Craig Breslow Pours Cold Water on Triston Casas Extension Talks

Already inking two of their young stars to contract extensions this offseason, all eyes have turned to see if Craig Breslow will extend another young Red Sox star – first baseman Triston Casas.

On March 7, the team agreed to a six-year, $55 million contract extension with starting pitcher Brayan Bello. Bello’s contract includes a seventh-year club option. Breslow didn’t stop there, also extending outfielder/infielder Ceddanne Rafaela to an eight-year, $50 million deal on Monday.

Casas undeniably has the highest ceiling of the three, and that might also explain why the two sides have yet to come to an agreement. Casas’ contract value would almost certainly exceed that of Bello and Rafaela.

When asked if fans should be expecting another extension in the works, Breslow poured some cold water on the prospect of any further extensions being close. While Breslow stops short of mentioning Casas specifically by name in his response, it doesn’t take a lot of detective work to discern who Boston’s new chief baseball officer is primarily referring to:

Impossible to handicap perfectly what the chances are of getting another deal across the line. I would say, I don’t see anything as particularly close right now. And I do think it makes sense at some point to focus on the season and give players some clarity around what they’re trying to accomplish every day and give us a chance to kind of assess more broadly what we’re trying to accomplish, what our vision is. So I wouldn’t ever say never, but I think it’s unlikely. Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow

Boston’s first round pick in 2018, Casas was a finalist for both the American League Rookie of the Year Voting and the Silver Slugger Award for American League first basemen during his first full season in the bigs. Casas finished the season with 24 home runs and 65 RBI while hitting .263.

Speaking to Ian Browne of MLB.com in February, Casas revealed what he would be looking for in an extension to stay in Boston, while also calling the Red Sox’ offers “nothing enticing” and stressing that he wants to be in a Red Sox uniform “forever”:

One that sets me and my family for the rest of my life. I don’t know what that looks like. I’m low maintenance. I don’t need a lot. So I got a small family. I don’t need much but something that I think would suffice [for] the work that I put into it my whole my whole life would be nice.Triston Casas

A typically candid personality, Casas opened up more to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe about his feelings around a contract extension during the team’s Dominican Republic Series back in March:

For right now, I think I have a lot of work to do before I feel like I can say I deserve that contract extension to be the long-term first baseman for the Boston Red Sox. I think the expectation for the first baseman of the Boston Red Sox is elite production. And I didn’t produce that last year in terms of a great first baseman in the game.

I don’t feel that I’ve earned a contract extension. I don’t feel that I’ve developed that type of game to merit a long-term extension and contract. So if I don’t get that offer, I’m not upset at anybody in the organization. I’m not upset with myself.

Casas also revealed that a concrete offer was made to him around the same time that the Red Sox made their offer to Bello, but the 24-year-old told Speier that “My team, my agency, didn’t seem to think that the dollar amount the Red Sox put forward was the value that [the agents] see in me as a player.”

Regardless, nothing appears to be imminent on an extension with Casas at the moment. Importantly for Red Sox fans that want to keep the young first baseman in Boston, there appears to be no hard feelings or a strain in the relationship between the two sides.

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This article was originally published on chowderandchampions.com as Craig Breslow Pours Cold Water on Triston Casas Extension Talks.