Casas would love to earn long-term deal
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — For nearly as long as he’s been a Red Sox, Triston Casas has been teammates with Brayan Bello. The two have advanced and played together at every level of professional baseball, starting in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2018 and overlapping at every level to the big leagues.
As such, the 24-year-old Casas was not only thrilled to see Bello sign a six-year deal with the Sox, but also mindful of what it could mean for their enduring time together.
“I’m super excited for him,” said Casas. “He’s literally just been the same person throughout the whole time, pretty much the same size, same everything — and to see how he’s developed and how he’s handled everything throughout all levels, I’m really happy for him. And to play with him for hopefully the rest of my career is something that I want and I’m excited for.”
That proclamation, of course, is intriguing given that the Red Sox and Casas have had conversations about the possibility of a long-term deal.
Are those ongoing at this stage of the spring? Casas made it sound as if the sides are discussing general parameters but not specific numbers.
“We’re just talking right now. Nothing’s set in stone, no numerical values yet,” said Casas. “Hopefully, something comes out of the woodwork soon. I’d love to see where they’re at. But as of right now, no developments. There have been talks in the past but nothing has really accelerated up to now.”
Casas has a range of thoughts — some seemingly conflicting — regarding an extension. First, he loves the idea of remaining with the
Sox for the long haul.
“I know I’m putting forth my best effort to get better every single day to contribute to wins,” said Casas. “If somebody wants to give me a certain amount of money to hang around a little bit longer, I will definitely oblige . . . I definitely do want to [be with the Red Sox]. If everything goes great, hopefully I can be right there with Bello, next to him, winning the
World Series one day.
Yet he sees what he did in 2023 — a .263/ .367/.490 line with 24 homers, earning thirdplace recognition in Rookie of the Year voting — as something he should clear easily. He believes that he might be both more worthy of an extension and in position to get a contract more in line with what he believes he’ll be worth.
“For right now, I think I have a lot of work to do before I feel like I can say I deserve that contract extension to be the long-term first baseman for the Boston Red Sox,” said Casas. “I think the expectation for the first baseman of the Boston Red Sox is elite production. And I didn’t produce that last year in terms of a great first baseman in the game.
“I don’t feel that I’ve earned a contract extension. I don’t feel that I’ve developed that type of game to merit a long-term extension and contract. So if I don’t get that offer, I’m not upset at anybody in the organization. I’m not upset with myself.”
Culture club
Raves emanated from all corners for the twogame Dominican Republic Series between the Sox and Rays.
“It was a great experience. This is the purest form of baseball,” said Sox manager Alex Cora. “This is what we do. It should be fun. If 15,000 people here didn’t remind us of that, then we don’t know what we’re doing . . . Both organizations did an outstanding job being ambassadors for baseball. That’s what it’s all about. We should be proud of what we accomplished here.”
Bobby Dalbec, who hit the game-winning grand slam of the Red Sox’ 7-6 win over the
Rays on Sunday, said the outdoor Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal was louder than what he’d experienced in the Tokyo Dome during an international tournament in 2019.
“That should be louder since it was inside, but this was louder,” said Dalbec, who delighted in hearing his walk-up song as he rounded the bases following his slam.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred attended Sunday’s game at Quisqueya — perhaps to assess the claims by both Cora and Rays manager Kevin Cash that the stadium is well suited to host regular-season games. Sunday’s attendance was 11,418.
Bumps and bruises
Righthander Kenley Jansen has made steady progress in his rehab from a lat injury just before the start of spring training, and responded well to facing hitters in live batting practice last week. Cora said he’ll throw another live batting practice session Wednesday . . . Cora said righthander Chris Martin, who was shut down while warming up for a live batting practice session Saturday because of a groin injury, “feels OK,” but would limit any baseball activities through Monday. He’ll be reevaluated Tuesday . . . Catcher Tyler Heineman took a foul ball off the hand but, after a trainer visit, remained in the game.