Triston

Casas

It’s merely a procedural move to free up a spot on Boston’s 40-man roster since Casas won’t make it back until after late May. The 26-year-old suffered an abdominal strain earlier this month, which will further delay his return from last year’s gruesome knee injury.

It’s going to be awhile before Casas is ready to make his season debut since he’ll ostensibly be shut down until he’s fully healthy before needing a full spring training style build up. The 26-year-old first baseman suffered the injury earlier this month while rehabbing from last year’s knee surgery.

While the exact status is unclear, Cora did confirm that Casas is going to be “out a while” with the injury. The 26-year-old was working his way back from a serious knee injury when he picked up the rib/oblique issue in rehab. At this point, it’s just a guessing game when Casas will be back, and fantasy managers who are holding out hope for a return this summer should be looking elsewhere, if they haven’t already.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters it “didn’t go well” when Casas attempted to resume swinging a bat this week. The 26-year-old first baseman, who is working his way back from last year’s serious knee injury, has been dealing with an intercostal issue recently. There should be a clearer picture regarding his status at some point in the coming days. He’s pretty far off from helping the Red Sox at this point.

It’s undoubtedly a positive development that Casas has been cleared to resume swinging after being shut down earlier this week with rib soreness. The 26-year-old first baseman remains without a firm return timeline as he continues working his way back from last year’s serious knee injury.

Casas is already on the IL while recovering from left patellar tendon surgery, so this just adds another injury to the list. The intercostal muscle is a muscle near the oblique/ribs, but the indication right now is that this is not connected to Casas’ fractured rib and rib cartilage injury two years ago. For now, he “is shut down from hitting until symptoms subside, but hasn’t gotten an MRI. The Red Sox will see how he progresses in the coming days.” It’s looking like a May return to Boston is no longer in the cards for Casas.

Casas has been hitting all spring and recently started running the bases. He’ll probably begin a rehab assignment at some point in April and then the Red Sox will have to decide in May whether to try to squeeze him on to the roster or option him to Triple-A.

Casas suffered a patellar tendon rupture in May of last season and has been running out of the batter’s box and on the field in recent weeks. His next step is to work on sliding and playing in extended spring training games. Once that’s behind him, he will head to Triple-A to begin a rehab assignment. As of now, he is still on track to return at some point in May, when he is about a full year removed from his injury.

Casas had started two weeks ago, that he believed he had a shot to break camp with the Red Sox, but since then, he has not been able to complete the baserunning and sliding hurdles that he would need to get into a game. He will still likely be on the field at the beginning of the season, just for Triple-A Worcester. The goal remains for Casas to be back in Boston by the end of May.

Casas told Mass Live’s Chris Cotillo that he will be ready to play on Opening Day “for some affiliate.” Even though Casas is open to the idea that his first at-bats could come in the minor leagues or in extended spring training, he still believes that it could be in MLB games. “I still have a couple benchmarks, like sliding and running bases, that I haven’t tackled yet that I want to feel perfectly comfortable going into a game having done multiple times and recovered from.” However, Casas says he feels really good right now, and it seems likely that we see him in a Red Sox uniform in May, potentially earlier.