San Diego Padres’ first baseman, Luis Arraez, landed on the 7-day concussion injured list after colliding with Mauricio Dubon of the Houston Astros on Sunday night. Arraez could not beat Dubon to the first base bag, attempting to leg out a single. The three-time Batting Title champion was stretchered off the field and taken to a local hospital, but he may have avoided serious injury.

Arraez could return for the Padres after his injured list stint, but if San Diego feels he needs more time off his feet, they could explore a trade for a first baseman. Newsweek’s Drew VonScio believes the Padres would rather not use 40-year-old Yuri Gurriel as their everyday first baseman moving forward. VonScio listed Boston Red Sox youngster Triston Casas as a potential trade candidate for San Diego. “There’s still some untapped potential with Casas, as he’s only 25 years old,” VonScio wrote Monday. “The Padres have become known as one of the best teams in baseball to develop young players into high-level athletes. They could certainly take a chance on Casas as well.”

Casas is struggling with the bat to start the 2025 season, but it might take more than that to ship him out of Boston. In 22 games, the lefty is slashing .165/.241/.278 with a 24.1 percent strikeout rate. After hitting 24 home runs in 2023 and 13 in 63 games in 2024, Casas has just two dingers in 87 plate appearances this season. He hit his second home run of the season on Tuesday night, a three-run shot in the bottom of the seventh inning in an 8-3 win against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox’s upside in VonScio’s trade idea could be acquiring prospects from San Diego’s farm system, which has highly rated players like catcher Ethan Salas and shortstop Leo De Vries. However, would San Diego be willing to part with either of them to wait patiently for Casas to improve at the plate? Chances are, the Padres would rather bite the bullet and use Gurriel at first base until Arraez returns from the injured list.