Triston Casas is the maniac I need on this White Sox team

This off-season is not all that exciting for the White Sox. They’re coming off a disgusting 121 loss season and they’re looking to spend less than they did to put together that awful squad. In addition, they’re still looking to move players that can fetch them anything. This is causing us White Sox fans to have to look deep inside ourselves to really think about the value of Luis Robert Jr. coming off a rough season and only playing 63% of the games over the past 4 years. Not something I wanted to ponder. And, of course, Garrett Crochet was the one bright spot of the 2024 season, so he is also the most likely to be dealt.

Crochet is the story of the White Sox off-season. We’re all guessing where he might end up. Myself and BeefLoaf traded him multiple times in our trades with every team blog series. Beef even traded him to the Red Sox. The Red Sox are the team we’re talking about today.

Ken Rosenthal was recently discussing Rafael Devers’s possible move to first base and in that conversation he brought up the idea of trading Triston Casas. This has now been repeated by others, and despite the Red Sox throwing cold water on it, I’m gonna write about it.

The idea here would be that Casas would be the headliner in the deal to the Sox for Crochet. His first arb year is 2026 and is controlled through 2028, so it makes sense that the White Sox would be interested in him. Am I certain he’ll be able to stay on the field? No. Am I certain he’ll get to his full potential? No. Am I certain he’s a maniac? YES

Casas is the kind of guy that is going to be a wild stream of entertainment as we find out just how good he can be. Sure, he hit 13 HR in just 63 games this year, which woulda put him 5th on the Sox. But also, this crazy story got out about his dad kicking him onto the field as a kid and, in turn, someone calling child services and having his dad arrested on the field. How did the story get out? Triston told it on the Father’s Day edition of Sunday Night Baseball as his favorite story about his dad:

If you listen to the story, you can see that there is a true love for his dad and the situation may have been overblown. So let’s not get carried away.

But then later that same month, he was in the news for something else. As mentioned, he’s had some trouble staying on the field. While battling a rib injury, he took some swings in the batting cage which had Boston media interested in how soon he might return. They asked if he had been taking swings prior to this and he said yes, for about 10 weeks. This obviously surprised everyone as did his response after the follow up questions started:

“Oh no, just in my mind,” Casas said. “Without a bat, just in my head. I’ve taken thousands of at-bats in this time, so I feel great, I feel ready.”

Now that’s not the only preparation that might be a little off, as noted in a CBS News story:
Report: Triston Casas’ pregame sunbathing, napping rituals deeply bothered Red Sox veterans in 2022

I mean, I love this guy. Partially because his on-base skills (.357 career OBP), his power (42 HR in his first 222 games), leading the Olympics in HR and RBI for team USA, but mostly because if he played for the Sox, I would be expecting non-stop gems from him.

If you’re still not convinced he’s our guy, check out these two quotes from a September Athletic article:

“Have you heard how much he eats upstairs?” outfielder Rob Refsnyder said. “They make him like a 24-ounce ribeye steak multiple times a week and he just eats it with a plastic fork and knife.”

“In spring training we went to a steakhouse and he ordered two full ribeyes for himself, plus the seafood tower for himself, each ribeye came with two sides, so four sides total, and he had no problem with it,” said infielder Nick Sogard.

All right, I hope you’re sold. And remember, he might be really good at baseball too, which is weird for the Sox, but I assure you it’s a plus.

-Chorizy-E