FORT MYERS, Fla. – Triston Casas wants to be a Red Sock for life.

With his offseason beard gone, it was easy to see a beaming smile as he fielded his first questions of spring training and spoke about what he hopes will be a long future with the organization.

“It’s so exciting,” he said of being back. “I was just on the drive over here, on Alligator Alley, and I was just thinking about how many times I’ve done this drive, how many times I hope to do it again.

“I was like, oh my gosh, I love this drive so much! Just always a good feeling to come into Fort Myers.”

Somehow, it’s already the 24-year-old’s seventh year in the Red Sox organization. They selected him in the first round of the 2018 draft, he debuted in September 2022, and became the team’s starting first baseman last season. These are his people, this is his team, this is where he wants to be. He made sure to attend every camp and meetup the team had this year, traveling to Fort Myers, Texas, the Dominican Republic, and Boston to spend time bonding and training with his teammates. It’s one of the reasons Alex Cora called him the “MVP of the offseason” at Winter Weekend.

“Getting in a routine in the offseason, it’s important for your workouts, for practicing skill, but that was one thing that I wanted to work on was like, camaraderie, like building team unity,” Casas explained. “I just wanted to be as available to the org as I could, and to the teammates that wanted to help me get better, because it wasn’t like I was going there and we were just doing whatever. We were getting there and getting stuff done.

“It was a good space to be productive, and what better people to do it with than my teammates that I’m hopefully gonna spend a lot of time with for the next couple years.”

“Yeah of course,” Casas said when asked if he’d be open to discussing a contract extension with the club. “I want to be here forever. This is not a bad place to play, it’s actually the best, I think, so I’d love to be here.”

In fact, they already have. “Of course, of course we have,” he said, but quickly added, “nothing enticing though.”

In the aftermath of the Mookie Betts trade and coming close to Rafael Devers’ set negotiating window closing last winter, members of the brass have spoken about the need and desire to lock in young stars before they get too close to free agency. It’s something the Atlanta Braves have done with tremendous success. Other teams are beginning to follow suit. The Pittsburgh Pirates gave Ke’Bryan Hayes a franchise-record 8-year, $70MM extension in the spring of ’22, after he’d played 120 games over his first two seasons in the Majors. Earlier this month, the Kansas City Royals signed Bobby Witt Jr. to their own franchise-record 11-year, $288.8MM deal with a 3-year, $89MM option ahead of his third big-league campaign.

Casas is a clear candidate for an early extension of his own. As was the case for Hayes at the time of his deal, Casas has only played one full season in the Majors. He isn’t eligible for arbitration until 2026, and won’t reach free agency until 2029.

Even so, it’s almost impossible to be a lifer in today’s game. The Red Sox, who are about to embark upon their 124th season, have had tens of thousands of players wear their uniform. Only 13 did so exclusively over big-league careers of at least 10 years, and Dustin Pedroia (2006-19) and Jason Varitek (1997-11) stand alone in this century. Casas wants to be No. 14.

That’s a concern for another day though. Thus far, the two sides aren’t aligned. The first baseman wasn’t sure what the offer would have to be to get him to sign on the dotted line.

“One that sets me and my family up for life,” he explained. “I don’t know what that looks like.”

That doesn’t mean he’s asking for anything outrageous, though. He only wants what he’s earned and will continue to earn through hard work and contribution to the club.

“I’m low-maintenance,” he said. “I don’t need a lot. I got a small family. I don’t need much, but something that I think would suffice the work that I’ve put in throughout my whole life would be nice.”

When asked if what Mookie Betts said about the hardest offer to turn down being the first one had also been the case for him, Casas’ answer was immediate and succinct. “Uh, no.”