Like it or not, the idea of the Boston Red Sox trading away first baseman Triston Casas continues to keep cropping up. There isn’t a single Red Sox fan at this point who doesn’t have a strong opinion about trading Casas.
Some see him as a future 40-homer slugger, while others see him as an injury-prone locker room distraction. But regardless of opinions, it’s now clear that the possibility is at least on the table.
The Seattle Mariners essentially have a pitching staff of five aces, and their offense is in shambles. Because of that, the Red Sox and Mariners have long seemed like obvious trade partners, and though nothing has come of it, both teams are well aware of that possibility.
Adam Jude and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reported that the Red Sox and Mariners had been in contact earlier this fall about a potential trade for either Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo, the Mariners’ two budding star pitchers.
“Early in the offseason, the Mariners had exploratory talks with the Boston Red Sox about first baseman Triston Casas, a source said,” Jude and Divish wrote.
“The Red Sox asked for one of the Mariners’ two youngest starting pitchers — Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo. The Mariners are disinclined to trade either one of them, and talks between the two teams didn’t progress any further.”
Miller, 26, had a 2.94 ERA in 31 starts this season, while Woo, 25, had a 2.89 in 22 starts.
Even in a pitcher’s park like Seattle’s, those are immensely impressive numbers for pitchers still breaking in at the big-league level, and any team would covet either one if they became available.
The idea of trading either Miller or Woo seems as preposterous to many Mariners fans as moving Casas does to the Red Sox fans in his corner. And it’s certainly no guarantee either side will pull the trigger.
However, if both sides do nothing to improve their obvious weaknesses, both fan bases will unanimously revolt. So if a deal like this one were ever to go through, at least both sides would know their front office was trying something different.
