Red Sox’s Alex Cora Intends To Treat First Base Solution Search Carefully

BOSTON — Red Sox manager Alex Cora understands the situation at hand as the team continues to recover from its loss of first baseman Triston Casas.

When Casas went down with a season-ending left patellar tendon rupture earlier this month, Boston was introduced to a dilemma. Replacing Casas is difficult in itself, but getting a reliable first baseman to hold down the fort the rest of the season is especially challenging, considering the Red Sox lack depth at that position.

It’s nothing new to Cora, who before Sunday afternoon’s rubber match with the Braves, shared a reality check message regarding the ongoing search for a solution.

“Honestly, we’ve been through this dance before in the past,” Cora said at Fenway Park. “We learned with Kyle (Schwarber), he got hurt right away in Detroit, his first day of taking ground balls. (Christian) Arroyo, playing in New York, first play, he stretched, he got hurt. Franchy (Cordero), we moved him to first, it wasn’t great. It’s not easy. We’re taking a chance here. All this talk about, ‘This guy should play first, this and that.’ I can give you five examples of why it didn’t work the last five years.”

The immediate favorite to take over in place of Casas was designated hitter Rafael Devers. Boston moved Devers from third base to the DH slot, which the 28-year-old considered a significant transition. Devers voiced his frustrations and disinterest in moving over to first base, so the Red Sox have since turned to Romy González, Abraham Toro and Nick Sogard in the meantime.

Still, with the team teeter-tottering with a .500 standing, the need for greater all-around production at first base has become increasingly urgent. Boston entered Sunday’s game as MLB’s leader in errors (39) along with a lineup that strikes out the second-most (432) out of any team across baseball. Neither of those figures bodes well for the organization’s overarching strive toward re-establishing itself as a contender.

The frequent trend of rising over the .500 mark’s surface, then re-sinking beneath it, has already urged the club to evaluate its options. Rookie Kristian Campbell started logging reps at first base before Friday night’s series opener against Atlanta, just to get a feel for the position before taking any major steps.

Cora, although confident in Campbell’s ability to flourish at first base, isn’t going to hang the 22-year-old out to dry either.

“We were actually talking about like hopefully we’re up 15 (runs), so we can put him at first or — hopefully not — we’re down 10, he can go to first and get a few reps,” Cora said. “But we’ll get there when we get there. This is not a commitment. … We believe that athletic-wise, he can do it, but this is more than just standing there and catching throws. We’ve seen it before. Obviously, this is the situation we’re in.”

Campbell has demonstrated an impressive amount of defensive versatility, guarding the outfield and second base positions thus far. But the reality is that Campbell is still a first-year big leaguer getting his feet wet, so referring to his athleticism is just anecdotal until the youngster is confident and comfortable enough for first base.

Meanwhile, Red Sox prospects Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony continue to knock on Fenway Park’s gates as they eagerly await their long-anticipated promotions and join Campbell in Boston. Cora’s roster has been somewhat of a puzzle in terms of its role positioning, which has been a major factor in Mayer and Anthony remaining with Triple-A Worcester as the incoming Red Sox stars of tomorrow.

The solution, while unclear, will need to present itself at some point sooner rather than later.