If Devers is at 3B to start the season, the Red Sox season is over. The precedent its sets is bad enough. Devers defense is so bad that if the Red Sox moved him to DH and put a 0.0 WAR player that played average defense at 3B they would win more games.
If the Red Sox say a single players pride is more important than putting the players at positions that give the team the best chance of winning they are done. And not just for this season.
The precedent of moving him off how many years into a long extension for a guy that may be there one year, only to move him back, or replace him @ 3B with another FA or rookie?
They can do it, but talk about poopin’ where you eat. Really would put a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, no?
The truth is the front office screwed this up. Obviously, they didn’t consult Devers before they signed Bregman. That’s common sense. The Pirates just did the same thing with Reynolds when they signed Pham to play LF. Reynolds wasn’t consulted about having to move to RF.
Ah, yes, they needed to talk to their home grown superstar about their plan to change his position. They aren’t Viktor Orban. Some of us live in the real world while others fantasize about autocracy.
The Padres moved Xander Bogaerts from SS to 2b to accomodate Ha-Seong Kim at SS after only one year of Bogaerts’ 11 year free agent contract. Then they let Kim walk in free agency and are moving Bogaerts back to SS for 2025.
Key differences:
1. Bogaerts only had one year in SD prior to that move, so he wasn’t the homegrown superstar and fan favorite that Devers is.
2. Kim had been in SD for two years longer than Bogaerts had been, and was more popular with the fans. Kim actually won the utility Gold Glove in 2023, Bogaerts’ first year in SD. During that year, Bogaerts could probably see that Kim was better at SS, so lost any argument about sticking at SS.
3. Moving Bogaerts from SS to 2b is much less drastic than moving Devers from 3b to DH, which might seem like a slap in Devers’ face.
So, maybe their situations aren’t that comparable.
Devers should never be moved back to 3B. No matter who we play at 3B going forward; Mayer, Campbell, Jordan, or Bregman, the Red Sox will be a better team because Devers is not the one playing there.
Devers is the worst 3B in baseball on defense and playing there lessens his value.
What has already put a bad taste in fans mouths is Devers saying he would not move to DH to make the team better. We need team players, not prima donna players that refuse to see that they are hurting their team.
True superstars have enough self awareness to know when they are playing poorly and step aside, to at least say that they are willing to do whatever is best for the team. Devers has proven he is not that guy.
Pay the $2 per month to subscribe here. Go read what Tim Dierkes said about the situation today. Go read what Peter Abraham or Julian McWilliams at the Globe have written that dovetail perfectly with what Dierkes wrote on this site.
They agree with me. Devers has to move because that is what is best for the team and if he refuses he goes on the restricted list and doesn’t get paid. I don’t care if his pride is hurt. Suck it up and be the professional hitter he is being paid to be. He has already failed at being a 3B.
Devers will probably see some time at 3B this year, but I think Bregman will play most games there. Cora has said they need to do what is best for the Red Sox and not any one player and I think he will follow through with that. I think things will be fine despite the media playing this all up for as many clicks as possible.
I got here a little late so never got my question entered in the chat, but i was going to ask if Steve thought the Jays may pursue an extension with Bo during ST’ing, he did not put out any deadlines.
Bo came up shortly after Vlad in 2019 and has been a consistent hitter since he arrived having one down season mainly due to injuries i would think the Jays would have at least as much trust in him as Vlad who has had down seasons where there were no injuries!
After last season, Bo may want to see what version of Bo shows up this Spring.
He has no reason to take a potential below-market contract.
The path to a deal with Bichette is difficult. He comes from a well-off baseball family, and started his pro career with a million dollar signing bonus. He’ll have pulled in close to $40MM by free agency, including more than $17MM in ’25. Money is not an issue where he’d have to sell himself short coming off a bad, injury-plagued season. At the same time, the Jays will want to see he’s fully healthy and can bounce back. That intersection of views between player and team means cutting a deal is unlikely. He’s free agency bound.
Jerry Dipoto,during the payroll cuts 5-7 years ago: “Our goal was to set ourselves to be as flexible from an age, from a system and from a payroll perspective as we could in that 2021 launch,” Dipoto said.
“(Kikuchi and Seager) will be the only players on our roster that are earning north of arbitration numbers. That gives us incredible spending power in the free-agent market at a time when some of the best players of this generation might be available in free agency.”
Dude he had just come off from winning the Cy Young Award. ERA below 3. Not all free agent contracts work out my friend, especially for pitchers. Haven’t you ever noticed that?
