The last few weeks of spring training are usually associated with cuts, some clarity when it comes to teams finalizing their rosters ... and, at least occasionnally, contract extensions.
Sometimes those extensions go to veteran players approaching free agency, as was the case in 2019 when the Red Sox gave Chris Sale a five-year, $145 million extension.
Sometimes it involves a team wrapping up a younger player by buying out some salary arbitration years, plus some additional years of free agency. The Red Sox did that with Garrett Whitlock last year, though the deal wasn't publicly announced until the first week of the regular season.
The Atlanta Braves have emerged a model franchise in this regard, inking deals with seven of their own players over the last two years, providing the team with some future stability to say nothing of cost certainty.
Locally, however, with less than two weeks remaining before the start of the 2023 season, there's little evidence to suggest the Red Sox are close to getting anything done contractually.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom declined to handicap the team's chances of getting any deals done before Opening Day, while continuing to stress that "Generally, this is something we want to be in the business of more often.''
When it comes to more established players with several years of major league service time, the Red Sox don't have any obvious candidates for extension. Both Alex Verdugo and Nick Pivetta -- both of whom will be eligible for free agency after the 2024 season -- are coming off somewhat down seasons and the Red Sox undoubtedly want to see better performance from both before committing themselves to either long-term.
Then there are younger, less-established players, as Whitlock was a year ago.
Just last week, the Arizona Diamondbacks locked up their premier prospect, outfielder Corbin Carroll, to an eight-year, $111 million deal that could be worth nine years and $154 million deal if all escalators are met.
In the estimation of many evaluators in the game, Carroll is one of the top handful of prospects in the game. Already one of the fastest players in the big leagues, many believe he'll be a perennial All-Star. For a medium-market team like Arizona, it makes perfect sense to secure Carroll to a lengthy deal and make him the face of the franchise and foundational building block.
The Red Sox don't have a prospect that highly ranked in their organization, or at least not one close to the major leagues (Marcelo Mayer seems a consensus ''can't miss'' prospect, but he's barely gotten to High A and his projected debut in Boston is at least two years away).
Still, there are some obvious extension candidates for the Sox, including first baseman Triston Casas and pitchers Brayan Bello and Tanner Houck.
Casas stands as the most logical target for an extension among the team's young players. The Red Sox showed how much confidence they have in Casas as their first baseman of the future when they designated Eric Hosmer for assignment over the winter. That alone was quite a statement, given that Casas has all of 76 career at-bats in the big leagues.
Casas said during the team's Winter Weekend event in January that he'd be more than open to discussing an extension.
"If it happens, it happens,'' Casas told WEEI.com. "I would love to stay in Boston the rest of my life. I love the city in the little taste I've got of it. I don't know anywhere else and I don't want to....Hopefully, we get something done, but if we don't, we'll go from there.''
But with spring training winding down, it seems as though no progress has been made. Casas told the Boston Globe Friday that, to his knowledge, the Sox haven't approached his representatives.
And therein lies the rub to these talks: it takes a mutual interest on both sides.
As a pitcher, Bello is a somewhat riskier candidate, since injuries have to be factored into the equation. Still, that hasn't stopped other organizations from making the commitment -- Atlanta has already signed Spencer Strider to a six-year, $75 million deal after his fabulous rookie season last year.
Finally, there's Houck, who has about a year and a half of big league service time. And here, too, projections are difficult because Houck has battled injuries -- he underwent back surgery at the end of last season -- and has toggled between the bullpen and the rotation, leaving his future role unclear. Is he a multi-inning reliever? Or a future starter? Until more is known there, agreeing on his value for the next five or six seasons is highly problematic.