Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas is working his way back from last year’s knee injury but his path may be delayed. Tim Healey of The Boston Globe was among those to relay today that Casas has a strained left intercostal muscle. He’ll be shut down from hitting for a few days as the Sox see how he progresses.
It’s been a frustrating few years for Casas on the health front. Torn cartilage in his ribcage limited him to 63 games in 2024. He only got into 29 games last year before rupturing the patellar tendon in his left knee, an injury that he’s still working back from. At this point, there’s nothing to suggest this latest injury is serious, but it’s not as though Casas needs another bump in the road.
Given all his injury troubles, the Sox decided not to rely on him for 2026. They acquired Willson Contreras to cover first base. That means there’s no strict rush to get Casas back but he would ideally be on the field as soon as possible to get some reps and get back in game shape. He slashed .253/.365/.477 for a 129 wRC+ over the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
It’s unclear how the Sox will proceed once Casas is back. In addition to having Contreras at first, they have a crowded designated hitter spot as they try to spread playing time around to outfielders Jarren Duran, Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Masataka Yoshida. Casas could be optioned to the minors to serve as depth or perhaps put on the trade block if there’s no room for him in the big leagues. Decision day will come at some point but this latest injury provides another delay.
Turning to the rotation, left-hander Patrick Sandoval will begin a rehab assignment on Sunday, per Healey. Sandoval hasn’t pitched in a big league game since June of 2024, almost two years ago. He required surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament that year and then was non-tendered by the Angels. The Red Sox gave him a two-year, $18.25MM deal but didn’t get him back on the mound last year and he’s still recovering.
Rehab assignments for pitchers are normally capped at 30 days. However, when a pitcher is recovering from UCL surgery, a ten-day extension can be given a maximum of three times. That effectively means Sandoval could potentially be rehabbing for 60 days.
Time will tell how much rotation space the Sox have for Sandoval when he’s ready to return. They currently have a rotation consisting of Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Ranger Suárez, Brayan Bello and Connelly Early, with Johan Oviedo having pitched in long relief a couple of days ago. Payton Tolle is on optional assignment and could earn a spot in that mix.
Speaking of Oviedo, he allowed four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings in his one outing so far this year, with diminished velocity. Manager Alex Cora downplayed any possibility of Oviedo being injured, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “We had a conversation with him today and there’s a few things that the pitching department has noticed,” Cora said. “And just gotta keep working. That’s the most important thing. Obviously with his injuries in the past, something that we have to be very careful in this new role. But I think he’s gonna be OK.”
As Smith points out, Oviedo does have an option remaining and could be sent to the minors if the Sox so choose. That might be a bit of an awkward conversation, as Oviedo was a key offseason pick-up for them. The Sox acquired him from the Pirates with Jhostynxon García being the main piece going the other way, though that was before Suárez was signed.
Turning back to the position player mix, Healey relays that infielder Andruw Monasterio has been doing some outfield work lately to see if can be a viable option out there. His outfield track record currently consists of just four innings in left field. The Sox don’t really need outfield help with their aforementioned crowded group but extra versatility could always come in handy in the event of an injury or a late-game substitution.
Photo courtesy of Brian Fluharty, Imagn Images
Monasterio? Isn’t he the guy who told us that Spider Man is Peter Parker??
Have to give the Sox credit for acquiring Contreras with the assumption that Casas may not be available going forward. His trade value is way down, but at some point they may have to cut bait and move on.
Ray Charles saw it first
Have to take credit away from them in not finding power at 3B and keeping 4 starting outfielders and not trading Casas when they could.
Casas gets injured rehabbing from injury. Kid may never get to play a full season again
Unfortunately, it increasingly seems like his body isn’t going to be able to hold up to the rigors of an MLB season. Such a shame since he seems like his hitting potential is still really high. Perhaps he can latch on as a DH somewhere, some day.
If the White Sox didn’t have Murukami, I wouldn’t mind a trade for Casas.
