When it comes to the infield, the Red Sox could do nothing and probably be in good shape for the next five or six years.

Third baseman Rafael Devers is under contract for the next nine seasons. Shortstop Trevor Story has three more years left on his deal. First baseman Triston Casas has four seasons left before he hits free agency, and any of Vaughn Grissom, Kristian Campbell or David Hamilton — the logical internal candidates for the second base job — remain under team control through the rest of the decade.

Between those three stalwarts, the young second base contenders and top shortstop prospect Marcelo Mayer, the Red Sox have loads to controllable talent. But that stability also presents a tough question, one the Red Sox must answer this offseason.

Is this the group they want to roll with?

It’s no secret the Red Sox need some right-handed power to help balance their lineup, and many of the best players available are infielders who wouldn’t fit the roster as currently constructed. It also can’t be ignored that the Red Sox infield defense has been a major weakness over the past two years, so the club could reasonably conclude that if it wants to take the next step, changes need to be made.

So let’s say it does. What might that look like, and what options do the Red Sox have?

Trade Triston Casas

This is a possibility that has been bandied about over the past few weeks, and while the idea of trading a 24-year-old former first-round pick who has averaged 31 home runs per 162 games in the majors seems pretty shortsighted, it would open up certain appealing possibilities.

One is the Red Sox could then go out and sign a right-handed first baseman like Pete Alonso in free agency. Alonso has been the most reliable power hitter in baseball since debuting in 2019, so he could effectively solve both Boston’s power and lineup balance issues in one fell swoop. The Red Sox would also command a big return for Casas, perhaps enabling them to land the big-time starting pitcher they need.

There is also another path.

Devers has never been a good defensive third baseman and will probably move off the position at some point before his contract is up. So maybe it would be best to rip off the band-aid, move him to first base and seek a better defensive option at third? If the Red Sox opted for that route, signing Gold Glove finalist and two-time All-Star Alex Bregman would be a logical next step.

The downside to those paths is Casas could wind up being better for longer than either Alonso or Bregman, and given that he spent most of last season injured, he won’t command as much on the trade market as he presumably would if he were coming off a healthy, 35-homer season. Still, if the Red Sox wanted to shake things up, moving Casas makes a lot of other moves possible.

Double down on middle infield

The Red Sox could also leave their corner infield situation alone and focus up the middle, which has been the greater source of instability for the club.

For the past four years the Red Sox have invested heavily in developing a wave of talented young middle infielders, one that now features two top 25 prospects (Mayer, Campbell) who should debut sometime in 2025. The belief has long been that some of those players would eventually establish themselves as big league cornerstones, cementing Boston’s middle infield for years to come.

But what if we’ve got that all wrong? What if instead of handing the keys to the kids, the Red Sox instead bring in another high-priced outsider and flip the up-and-comers in a blockbuster?

This path would represent a massive and jarring shift in organizational philosophy, but it could also transform the Red Sox into a championship contender overnight. In this hypothetical, the Red Sox could sign free agent shortstop Willy Adames, move Trevor Story back to second base and trade Mayer and Campbell as the centerpiece of a show-stopping trade for an ace, perhaps Chicago’s Garrett Crochet or one of Seattle’s young starters.

Should the Red Sox go this route, they would have Adames and Story under contract for the next three years and beyond, blocking Mayer and Campbell’s path and rendering them expendable. The club could then wait for the next wave of infield prospects to work their way up through the system — Franklin Arias, Yoeilin Cespedes, Mikey Romero, etc. — and lean on more established big leaguers like Ceddanne Rafaela and Hamilton as insurance in case Story were to get hurt again.

This path feels unlikely, but if the Red Sox were inclined to accelerate their rebuild, this would certainly be one way to do it.

Go all in on Mayer

This last option wouldn’t require any dramatic changes this offseason, but could lead to some big moves down the road.

Basically, what if Mayer’s been the guy all along and the Red Sox are just waiting until he’s ready?

Now the No. 10 prospect in MLB according to Baseball America, Mayer will probably start 2025 in Triple-A but should at some point earn his call to the majors. When that happens it will be fascinating to see how the Red Sox shuffle things to accommodate him.

Would the club install him as the starting shortstop, bumping Story to second base? What implications would that have for whoever the second baseman is by that point? If that were Grissom or Campbell, could one of them become trade chips ahead of the deadline? Could Story even be moved?

Mayer wouldn’t solve the club’s lineup balance issue — he bats left-handed, just like most of the club’s other top hitters — and he probably wouldn’t be a major power threat right out of the gate either. But a middle infield of Mayer and Story could be something to behold defensively, and it would ostensibly be the realization of a plan that’s been in the works ever since this rebuild first began.