on this front.
“This is unfortunately an opportunity to explore what is available,” said Breslow. “We will also look both internally and potentially external.”
(Photo: David Butler II / Imagn Images)
