‘I love Boston’: Triston Casas puts trade rumors behind him; healthy for spring training
Triston Casas has heard his name floated in trade rumors all winter long, but the slugger isn’t getting wrapped up in the reporting. With a month to go before players report to Fort Myers, Casas is seemingly looking like he will be a member of the 2025 Red Sox, despite the rumors.
“I try not to get too caught up in it,” said Casas while at Fenway Fest on Saturday in Boston. “I feel like this is part of the business of baseball. Checking in on players, seeing what kind of value you could get back. And you never know what kind of haul you could get for a player or how much another organization values somebody. So it might be in the best interest to move myself or anybody, really, if there's a good enough package.”
Casas would prefer to stay with the Red Sox, the organization that drafted him in the first round back in the 2018 draft.
“I love Boston,” said Casas. “I love everything about it, and they've welcomed me with open arms since my first professional day. So it'd be great to play here as long as possible. I love the fans, and they’ve welcomed me generously all the time. So I would love to play the rest of my career here, but if it's elsewhere, I just feel like [Opening Day], no matter where it's at, I'm going to be playing a Major League game. So just focus on that.”
The team has tried to put Casas at ease and reiterate that the rumors are, in fact, just rumors.
“They've told me that none of the rumors are true,” Casas said. “So maybe all that other stuff is just clickbait. But for right now, they’re trying to assure me that they want me to play here for a long time. So that makes me feel good."
Boston’s first baseman was linked to the Mariners in trade talks during the Winter Meetings when the Sox tried to send Casas and Masataka Yoshida to the Mariners for starting pitcher Luis Castillo. Yoshida is owed $55.8 million over the next three years, which would have allowed Boston to dump his salary while freeing a roster spot to balance out their lineup better. The Red Sox balked at the idea of moving Casas unless Seattle took back Yoshida, who has been a disappointment since he signed with Boston.
The Red Sox opted to trade for Garret Crochet and sign Walker Buehler to a one-year deal.
Unless something crazy happens in the next few weeks, Casas will be the Red Sox first baseman, and he is hoping for a full, healthy season.
“I’m feeling great, yeah, the best shape I’ve been in my career; my ribs are completely healed, and I’m fully ready to go next year,” Casas said. “I've been building the volume in the cage substantially. The swing is feeling great; the body is as well. So I'm really looking forward to a healthy ’25.”
