It feels very strange to disagree with so many smart people on this Rafael Devers mess. In almost every situation in my life where I have found myself on the other side of smart people, I reconsider. I figure: They’re probably right and I’m probably wrong. I can think of a hundred examples.
But, so far anyway, I find myself unpersuaded that Devers is the villain of this story.
Let’s review: A little more than two years ago, in the aftermath of some deeply unpopular moves that included trading Greatest Living American Mookie Betts, the Boston Red Sox desperately needed a win to prove to the fans that they were not turning into the Pittsburgh Pirates. And so they signed their ultra-popular third baseman Rafael Devers to a 10-year, $331 million deal — which was not only the largest contract in franchise history, it was more than double their previous high.
This came two days after owner Tom Werner was mercilessly booed at the NHL’s Winter Classic at Fenway Park.
“Raffy fits perfectly into what we’re building,” then-Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom gushed.
“It’s a great day for the organization,” manager Alex Cora added.
“We think his best years are even ahead of him,” Werner said.
“My thought was they wouldn’t come all the way down to the Dominican Republic for no reason,” Devers chirped happily.
“He’s not just a star,” Bloom said. “He’s our star.”
Great. Theo Epstein has talked about how the best day of a free agent signing is often that very first day, the announcement day, when all is possibility. Chaim Bloom got canned shortly after this. But the point is that it was a big day for all, and promises were made, and hope was abundant, and Devers posted a 133 OPS+ in 2023-2024 and got MVP votes each season.
Devers also struggled defensively at third base — no surprise to anyone, including the Red Sox; he’d led the league in errors the previous five seasons before they signed him. As far as I know, there was little to no concern within the organization about him as a defensive liability. The Yankees kept Derek Jeter at shortstop for almost 20 years — he never played another position — and he was a defensive liability. When you have special players, you live with their flaws.
What the Red Sox could not live with, however, was a lineup overloaded with left-handed hitters. With Devers, Triston Casas, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida all hitting from the left side in 2024, the heart of the lineup really struggled against lefties. When righty Tyler O’Neill signed with Baltimore, the situation became dire. The Red Sox desperately wanted a righty power hitter to anchor in the middle of their lineup.
The best available power righty was Astros icon Alex Bregman.
And Alex Bregman plays an excellent third base.
Bregman actually said he’d be fine moving to second base … but the Red Sox already had plans for an ultra-promising (right-handed) second baseman, Kristian Campbell. Boston made the call: They signed Bregman and asked Devers to become a full-time designated hitter for the good of the team. Devers refused. He said that the team had promised he would be their third baseman; that was part of the reason he had signed the deal. And then the Red Sox TOLD Devers he would become a full-time designated hitter for the good of the team.
Almost all the smart people I mentioned earlier sided with the Red Sox. Whatever promises were made in 2023, back when Chaim Bloom was still around, were null and void. Bregman is a better third baseman. Boston is paying Devers more than $300 million. As for Devers’ hurt feelings and professional pride? As Don Draper said — and my pal Joe Sheehan quoted — “That’s what the money is for.”
It’s not that I fully disagree with that — it would obviously have been admirable for Devers to sacrifice for the team. But I think the Red Sox lied to Devers. I think they signed him under false pretenses. I think they callously discarded Devers’ feelings — not just his emotions but his sense of self as a third baseman and a baseball player — for a short-term right-handed bat (Bregman may indeed stay in Boston, but he has opt-outs each of the next two years). I don’t think a team should be celebrated for treating their best people badly.
Then, the story continued. Devers got off to a shockingly bad start. He was striking out every time up, it seemed (even now, he leads the league in strikeouts). But slowly the DH story faded from the news, and Devers — because he’s a world-class hitter — began to adjust to his new reality. In his last dozen games, he’s hitting .367/.446/.633 and looking a lot more like himself.
Only then, Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas — who was the most vocal of all Red Sox players in standing up for Devers — got hurt. And, yep, you guessed it, the Red Sox went to Devers and asked him to play first base.
And yes, you guessed it — Devers told them to shove it.
“In spring training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove and I wasn’t going to play any other position but DH,” he said. “I had only two months playing this position to all of a sudden have me try to play another position … I know I’m a ballplayer, but at the same time, they can’t expect me to play every position out there.”
Now everybody’s furious at Devers again — teammates are grumbling, fans are outraged, so many smart people I know in and around the game are crashing down on Devers — and once again, I get it: Playing first base would be the team-first thing to do.
But, once again, I think this is the Red Sox mess. They created it. I don’t know what motivations, what incentives, what inspirations Rafael Devers needs to produce his high-level batting. We all have said it countless times: Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing in sports, and Devers is one of the best in the world at hitting a baseball. Maybe part of that for him is playing third base. Maybe part of that for him is stability. Maybe part of that for him is feeling appreciated. I don’t know Raffy. But I do know that the Red Sox have been treating him like a $300 million piece of art they can hang wherever they want in the house, and human beings don’t work like that.
Now, there are rumors the Red Sox will trade him — the Mets have come up as a possibility — and maybe that’s how this whole thing has to end.
There is a real irony here, by the way: Mookie Betts is the best right fielder on earth, and he’s playing shortstop now because that’s where the Dodgers need him. I wonder how the Red Sox could find someone like that.
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