Triston Casas has become the kind of player teams can dream on at a bargain, and that’s exactly why the Texas Rangers could make sense as a landing spot.
The Red Sox first baseman has barely been able to build on his 2023 breakout because his last two seasons have been wrecked by injuries. After posting a strong 129 OPS+ in 2023, the 6-foot-4, 245-pound left-handed slugger has run into one setback after another, costing him almost all of 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Boston’s latest concern came when Casas was shut down from hitting after a wrist issue surfaced, according to Chad Tracy. That added yet another problem to a run of bad luck that has already stretched across multiple seasons.
His injury list is long. In 2024, Casas was limited to 63 games after missing three months with a severe left rib cage/intercostal strain.
In May 2025, he suffered a ruptured left patellar tendon after a freak injury while hitting the bag hard and awkwardly legging out an infield hit. That required immediate surgery and a lengthy rehab process.
Then in April 2026, he reinjured the rib issue while rehabbing and later had arthroscopic surgery on his left wrist to address the problem he ran into while trying to get his swing back.
That kind of track record makes a non-tender very much in play for Boston, which would push Casas into free agency in 2027. He is entering his second year of salary arbitration ahead of the 2027 season after making $1.7 million last season, so the price tag is still manageable. But the injuries make the decision far less straightforward.
For Texas, though, the risk-reward case is easy to see. The Rangers could potentially buy low on a player whose upside has already flashed at the major-league level and use him as a platoon partner for Jake Burger at first base. That arrangement would give Texas another left-handed bat to pair with Burger, who badly needs help against right-handed pitching.
Burger led the Rangers in home runs with 28 and RBIs with 90, but his overall line was still only .228/.302/.421. The split tells the story: he hit .659 OPS against right-handers and .892 OPS against lefties.
Casas, meanwhile, showed real impact when healthy. In 2023, he hit .263 with 24 homers and 65 RBIs in 502 plate appearances, finishing with a .263/.367/.490 slash line and an .856 OPS.
That production would have led the Rangers in 2026, and it helped him finish third in Rookie of the Year voting. He was off to a strong start in 2024 before the injuries derailed everything, and in 2025 he appeared in only 29 games.
If Texas believes Casas can finally get right, the upside is obvious. At a discounted cost, he could be the kind of low-risk, high-reward addition that pays off fast if he can stay on the field.
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