Triston Casas is out with a torn cartilage in his left rib cage, and the Red Sox have acquired first baseman Garrett Cooper in a deal with the Cubs for cash considerations on Saturday.
To make room for Cooper on the roster, Boston transferred Casas from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL. The earliest he can play for the Red Sox is June 21.
Copper, a right-handed hitter, was scheduled for assignment by Chicago on Tuesday. In 12 matches, he had a slash line of .270/.341/.342 with one homer and six RBIs. For his career, Cooper is a .268 hitter with 57 homers and 228 RBIs in 493 matches.
Boston expects to activate Garrett for their home series against the San Francisco Giants that begins on Tuesday.
Alex Cora was not sure how he would deploy Cooper, but it seems the right-hander will get most of the starts at first base until Triston returns.
“We’ll talk about it,” Cora said. “He’s a guy that can put together a good at-bat. He can hit lefties and righties. He’s a good defender. So we’ll sit down and go over what we’re going to do. We do believe he’s going to help us out.”
Boston has been using Bobby Dalbec at first base since Casas last played on April 20. Dalbec has struggled a lot at the plate. After going 2-for-4 with a sacrifice bunt in the Red Sox’s 17-0 rout over the Cubs on Saturday, he hits .128 with no homers and four RBIs in 47 at-bats.
It is left to be seen if Dalbec will be the odd man out when Cooper is activated. Cora commended him for his contributions to Saturday’s victory.
Cooper will significantly add to an injury-riddled Boston team while Casas is out.
While the Red Sox have not given a timetable on Triston, his move to the 60-day IL provided some insight, but no change in Cora’s thought.
“Like I’ve been saying all along, man, Trevor [Story] is not going to be here, Casas is going to be out for a while,” said Cora. “We’ve got to be ready for [Sunday]. I understand that he’s going to be missed, but my mindset is whoever is playing is going to contribute. That’s the way we see it. That’s the way we’re going to do it, and we’re going to be OK.”
