the ball to the pitcher in the second inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images / Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox swear they’re not shopping Triston Casas. If that’s true, they’ve certainly done a lot of listening.

No Red Sox player’s name has surfaced more recently in trade talks this winter, and a deal to send Casas to the Seattle Mariners for starting pitcher Luis Castillo came at least somewhat close to fruition. There’s no denying the fact that a trade was at one point in the works.

Now that the Red Sox’s starting rotation looks close to becoming a finished product, does a Casas table suddenly fall off the table completely? Not so, says on Major League Baseball insider.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post discussed Casas as a possible trade candidate on a recent livestream. In doing so, he mentioned the possibility that the Red Sox could not only trade Casas, but sign four-time New York Mets All-Star Pete Alonso to replace him at first base.

“Certainly a possibility they could trade Casas if they got the right deal,” Heyman said. “Very talented guy. They need to get something decent for him if they were to trade him.”

“It doesn’t seem like (Rafael) Devers is willing to move (off third base) Does that open it up for (Alex) Bregman? Doesn’t seem like it. Does it open up for Alonso? Possibly.”

Alonso, 30, isn’t a guarantee to outperform Casas, who is five years his junior, over the long haul. But he certainly has a more established track record, with 226 career home runs since the start of the 2019 season. Only Aaron Judge has more longballs in that time frame.

It’s ultimately a more expensive solution than just keeping Casas, and we still haven’t seen hard evidence that the Red Sox are willing to open up their wallets for a player like Alonso these days. But there’s still half an offseason to go, so anything remains possible.