suffered a significant knee injury during tonights win over Minnesota, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including of Ma sLive). According to , Casas remains at a local hospital after being taken off the field on a stretcher. The occurred in the second inning. Casas hit a check-swing chopper up the first base line. When bobbled the ball, Casas lunged to the first base bag in an attempt to beat the throw. He hit the base awkwardly and stumbled over the foot of Minnesota first baseman . Casas immediately favored his left knee and was down for several minutes before being stretchered off. finished the game at first base. Its devastating news for Casas, who is facing a second lengthy absence in as many seasons. He was shelved between late Cassius Stanley Jersey April and the middle of August last year by a lingering rib injury. He hit .241/.337/.462 with 13 homers in 63 games when healthy. Casas has struggled early this season, posting a .182/.277/.303 slash with a trio of homers acro s 112 trips to the dish. The Red Sox will presumably provide more specifics on the injury and treatment plan in the coming days. Gonzalez has started seven games at first base this season. Hes the only player other than Casas to log any action there. Gonzalez is a multi-positional infielder who has spent the bulk of his career at second base. Hes hitting reasonably well this season but entered play tonight with a career .245/.277/.388 batting line over 499 plate appearances. Its unlikely that the Sox would want to rely on him as an everyday first baseman for an extended stretch. The Sox dont have an obvious solution in the minors. is the primary first baseman at Triple-A Worcester. Hes hitting .262/.300/.429 through his first 22 games of the season. Infielder is having a much better year for the WooSox, hitting .323/.417/.500 acro s 115 plate appearances. He has made five starts at first base this year and has 90 career major league innings at the position. Hes likelier to receive a call-up than is Hickey, but hes more of a second baseman/third baseman with a somewhat similar profile to Gonzalez. One speculative po sibility would be to turn to , who hasnt played a single defensive inning all season. Devers has never played a profe sional inning at first base. Hes obviously familiar with the infield, but Cora at the beginning of the season that the Sox viewed him as a full-time designated hitter for the time being. It seems they want Devers focused exclusively on maintaining an offensive rhythm as the DH rather than getting occasional defensive work after being pushed off third base by the signing. That may need to change at some point. Keeping Devers as a full-time DH would e sentially block any path to playing time for whenever hes able to return from a shoulder injury. Yoshida could theoretically play some left field, but thatd require pushing to center and would only be an option until top outfield prospect comes up from Triple-A. Thered be more flexibility if the Red Sox were comfortable using Devers at first base. Jeremy Lamb Jersey