Murakami is striking out at a 36% clip so far. The very problem that kept contending teams from bidding on him and allowed the White Sox to sign him has already reared its ugly head.
Meow – In all honesty, do you think Casas is doing what he’s supposed to be doing?
We all know he views everything “differently”.
We all know he is very stubborn.
We all know he likes to do things “his way”.
The rib injury was two years ago, can’t help but wonder if he’s following the program. He’s too damn young to be going through all this, especially playing the least demanding position in baseball.
FPG
Well the 1st week of the season could not have gone much worse. Our ace gets rocked in his 2nd start and could not stop the losing streak . In house fighting between the manager and a presumed leader in Narvaez. A total lack of preparation for ABS. Which I do think you need a comprehensive attack for. All adds up to the worst record in the league. Gotta get Story out of the 2 hole. Even when he was going good last year his obp hovers at .300.
FPG
I did see Josh Naylor,the guy I wanted the Sox to sign is off to a horrible start. 1 for 27. That’s bad.
Sonny Gray may hear boos tomorrow if he gets off on a tough start Durbin also..
cdc – hi!
Hopefully they don’t boo the ’86 AL Champs.
FPG: We all don’t know him.
Didn’t he turn down a contract extension, too?
Pretty sure you’re right, if I’m remembering correctly. He may be kicking himself for that now, though it’s still not too late to earn himself big money. Just gonna be a little bit steeper of a climb in the near term.
1B only players. He will not get big money.
Yandy Diaz, Willson Contreras, Josh Naylor, Christian Walker, Matt Olson, and Kris Bryant are all paid pretty well.
No concerns. Tristan taking dry swings.
” Dry Swings”= consistent with the entire Sox lineup currently
Poor Casas just cannot seem to stay healthy. Completely pulling this out of thin air but now I have a nagging feeling that he’s going to have lingering issues all year long. I’d love to be wrong because this team desperately needs his bat in peak form.
That rib cartilage injury he had can take a really long time to heal from. I feel like Red Sox public relations has been downplaying the severity of it. You can’t completely avoid using that part of your body in basic breathing and daily activity.
I had very similar injury before from snow shoveling in a blizzard and it bothered me for nearly 3 years (when doing any exercise involving rotating, like throwing a frisbee, let alone swinging a bat full force) before eventually, very gradually getting back to normal. Plus you do damage to other muscles in the process of compensating for the injured rib area in the meantime while it is healing and sorting itself out. Just from my own experience with that, I’m willing to bet that he has a very long road back and Red Sox aren’t releasing all the details about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are serious questions about whether he can even play at this level again.
Its unfortunate. I really liked Casas when he was on the field. I liked his wacky antics and entertaining interviews, and when he was healthy in 2023 & part of 2024, he launched epic tanks. I’m rooting for him to make a productive comeback, although it will probably be with another team and mid-summer at earliest
Yup. Anything involving your ribs or back is almost certain to linger on longer than expected. Those can be very tricky injuries since they’re so hard to give those parts of your body total rest, and they’re so easy to re-aggravate. Hoping he can be among the lucky few who bounce back quickly and fully.
With this start to the season… why do I feel like Kevin Bacon in Animal House’s closing scene!!!!
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
@southern lion
I take it you never seen animal house
Thank you Sir. May I have another.
CCDDF congratulations Brodie, your at the top of the delta pledge class!!
I believe the started 1-4 last year.
as one of a handful of Yoshida defenders on this planet, I wish they’d just cut bait and let him get a shot at near-full ABs somewhere else. clearly nobody wants to take on even a fraction of the contract unless the Sox have been unwilling to eat the majority of it in any trade talks they might have had
👎
It’s almost guaranteed to never happen. At least not until theres vurtually no money left on his deal.
Henry was quite outspoken some years back about his aversion to paying players to be on another team.
Thr exception is if there is a return piece c0mong back that Henry feels he got value for having to pay that player to play for someone else.
But your scenario had no carrot for Hebry in this process, so, id say odds are slim to none until the deal it almost over and for some reason the sox need a roster spot badly
At this point they probably shouldn’t allow Breakow to make anymore trades anyway.
