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Triston Casas

For the Boston Red Sox, one player on the team’s Major League roster has been the subject of constant trade speculation, more than any other member of the team in the current offseason. That player is 24-year-old first baseman Triston Casas. At the start of the offseason, ESPN’s longtime baseball insider Buster Olney urged the Red Sox to deal Casas now, because one more injury-hampered season could cause the bottom to fall out of his trade market value.

The third-year power hitter missed 99 games in the 2024 season with a ribcage injury. The Red Sox organization was reportedly aggravated by the long delay in Casas’s recovery, so the team may be willing to cut ties with their 2018 first-round draft pick, but only if they can get value back to replace him.

Casas May Already Be on Trade Block

Red Sox Chief of Baseball Operations Craig Breslow has said that the organization sees Casas as a potential 40-home-run hitter. In his brief career, Casas has belted 42 home runs in 717 at-bats. Projected over a normal, full season of 600 at-bats, that would give Casas 35 home runs per year, on average.

According to some reports the Red Sox have already put Casas on the table in talks for Seattle Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo, but those reports have been contradicted by other Boston media. For what it’s worth, Breslow back in early November brushed off notions that the Red Sox were looking to trade Casas saying, “I’m not sure where that’s coming from.”

Stunning Report From Dominican Newspaper

That outlook may have changed with a reported recent major development that could shake up next year’s free agent market as well as the current offseason’s trade outlook for several teams. According to report in the Dominican Republic newspaper El Nacional, the Toronto Blue Jays slugging first baseman Vladimir “Vladdy” Guerrero Jr. has now rejected the offer of a contract extension from the Jays that would have paid him $340 million.

The El Nacional report has not been confirmed by United States media outlets. The report also failed to mention how many years the Blue Jays were offering Guerrero Jr. at that $340 million price.

Guerrero Jr. is the 25-year-old son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr., who played half of his 16-year career in Canada with the Montreal Expos. “Vladdy” was born in Montreal and holds Canadian citizenship. But he has just one year left on his contract with Toronto at a salary of $28.8 million.

According to the sports business site SpoTrac, the younger Guerrero is expected to earn a total of $427 million over 12 years on his next contract. But in light of the history-making $765 million contract just given to Juan Soto by the New York Mets, that number is probably low.

Vladdy Likely to Command $500 Million Deal

Recent estimates see Guerrero Jr. landing a $500 million deal at least, especially if he puts together his fifth straight All Star season in 2025. The Red Sox are one of the few teams that could manage that price tag.

“We can pretty much translate the list of Juan Soto suitors directly to Guerrero, whose contract could creep north of $500 million with a strong 2025 campaign,” according to FanSided writer Christopher Kline. “Only a few teams will have the funding, and Toronto is among them. If he decides to leave the Blue Jays — and who could blame him — the Red Sox feel awfully logical.”

Dealing first baseman Casas for Guerrero Jr., gambling that the Red Sox can pay him the contract he is looking for, appears to be the “logical” move.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin

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