Nearly a month into the 2026 season, the Boston Red Sox's offense hasn't found its way. Poor swing decisions, high strikeout totals, minuscule slugging percentages and more continue to plague Boston well beyond the "it's early" excuses.
The New York Yankees humbled the Red Sox even further in the first game of the season series on April 21. New York shut Boston out and limited to just four hits. A struggling Luis Gil, who entered the game with a 7.00 ERA after his first two outings, started for the Yankees.
Alex Cora's constant lineup changes haven't helped the Red Sox find a rhythm and fans are desperate to see maintained life in the offense. Fans have even taken to asking about Triston Casas, who's been recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon for nearly a year.
Unfortunately for the offensively-starved Red Sox, Casas' recovery, which was seemingly going swimmingly for much of the offseason, has been recently halted. The first baseman experienced abdominal discomfort while swinging earlier this month and he's been shut down from all baseball activities while he heals. Boston on April 22 officially placed him on the 60-day injured list to call up pitching prospect Eduardo Rivera.
Red Sox fans wonder about Triston Casas' health amid power outage, general offensive struggles in Boston's lineup
Forgotten man? What can Red Sox do to fix the power outage? We know Casas had a setback to start the season. However, caller suggests (hypothetically) if/when Casas does come back- could he be the power spark plug? #RedSox #Baseball #MLB #Sports pic.twitter.com/QDcgQnJRPw
— WEEI (@WEEI) April 22, 2026
Casas' abdominal discomfort is not related to the rib cartilage tear he sustained in the early weeks of the 2024 season, which is a relief. The injury kept him out of action for all but 63 games two seasons ago, when the Red Sox turned to Dominic Smith for the majority of the innings at first base.
Casas has only played one complete season in the big leagues and even that campaign only lasted 132 games because he was sidelined with shoulder inflammation in September. Still, the Red Sox see him as a slugger with 30-home run potential, which the current Boston lineup desperately needs — Casas mashed 24 home runs in 2023 when he qualified as a Rookie of the Year finalist.
The Red Sox have the second-lowest slugging percentage (.338) in MLB behind the floundering New York Mets (.332). Boston doesn't have a true home run hitter in its lineup. Roman Anthony has potential and Willson Contreras is off to a hot start with four homers in 22 games, but they, alone aren't enough to keep Boston afloat in the power department. A healthy Casas could do wonders for the Red Sox's extra-base hit production, but he won't be in the major leagues for quite some time.
Not only did the Red Sox not share a timeline for Casas' latest injury, his fit on Boston's roster would be complicated, this year more so than ever. The Red Sox's outfield logjam has a different player in the designated hitter spot every day and Contreras has played Gold Glove-caliber defense at first base so far, which Casas has never been able to do.
But if Boston is still desperate for slug when Casas is finally healthy, it may have to make something work. The best baseball teams can hit home runs regularly and the Red Sox have shown no capability to do such a thing — if Casas returns to action and slugs like he did in 2023, the Sox may have no choice but to open a roster spot for him.
Add us as a preferred source on Google