It would be nice if their Manager doesn’t sit (21 year old Roman Anthony, 23 year old Marcelo Mayer) against an average RHP. This team, once again is unprepared for the start of the season. They are taking way too many pitches because their offensive approach is to drive up the Starters total pitches to get to the bullpen, which in turn making them passive and not aggressive. This team needs to play their best 9 players daily almost every game so these guys know there rolls. Rotate the 4 OF’s through the DH roll and Yoshida should be a Bench player… period. Mayer should be the everyday SS, Story at 3B and 2B should be the only position with a little flexibility.
Coop – grinding and getting starters out of the game worked very very well for boston some years back if you remember the results when the team was seeing around or at the most pitches per AB in mlb.
With the early season, its not yet a time when the approach bears fruit as quickly. But, if they cam consistently do it, amd get good at it, as the season gets deeper and guys arent as fresh as they are now, it can be a game changer.
The sitting anthony and Mayer is a different problem altogether though… .
This will probably come off as a “trust me bro”, but on Tuesday I got direct word from a sibling in Boston who does have some legit connections to the organization, the word is that Alex Cora straight up has a personal vendetta against Marcelo Mayer and it’s causing a notable riff in the locker room. My initial reaction was “Oh great, you mean the Best Friend of our young core franchise star Roman Anthony?”
— then like clockwork, both are benched yesterday amidst a must win game to stop the bleeding, with a mediocre RHP on the mound who was just previously smacked around by one of the worst offenses in baseball.
I’m trying not to read too much into it, but it sure seems like just a year after pushing Devers out the door, history is already repeating with their two young stars and Alex Cora.
Remember when Cora put Benintendi in the leadoff spot and floundered and looked lost… he became too passive and lost his aggressiveness at the plate. Roman Anthony is a selective hitter anyway, but as the results of the WBC showed, his approach works in a run producing position in the lineup. For a team struggling to score runs, Anthony should be hitting 3rd. Look at the A’s, they did the same thing with Kurtz, putting him in the lead off or 2 hole… how is that working out for them?
Yeah this is one of those modern philosophies I don’t much agree with, leading your best hitter off for more at bats. It works for teams like the Dodgers because of the All-Star lineup behind Ohtani, and the fact Ohtani can also steal a lot of bases. The Red Sox however decided to put together a Deadball Era lineup behind Anthony and it quickly looks just as pathetic as expected.
“Deadball Era lineup behind Anthony” 😂 😂 😂
That is so true.
And why Cora doesn’t hit Duran leadoff is beyond me
Reminding me of Greg Bird at this point. Hopefully he gets back soon. Very hard to get the feel of hitting back after missing so much time.
This team is completely lost! Trading for Grey and signing Ranger will haunt them to no end this year. They had better pitchers already in the system and managed to trade a few more away. They cant pitch, hit or defend…..some people have to go and hopefully it starts at the top….
Lets not forget acquiring slugger Tibbs in that awful Devers trade then promptly trading him in the worse Dustin May trade, and now Tibbs is tearing up the Dodgers system… as if they needed another major slugger!
Not to mention Kyle Harrison and Quinn Priester in the 1st place Brewers rotation. Priester was really good for them last year and Harrison (part of the Devers trade gift that keeps giving for other teams), looked amazing in his first 2026 start, striking out 8 in 5 innings and got the win.
Also, let’s not forget the Password hit over .400 in Spring Training with the Pirates, arrived in camp in great shape, hit a couple of long homers and looks like a budding superstar. He’s only started season in AAA because O’Neill, Reynolds and O’Hearn are occupying all the Pirate outfield spots. Meanwhile, Oviedo, the guy we traded Password for, the reason we got him was because Breslow salivated over his velo and release point, but now Oviedo’s velo is down 8 mph(!) less than where it normally sits. Clearly there is something wrong with him and/or they didn’t do their homework. Oviedo’s career numbers haven’t been very good either, even when he’s had high velo
We did nothing of substance in the offseason to improve the lineup or adequately address Bregman’s departure. And we did nothing to address the outfield and DH logjams. Every target we were “in-on” we failed to acquire. Seattle traded for Brendan Donovan and he’s off to a great start. We traded for Durbin. He’s off to a crappy start (but I do believe in his talent).
