After 19 regular games, the Boston Red Sox sit at 9-10 after beating Tampa Bay Tuesday night. The Red Sox entered 2025 with a lot of hyper after trading for and extending Garrett Crochet, signing Walker Buehler, and landing Alex Bregman on a monster three-year contract. Unfortunately, there has been plenty of underperformance, but Tristan Casas’s lackluster start, in particular, makes things interesting in Boston.

Through 61 at-bats, Casas slashes just .180/.242/.279 with one homer and 3 RBIs. He has only drawn four walks and owns an underwhelming 27.3% K rate. What’s important to remember here is that Casas still has all three minor league options and two top prospects on the cusp of MLB readiness in Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer.

Optioning Casas to Triple-A Worcester may be a real possibility soon, but it will become an even more significant possibility if Mayer hits his stride. He is hitting just .200 in Triple-A but has appeared in games at 2B, 3B, and SS. Sending Casas down could open a spot for Rafael Devers to get some playing time in the field again as a 1B, giving way to multiple players to take a stab at DH, including Mayer, if he can prove he’s ready.

Another option could be Vaughn Grissom, who’s hitting a much more respectable .296/.367/.432 in Triple-A. Grissom has big league experience but failed to hit his stride in a 100 AB sample last season with Boston. Notably, he slashed .259/.385/.373 last season in Triple-A, so 2025 has been much improved to start the year.

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Boston: Urgency looms without a quick turnaround

The Red Sox don’t need to exercise urgency just yet, since it’s only mid-April. They’re within one game of .500 but have lost several winnable games, including a series loss to the Chicago White Sox, and they are now in danger of another series loss against the Tampa Bay Rays. Casas isn’t the only catalyst for the team’s poor start. The team does sit 12th in MLB in Runs Per Game, which is far from the worst.

However, that number is inflated, given the team’s two 13 and 18-run outbursts last weekend against St. Louis. You want to see more consistency now, especially after falling flat against two non-playoff teams. Since that 18-run showing on Sunday Night Baseball, the Red Sox played eight straight in which they could muster more than three ones only once. Most games lately have been one-run and two-run outings, which must improve. If the Red Sox enter May with the same offensive struggles, expect changes to come swiftly.