Zero chance? Why? Trout is younger, and has out WARed DeGrom the last three years. Moving to RF will be easier on Trout’s body.
Are they both HOF locks? Trout is, but there are legitimate reasons to doubt that he will reach 2500 hits and 500 homers despite debuting at age 19.
deGrom doesn’t even have 100 wins. If he makes the HOF, that is good news for former pitchers like Bret Saberhagen, David Cone, Kevin Brown, and Johan Santana.
WAR is irrelevant last two years as degrom had TJS and went through the normal recovery. Thats the point, he had a procedure to address his injury issues. Trout just keeps encountering different injury issues that show his body is breaking down. His most games were 119 since 2020, hasnt reached 140 since 2018, and has way more mileage on his body than degrom who was a converted SS. I’m obviously exaggerating by saying zero chance but I’ll bet degrom has 20+ starts over trout playing 115+ games.
Cardinal’s FO/owner sre forever optimists is one little reason we did nothing this off-season. And the fan base is absolutely used to winning. Yeah we have some decent players but where are the superstars teams need to carry the rest of the avg players. Not all of those decent players are going to break out or have a career year.
Hell I think we are going to win every year and I can lay it out to convince myself. I’m expecting 85 to 90 wins this year.
I don’t get the negativity for the MLBTR Front Office subscription. I’m not a subscriber, but the site is still mostly free, so why complain? I guess some have to always feel like their the victim of some injustice.
I don’t see Vlad getting the 500 million plus. People forget the rock star factor of Soto and Ohtani. Their personalities are recognized beyond baseball. If we are just saying “he’s young” well, ok but, what else does he really bring to the table? Marketing? Intangibles? Leadership? Championship experience? I mean Soto had all that… I say he gets half of what Soto got at most.
If Devers is at 3B to start the season, the Red Sox season is over. The precedent its sets is bad enough. Devers defense is so bad that if the Red Sox moved him to DH and put a 0.0 WAR player that played average defense at 3B they would win more games.
If the Red Sox say a single players pride is more important than putting the players at positions that give the team the best chance of winning they are done. And not just for this season.
The precedent of moving him off how many years into a long extension for a guy that may be there one year, only to move him back, or replace him @ 3B with another FA or rookie?
They can do it, but talk about poopin’ where you eat. Really would put a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, no?
The truth is the front office screwed this up. Obviously, they didn’t consult Devers before they signed Bregman. That’s common sense. The Pirates just did the same thing with Reynolds when they signed Pham to play LF. Reynolds wasn’t consulted about having to move to RF.
Ah, yes, they needed to talk to their home grown superstar about their plan to change his position. They aren’t Viktor Orban. Some of us live in the real world while others fantasize about autocracy.
Reynolds had the good grace to say he would do what is best for the team and move to RF.
Hey Devers. We are thinking about signing a guy that is better than you are all around and that will push you to DH. You ok with that?
The Padres moved Xander Bogaerts from SS to 2b to accomodate Ha-Seong Kim at SS after only one year of Bogaerts’ 11 year free agent contract. Then they let Kim walk in free agency and are moving Bogaerts back to SS for 2025.
Key differences:
1. Bogaerts only had one year in SD prior to that move, so he wasn’t the homegrown superstar and fan favorite that Devers is.
2. Kim had been in SD for two years longer than Bogaerts had been, and was more popular with the fans. Kim actually won the utility Gold Glove in 2023, Bogaerts’ first year in SD. During that year, Bogaerts could probably see that Kim was better at SS, so lost any argument about sticking at SS.
3. Moving Bogaerts from SS to 2b is much less drastic than moving Devers from 3b to DH, which might seem like a slap in Devers’ face.
So, maybe their situations aren’t that comparable.
Devers should never be moved back to 3B. No matter who we play at 3B going forward; Mayer, Campbell, Jordan, or Bregman, the Red Sox will be a better team because Devers is not the one playing there.
Devers is the worst 3B in baseball on defense and playing there lessens his value.
What has already put a bad taste in fans mouths is Devers saying he would not move to DH to make the team better. We need team players, not prima donna players that refuse to see that they are hurting their team.
True superstars have enough self awareness to know when they are playing poorly and step aside, to at least say that they are willing to do whatever is best for the team. Devers has proven he is not that guy.
Pay the $2 per month to subscribe here. Go read what Tim Dierkes said about the situation today. Go read what Peter Abraham or Julian McWilliams at the Globe have written that dovetail perfectly with what Dierkes wrote on this site.