Its clear there’s a lack of leadership on this team. Sox really miss Bregman. I’ve heard Anthony say last year how much he liked talking hitting with Bregman and getting pointers from him during games and how it was like having an on-field coach and truly helped his game. He’s got no one now. Sure, the last couple years of Breggy’s deal may not age well but the Red Sox have even higher annual revenue than the Cubs and you eat those back end bad years and pay the $$ if it means having him over the next couple years secures your contention window.
Sorry for the rant. As a Red Sox fan I’m very unhappy with this organization right now. It feels like there’s no coherent plan beyond acquiring as many starting pitchers as possible. Run prevention is great and all but teams do actually need to score runs, too. It’s like Breslow doesn’t understand how to construct the position-player part of the roster or something
You call that a rant? I’ve got one better …
If the Red Sox were 5-1 you’d have a different story, even though some of what you wrote above would be the same. But of course you would love the Sox then.
These Fairweather fans just rock my boat. Either get in or get out. The every day whining and complaining is a bit much. I turned off my radio for a reason.
My rant is a rant as well. Just a little different direction than yours. Fingers crossed we get through this and at game 20 their record looks a lot different.
Typical panic Red Sox fan…relax.
If the Yankees got off to a 1-5 start they would be calling for Boone’s head. Even after the very FIRST GAME they were calling out Judge.
As long as they make money, Henry will be complacent. Money is the key.
This team is an absolute mess.
4 outfielders and when Casas returns they’ll have too many DHs, yet they want utility infielder Montaserio to learn the outfield.
Opening Day at Fenway hasn’t happened yet and the Sox are already 4 games behind the Yankees in the standings. Dead last in MLB in runs scored. The fate of the entire team resting on a 21-year old’s shoulders in his sophomore campaign (but first full season).
It’s a mess
Personally I think the ‘learn the outfield’ is a hint they view you as trade bait and are trying to increase the versatility of which teams see him as a viable trade piece.
1/27 of the season is over. That’s not even the first mile of a marathon. Having run across the Verrazano Bridge with over 10,000 of my new best friends, it’s always really slow and the bridge moves under your feet. Let’s see where things stand at the end of spring in the longest day of the year. In the meantime, find things to do.
While this is true, it is also true that the wins and losses count the same in the standings regardless. And because of this brutally slow start (in which Sox are in last place in the standings, last in runs scored, 2nd worst in run differential, etc.), the Red Sox have dug a hole so quickly they are 4 games behind 1st in the standings before the home opener has even happened. That takes the wind out of their sails a bit. I know it’s a long season but this is not a good start
They’re still closer to first place than they were at the end of the season last year.
So I’m saying it’s an improvement.
David Ross or Brandon Hyde should be on speed dial… it’s time to get rid of the cancer that has plaguing this team for years. Or take a risk and call up “Lasor Show” and say “Petey”, get them to play hard.
I wonder how many more games Story has to play at the second hole before Cora realizes Trevor isn’t cut out for the job; he’s hurting the team at this point with his strikeouts with men on base.
It’s clear Cora is once again showing his stupidity.
The team is racking up double-digit strikeouts in every game.
Even Durbin, who looked good in spring training, looks lost.
It’s all Fatse’s influence.
He needs to be removed from the team along with Cora—they’re ruining young players by forcing them to swing at bats.
Anthony needs to be removed from the leadoff hitter position—they’re putting pressure on a 21-year-old. Why?
The lineup should be:
1. Duran
2. Contreras
3. Anthony
4. Abreu
5. Story
6. Mayer
7. Narvy
8. Durbin
9. Rafaela
The Red Sox need to stop swinging aggressively and take a more patient approach to the bat.