Why Triston Casas should be a trade target for the Miami Marlins

On Monday, Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald posted a behind-the-scenes report about the Marlins offseason, including the team’s interest in Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas.

Rewinding to 2018, Casas was one the top prospects in that year’s MLB Draft class. The Marlins considered taking him with their first-round pick, but ultimately selected outfielder Connor Scott instead. Miami traded Scott last year in the Jacob Stallings deal and he isn’t even close to reaching the big leagues. Meanwhile, Casas ended up going to the Red Sox with the 26th pick and just put together a great season as a 22-year-old.

2022 MiLB: .273 BA, .382 OBP, .481 SLG, .863 OPS, 11 HR, 38 RBI, 14.5 BB%, 21.5 K%

2022 MLB: .197 BA, .358 OBP, .408 SLG, .766 OPS, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 20.0 BB%, 24.2 K%

Casas has always been known for staying cool, calm, and collected at the plate and playing the patience game. He also has an amazing balance of power and contact hitting, and he showed enough of it at Triple-A to earn his first major league call-up. In September/October, his walk rate was more than doubled the MLB average of 8.2%.

Although Casas wasn’t dominant in his first cup of coffee in the big leagues, he will be just fine moving forward. The Red Sox clearly feel that way considering they released Eric Hosmer in December.

How would Casas fit within the Marlins organization?

Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

First base is a thin position for the Marlins after losing Jesús Aguilar and Lewin Díaz. Casas would instantly plug in as the primary first baseman, shifting Garrett Cooper mostly to DH. Miami would also have to move Jorge Soler back to left field—not ideal for a below-average defender who struggled to play through a back injury last season.

Cooper is due to be a free agent next year, but Casas is just getting started. He will be under club control through at least the 2028 season. The hope is he could prove to be the kind of long-term solution Díaz once projected to be.

Trade Possibilities

“The Red Sox will justifiably ask for the world and several other planets for Casas,” Phil Neuffer writes for Over the Monster. “Ultimately, I don’t actually think a deal is going to happen here and I don’t think it should.”

Looking at past reports, Boston has shown interest in various players from the Marlins including Cooper, Miguel Rojas, and Joey Wendle. The Red Sox have solid starting pitching depth, but could really use somebody to put near the top of their rotation right after Chris Sale. The key to getting a deal done would be the pitching side of it.

Personally, I would like to see a trade involving one of Pablo López or Edward Cabrera and one of Rojas or Wendle in exchange for Casas and outfielder Jarren Duran (we spoke about Duran in my Garrett Cooper trade article). Baseball Trade Values believes that would be an overpay for Boston. Other names of interest on the Red Sox roster—regardless of whether Casas is involved—would be Alex Verdugo and Trevor Story.

Be on the lookout for the Marlins to make significant trades between now and spring training. The signing of Jean Segura will push Miami’s 40-man roster over its limit and there’s possibly more work to be done in center field and the bullpen. Hopefully, the front office has a plan to add more offensive firepower for 2023.