Uncertainty has been the operative word for the Boston Red Sox and first baseman Triston Casas over the past year. Soon, clarity may begin to arrive.
Casas hasn’t appeared in a game of any kind since last May, when he ruptured his patellar tendon against the Minnesota Twins and left the Red Sox without a key bat for the rest of the season. And when Casas was replaced as the starter by Willson Contreras in a December trade, how the 26-year-old would fit into the position player picture this year became a point of intrigue.
On Sunday, Casas seemingly took a step toward returning to game action, but the closer he gets to full health, the more questions the Red Sox have to answer.
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Where Casas stands in knee injury recovery
Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported Sunday that Casas had crossed off a couple of crucial boxes on his list of return-to-play criteria, and was on the verge of appearing in games of some kind, either in the minors or at the extended spring training complex.
“Casas won’t appear in a big league spring game before camp ends, but is ‘working toward game action,’ according to a source,” wrote Cotillo.
“Casas, who is about 11 months into his rehab from a ruptured patellar tendon in his knee, is now at the point where he is running the bases and doing sliding drills. That represents an important final hurdle for Casas, who has been hitting and fielding all spring and homered in a back field game Saturday.”
So agenda item one for the Red Sox is to figure out where to start Casas on his road to full health, as affiliated ball opening day across the sport is Friday. But from there, how quickly should they build him up, and how much of that is dependent on the needs of the team?
The uncomfortable fact is that right now, the Red Sox have no obvious place to put Casas on the major league roster. Someone else getting hurt could open up a door, but there’s a real risk that at some point, the slugger is ready to roll, but doesn’t fit the team.
