Craig Breslow clearly did not go into this season counting on getting significant production from Triston Casas. That’s the whole reason why Willson Contreras is here. But still, did anyone predict that the team would get no production from him at all? Earlier this spring, as he was still rehabbing from last May’s knee injury, Casas suffered an abdominal injury that set his timeline back. In July, he was shut down with a wrist injury. And, yesterday, he had surgery on that wrist. There is no timeline for his return. (Lauren Campbell, MassLive)
Thankfully, Casas’ replacement at first has been better than Casas ever was. And healthy, too. Willson Contreras did leave last night’s game early, but after the game the team confirmed it was due to illness, not to any injury issues. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
And while the Casas news remains depressing, at least there are other positive developments on the injury front:
Now we turn our attention to Adley Rutschman as he works to return from his wrist injury and make his Red Sox debut. While the injury is not considered serious, the Red Sox do not want to rush him. “I talked to him earlier [Monday], and at this point, I am not going to try to put a timetable on what his return might look like,” Craig Breslow said. “I think it’s best for him to get under our care and get our medical staff, our athletic trainers, our doctors’ hands on him, and from there we’ll figure out what the right course of action is here. But in talking to him, he’s very optimistic and he is saying he feels quite a bit better.” (Ty Anderson, 98.5)
When Rutschman does return, will it be difficult for him and the pitching staff to build up some on-field chemistry? “It’s not nothing, but also wouldn’t want to overstate it,” said Breslow. “These guys are professionals, and they’ve thrown to different catchers, whether that was because of injury or performance or whatever the case is. I think what it comes down to is building relationships and trust. And, like I said, everything that we’ve learned about Adley is he is fantastic at doing that.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Rutschman is known as a fantastic defensive catcher, much in the same way that Ceddanne Rafeala has always been known as a fantastic outfielder. But if the rest of the league still thinks of Ceddy as a glove man, they’re not seeing that he’s turned himself into one of the best all-around players in the game. Rafaela is currently third in all of baseball in position player bWAR, behind only Pete Crowe-Armstrong and Yordan Alvarez. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
