FORT MYERS, Fla. - This we know: With eight days before Opening Day, there had been no advancement in contract extension talks between the Red Sox and Triston Casas.
"No developments," Casas told WEEI.com. "I haven’t really even received any more offers so nothing to report up to right now. There’s not any news."
What we also know is that the Red Sox did approach Casas with an extension offer sometime early this year, one which he evidently had no problem declining.
But what was somewhat of a mystery was exactly what mindset the first baseman would be taking when it came to approaching the idea of an extension.
Many believed that getting a deal done with Casas would be more challenging than what the Red Sox just experienced in locking up Brayan Bello to a six-year, $55 million deal. In part because sometimes there is more long-term health certainty for position players, but also potentially due to the 24-year-old's strong belief in himself.
Talking Tuesday, Casas offered some insight into how he approaching whatever offers ultimately come his way.
"Ultimately, I’m a player. There are a lot of things I know and that I don’t. Thankfully I have a great team behind me," Casas said, referencing the MVP Sports Group. "They number crunch. They know value. They have been doing this for a long time and they know my value or they have an idea of what my value is. They haven’t voiced that to me what they think my value is. The Red Sox have voiced what my value is. And when the Red Sox and my team come to an agreement of what my value is there will be an agreement. But up until right now, that hasn’t happened and I wholeheartedly trust the team that I have put together for myself that has gotten me to this point in my life. And if they advise me not to do something for my career I will trust them and have no pro problems declining anything they don’t believe is of the value that would fit my caliber of player. I’m at the mercy of my team and if they believe there is more to come from that, that’s what they think.
"I have put full trust in them from the day I started playing baseball. I have had a great team around me and I have known that team a lot longer I have known anybody in the Red Sox and I will for many years after I will know anybody with the Red Sox. Whatever they advise me of is what I will believe in. If they think I can do better as a player - because that is ultimately what it comes down to. If they don’t think I’m getting the money I deserve it comes down to how do I become a better player. It’s not about how do I get more money or how do I get more dollars. We have to become a better player so I have to put together better numbers and I have to have a better season this year if I’m going to get the value they think I’m worth. It’s nothing against the team or it’s nothing against ownership.
"It’s just my team believing I can do better than what I have done up until now and seeing if I can do exactly that."
Casas isn't scheduled to be eligible for arbitration until after the 2025 season, making him free agent-eligible following the 2028 campaign.