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Red Sox still ‘hopeful’ about hammering out extensions around Opening Day
"It’d be great to get multiple deals across the line. There’s a lot of conversations going on.”
The 2024 Red Sox season is already underway, but it seems like Boston’s top brass is still looking to take care of some offseason priorities.
While the Red Sox’ “full throttle” offseason didn’t result in any blockbuster signings or trades, Craig Breslow and his staff have focused on keeping their next wave of young talent entrenched in Boston for the long haul.
Earlier this month, the Red Sox signed 24-year-old righty Brayan Bello to a six-year, $55 million extension — keeping their Opening Day starter in place through at least the 2029 season.
The Red Sox tried to carry that momentum over to their infield, as first baseman Triston Casas confirmed in an interview with Alex Speier of The Boston Globe that Boston has offered him a contract extension — one that he rejected after speaking with his representatives.
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While some MLBers tab spring training as the lone window to talk shop on contracts before shuttering negotiations until the fall, it seems like the Red Sox are committed to carrying out certain contract talks into April.
Speaking on the latest episode of MassLive’s “Fenway Rundown” podcast this week, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy confirmed that the organization was still looking to dole out long-term deals to its young stars.
“I’m hopeful,” Kennedy told MassLive’s Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo. “What I’ll say on that is (chief baseball officer Craig Breslow) and his team are engaged and have been engaged in a lot of discussions — internal discussions, external discussions, free agent conversations. Internally, the formula of signing and extending your known entities, your known talent, is really important and there’s lots of those discussions that have gone on.
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“That’s all I can say publicly, but I think I’m hopeful that we’ll be in a position to get something across the line here soon. We may not, but it’d be great to get multiple deals across the line. There’s a lot of conversations going on.”
Ideally, the Red Sox will try to lock up Casas sooner rather than later, given that Boston’s eventual payout to the slugging infielder will likely increase over time.
Even though Casas told Speier that he’d be open to talking contract with the Red Sox beyond spring training, it does seem like the 24-year-old first baseman might want to re-assess his market once the 2024 season wraps.
“We’re going to get a little better read after this year. Hopefully I play a full, healthy season to be able to contribute to the team and to wins, and to give them a better gauge as to what my value might be long term,” Casas told Speier. “We just haven’t been able to meet eye to eye on the dollar amounts, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to [rule out] any type of talks in the future going forward — or even during the season, or next week, or tomorrow.
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“But the offer that was made to me a couple of weeks ago wasn’t exactly what my team was looking for or expecting, so they advised me to decline it and keep moving forward with everything as it would be even if I were to sign it.”
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