They agree with me. Devers has to move because that is what is best for the team and if he refuses he goes on the restricted list and doesn’t get paid. I don’t care if his pride is hurt. Suck it up and be the professional hitter he is being paid to be. He has already failed at being a 3B.
Devers will probably see some time at 3B this year, but I think Bregman will play most games there. Cora has said they need to do what is best for the Red Sox and not any one player and I think he will follow through with that. I think things will be fine despite the media playing this all up for as many clicks as possible.
I got here a little late so never got my question entered in the chat, but i was going to ask if Steve thought the Jays may pursue an extension with Bo during ST’ing, he did not put out any deadlines.
After last season, the Jays may want to see what version of Bo shows up this Spring.
Bo came up shortly after Vlad in 2019 and has been a consistent hitter since he arrived having one down season mainly due to injuries i would think the Jays would have at least as much trust in him as Vlad who has had down seasons where there were no injuries!
So that’s why they attempted to trade him at last year’s deadline but found no takers?
I never heard that they tried to trade him. That wouldn’t have made any sense, selling low on Bo.
After last season, Bo may want to see what version of Bo shows up this Spring.
He has no reason to take a potential below-market contract.
The path to a deal with Bichette is difficult. He comes from a well-off baseball family, and started his pro career with a million dollar signing bonus. He’ll have pulled in close to $40MM by free agency, including more than $17MM in ’25. Money is not an issue where he’d have to sell himself short coming off a bad, injury-plagued season. At the same time, the Jays will want to see he’s fully healthy and can bounce back. That intersection of views between player and team means cutting a deal is unlikely. He’s free agency bound.
Jerry Dipoto,during the payroll cuts 5-7 years ago: “Our goal was to set ourselves to be as flexible from an age, from a system and from a payroll perspective as we could in that 2021 launch,” Dipoto said.
“(Kikuchi and Seager) will be the only players on our roster that are earning north of arbitration numbers. That gives us incredible spending power in the free-agent market at a time when some of the best players of this generation might be available in free agency.”
And ownership said, “Jerry, hold my beer.” Blat!!!
That was before they signed J-Rod’s extension. They also signed Robbie Ray to a 5 year deal and traded for and extended Luis Castillo.
So you’re saying Robbie Ray counts as ‘some of the best players of this generation”?
Dude he had just come off from winning the Cy Young Award. ERA below 3. Not all free agent contracts work out my friend, especially for pitchers. Haven’t you ever noticed that?
I see zero chance ot trout having more impact than degrom this year but I suppose we’ll see.
Zero chance? Why? Trout is younger, and has out WARed DeGrom the last three years. Moving to RF will be easier on Trout’s body.
Are they both HOF locks? Trout is, but there are legitimate reasons to doubt that he will reach 2500 hits and 500 homers despite debuting at age 19.
deGrom doesn’t even have 100 wins. If he makes the HOF, that is good news for former pitchers like Bret Saberhagen, David Cone, Kevin Brown, and Johan Santana.
WAR is irrelevant last two years as degrom had TJS and went through the normal recovery. Thats the point, he had a procedure to address his injury issues. Trout just keeps encountering different injury issues that show his body is breaking down. His most games were 119 since 2020, hasnt reached 140 since 2018, and has way more mileage on his body than degrom who was a converted SS. I’m obviously exaggerating by saying zero chance but I’ll bet degrom has 20+ starts over trout playing 115+ games.
Cardinal’s FO/owner sre forever optimists is one little reason we did nothing this off-season. And the fan base is absolutely used to winning. Yeah we have some decent players but where are the superstars teams need to carry the rest of the avg players. Not all of those decent players are going to break out or have a career year.
Hell I think we are going to win every year and I can lay it out to convince myself. I’m expecting 85 to 90 wins this year.
I don’t get the negativity for the MLBTR Front Office subscription. I’m not a subscriber, but the site is still mostly free, so why complain? I guess some have to always feel like their the victim of some injustice.
Damn, I hate it when I write ‘their’, or ‘there’ when I mean ‘they’re’.
I hear that, it costs nothing (but a little bit of time to read) to enjoy the site; it also costs nothing to give a friendly heads up on typos.
Can’t talk too much trash about what has functionally been a passion project for years.
I don’t see Vlad getting the 500 million plus. People forget the rock star factor of Soto and Ohtani. Their personalities are recognized beyond baseball. If we are just saying “he’s young” well, ok but, what else does he really bring to the table? Marketing? Intangibles? Leadership? Championship experience? I mean Soto had all that… I say he gets half of what Soto got at most.