“It will likely be some time” earlier than Triston Casas is prepared for a minor league rehab task, Pink Sox supervisor Alex Cora advised the Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams and different reporters on Friday. Casas hasn’t performed since April 20 attributable to a rib fracture and torn rib cartilage, and he’s already properly past even the broad 3-to-9 week timeframe Casas initially floated three months in the past, although the primary baseman famous that the character of the harm led to numerous fluidity.
In yesterday’s replace, Cora mentioned Casas was taking smooth toss swings and is hitting off a tee, however remains to be coping with some nagging discomfort in his facet. Till that discomfort fully subsides, Casas and the Sox can’t actually transfer ahead with any sort of concrete plan for even a steadier ramp-up, not to mention any minor league rehab work. Cora did say that Casas would play once more in 2024, however “we don’t know but” when a return was possible.
Casas completed third in AL Rookie of the Yr voting in 2023, and was off to a sizzling begin (.244/.344/.513 with six house runs) in his first 90 plate appearances this season. Dominic Smith and a number of other different gamers have gotten time at first base in Casas’ absence, however since no one has been producing, it stands to purpose that the Pink Sox might goal a primary base-capable participant on the deadline if Casas remains to be a number of weeks away from factoring into the membership’s plans.
Some extra sudden later-season reinforcements might come from Trevor Story, who advised reporters (together with MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam) on Friday that he and the Pink Sox had been “having conversations about” Story getting again onto the sector earlier than the 2024 marketing campaign is over. Each Story and Cora stopped wanting saying {that a} return was within the playing cards, but it’s notable that Story has made such high quality progress rehabbing what was considered a season-ending shoulder surgical procedure in April.
“Simply getting the power again and getting the movement again…I’ve made numerous actually good strides there,” Story mentioned. “It’s shut, man. It’s shut. Particularly from the way it was early on. It was not in fine condition. It’s been a loopy turnaround the final month and a half and we’re driving that momentum.”
Story injured his shoulder whereas diving for a grounder in simply his eighth recreation of the season, persevering with what has been an injury-plagued tenure in Boston for the previous All-Star. Since inking a six-year, $140MM free agent deal in March 2022, Story has performed in solely 145 video games — UCL surgical procedure value him all however 43 video games of the 2023 season, and wrist and heel accidents restricted him to 94 appearances in 2022. Unsurprisingly, these well being woes have led to subpar efficiency when Story has been in a position to play, as he has a modest .227/.288/.394 slash line in 598 PA in a Pink Sox uniform.
Bryan Mata can be no stranger to accidents, as Tommy John surgical procedure and a teres main pressure sidelined him for a lot of the 2021-23 seasons. This 12 months, hamstring and lat issues emerged to maintain Mata once more spending a lot of the 12 months rehabbing, and now his newest rehab task has been halted attributable to proper elbow irritation. Mata was proper on the finish of the 30-day window for that task, although his newest harm now resets the clock and Mata will be capable of begin one other 30-day rehab task when he is ready to get again onto the mound.
Although he has but to make his MLB debut, Mata is out of minor league choices, leaving Boston in a little bit of a quandary with regards to his future. The Pink Sox can’t assign him to the minors with out first designating the right-hander for task and exposing him to waivers, so when Mata is lastly able to play, the Pink Sox must put him on the energetic roster or go the DFA route.
Whereas getting wholesome has clearly been extra vital than the on-field outcomes throughout Mata’s rehab work, he has a 4.50 ERA over 22 complete innings for 4 completely different Pink Sox minor league associates this season, with a 19.15% strikeout price. It isn’t almost the shape that Mata confirmed in his previous days as considered one of Boston’s high pitching prospects, and with one other setback once more stopping his progress, it’s nonetheless a query about when or even when Mata may ultimately floor as a part of the staff’s massive league employees.
In different Pink Sox information, the staff was recognized to have been fascinated about Teoscar Hernandez final offseason, and the slugger mentioned this week in an look on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast (hat tip to WEEI’s Rob Bradford) that the Sox and Dodgers had been the 2 finalists for his providers. Hernandez mentioned the Pink Sox provided a two-year, $28MM contract, however he as an alternative opted for a one-year, $23.5MM cope with Los Angeles.
“On the finish, I believed [the Red Sox] had been going to make it, however sadly they needed to wait as a result of they needed to make some strikes and different stuff,” Hernandez mentioned. “I couldn’t wait any longer, in order that’s why I resolve in the meanwhile to go to the Dodgers.”
Hernandez went into the winter in search of a three-year contract, however when neither Boston or every other suitor was prepared to ensure a 3rd 12 months, he as an alternative opted for the one-year contract with the Dodgers, to permit for an opportunity at a rebound season and a fast return to free company subsequent winter. The technique has labored out fairly properly, as Hernandez has hit 19 homers with a .261/.326/.476 slash in 406 PA for Los Angeles, and now has a a lot stronger case for a three-year pact as he enters his age-32 season.
Past the contractual logistics, Hernandez additionally admitted that the Dodgers’ win-now method and observe file of success additional attracted him to the group, although he was fast to notice that “the Pink Sox are actually good proper now they usually have superb gamers.” The Sox and newly-hired chief baseball officer Craig Breslow had been usually criticized for his or her comparatively low-key offseason that didn’t see numerous high-dollar splurges, but Boston has a 53-43 file and is in possession of an AL wild card berth.
