Triston Casas wants to remain with Red Sox ‘forever’
After finishing in last place in the AL East for the second consecutive season, one of the bright spots for the 2023 Boston Red Sox was first baseman Triston Casas. In his first full season in the majors, he slashed .263/.367/.490–sporting a .856 OPS and a 129 OPS+–with 21 doubles, a pair of triples, 24 home runs and 65 RBIs.
He superseded expectations after the All-Star break, sporting a 1.034 OPS with 15 home runs and 30 RBIs in 211 plate appearances before shoulder inflammation sidelined him for the rest of the season. He finished No. 13 amongst first basemen in fWAR (min. 500 PAs), even though he was a below-average fielder (though he fielded much cleaner than Boston’s other first basemen).
Casas, who just turned 24-years-old in January, recently opened up with the media about a possible extension with the Red Sox.
“Of course we have,” Casas said Sunday regarding if he’s discussed an extension with the organization. “Nothing enticing, though.”
He went on to say that he wanted to remain with the organization forever, according to Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne of MLB.com.
“I’m low-maintenance, I don’t need a lot,” he said when asked what an enticing offer would look like for him, according to Conor Roche of Boston.com. “I’ve got a small family, so I don’t need much. But something I think that would suffice the work that I’ve put in throughout my whole life would be nice.”
A theoretical extension would likely be through his arbitration years (which begins in 2026, per Spotrac) in addition to potentially his first couple seasons of free agency. Not including Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper (who made a very recent transition to first), the average annual salary for the top-15 first basemen is $16.3 million; would eight years in the range of $144 million ($18M AAV) suffice, hypothetically?
Even in such a short time, Casas has proved to be an above-average offensive player, one who you can deal with any shortcomings defensively, even if he isn’t detrimental. Boston may wait an extra year to see how productive he is in his second full season, but the longer they wait, the more that price potentially rises.
Extending him sooner rather than also gives them a long-term building block alongside third baseman Rafael Devers, who’s entering the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million extension.
At some point or another, the Red Sox will also have to lock up Brayan Bello (extending pitchers is more tricky) while top prospects Marcelo Mayer (INF), Roman Anthony (OF) and Kyle Teel (C) make their way up to the majors. For an organization that doesn’t have a good recent track record of paying their young talent–or paying anyone, really–the question remains to be seen if they will for Casas sooner rather than later.
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