Alex Cora says Triston Casas’ injury is bad but ‘wasn’t the worst-case scenario’

Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas is resting at his Boston home after undergoing what the unit described as a achieving surgical repair of his ruptured left patellar tendon at Mass General Hospital on Sunday Casas suffered the injury during last Friday s meeting against the Minnesota Twins The Red Sox know his season is over but beyond that his manager noted Tuesday that he wasn t sure how long the journey back will be It s unclear if Casas will be ready to participate in spring training at all there s a possibility he could miss a critical chunk of next season as well The first step is rest and recovery from the surgery which his manager explained isn t going so well I talked to him in the modern day Cora announced before the series opener with the visiting Texas Rangers In pain a lot of pain It s been a challenge to sleep But for how bad it is it wasn t the worst-case scenario That s what he expressed to me that s what the medical practitioner noted When Casas missed over three months of the season with a rib cartilage injury he spent majority of that time in Boston He was at nearly every home stand and even wore his spikes in the dugout as if he could be called upon to pinch-hit It s different this time around as this injury required surgery Cora wasn t sure when Casas will be able to come back to the ballpark For now the Sox are going to him Cora declared their trainers were going over to clean up his stitches all that stuff this week In Casas absence Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro are platooning at first base Toro made his Red Sox debut as a pinch-hitter on Sunday and was in Tuesday s starting lineup for the series opener against the visiting Texas Rangers When I saw him from afar from the other side a good at-bat good defender versatile Cora explained of his first impressions of Toro who debuted with the Houston Astros in and also played for the Seattle Mariners Milwaukee Brewers and Oakland A s in his first six MLB seasons before signing a minor-league deal with Boston during the offseason He has a pretty good idea offensively he knows what he wants to do He hunts pitches in certain areas and he executes He s person enough that he can slow it down and he did an amazing job in spring training got off to a great start in Triple-A You sign those guys in the offseason for situations like this Cora announced He s a big leaguer in a championship-caliber band He s been in organizations that have struggled others have been good He s been part of that One of the reasons you sign these guys is if something happens you can count on them They can come here and contribute and that s what we expect from him With the front office exploring long-term options for first base chief baseball officer Craig Breslow didn t explicitly rule out a Rafael Devers experiment when taking questions on Saturday That topic continues to be a non-starter with his manager though In fact Cora s pregame session on Tuesday was not unlike the slugger s first media availability of spring training when he gave the same one-word answer to several queries about his future at third base Solicited if he and his new designated hitter have had any conversations about first base Cora revealed No Does the manager plan to have any No