The Boston Red Sox list of injuries is as long as a Fenway Park beer line in the bottom of the seventh inning — and it just keeps getting longer.
At current, the Boston Red Sox have five position players, five starting pitchers, and two relievers on Injured List stays from 10 days to all year. Some of the names out injured rank among the most crucial players on the roster.
One of the team’s up-and-coming sluggers, first baseman Triston Casas was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday. However, the American League’s No. 3 rookie last year is expected to miss far more than that initial timeframe.
Boston Red Sox to be Without Casas for Extended Period
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Something looked not right when Casas took a hard swing in last Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He finished the at-bat, drawing a walk, but was replaced after the inning ended and was placed on the IL the next day with what was originally deemed a ribcage strain.
However, further testing on the 24-year-old revealed that it was not a strain, but a fractured rib that was troubling him. Suddenly, what was hoped to be just a 10-day spell turned into an indefinite timeframe for his return. Manager Alex Cora confirmed as such when speaking to reporters before the Boston Red Sox took on the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday. He said:
“He’ll be out for a while. We just have to be patient. It has to heal on its own, so we just have to be patient.”
Casas was off to a heavy-hitting start to the season. While batting just .244, the Boston Red Sox first baseman had six home runs and 10 RBIs in 78 at-bats over 22 games.
Boston Red Sox Likely to Turn to Former Heralded Prospect in Casas’ Absence
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With Casas out for the foreseeable future, the Boston Red Sox will likely turn to Bobby Dalbec for the lion’s share of time at first base. Dalbec, a one-time top prospect in the organization’s minor-league system, had yet to consistently produce in MLB since making his big-league debut in 2020.
Dalbec’s best MLB season came in 2021, when he hit 25 home runs with 78 RBIs and a .240 batting average. Before Casas, he was thought to be the Boston Red Sox first baseman of the future. However, he is hitting just .224 with 46 homers over 308 big-league games. This season, he is managing a paltry .033 average with just one hit in 30 at-bats. Cora said of Dalbec:
“We’re going to play him a lot. Obviously, the front office is studying the situation and looking around to see if we go somewhere else for that. I talked to Bobby today. He’s done if before. In ’21 he was really good for us and hit the ball out of the ballpark and played good defense.”
At the same time, Cora said that Beantown will sorely miss Casas’ bat in the lineup, saying:
“He’s a force. We saw that last year in the second part of the season. He was really good and then he got hurt. He’s very important, but we’ve got to keep going, man, and we’re not going to stop.”
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Tom Carothers is a sportswriter with more than 20 years of experience covering sports at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Still longing for the return of his Minnesota North Stars, he has a high pain tolerance as a big fan of the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Browns, and Tottenham Hotspur.
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