Red Sox designated hitter Rafael Devers spoke to members of the media today, including Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. Devers said that chief baseball officer Craig Breslow recently asked him about playing first base in the wake of the Triston Casas injury. Devers said that he is unwilling to take up the position, adding that the club told him to put away his glove when they moved him from third base to designated hitter this winter. He feels that the team has now gone back on its word. He also responded “Sí, claro” when asked if he was upset by the request.
“I know I’m a ballplayer,” Devers said, via translator, relayed by Speier, “but at the same time, they can’t expect me to play every single position out there. In break training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove, that I wasn’t going to play any other position but DH. So right now, I just feel like it’s not an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position.” Devers added this about Breslow, per Speier, “I’m not certain what (issue) he has with me. He played ball, and I would like to think that he knows that changing positions like that isn’t easy.” Speier relayed more from Devers: “Here in the clubhouse, thankfully, the relationship that I have with my teammates is great. I don’t understand some of the decisions that the GM makes. Next thing you know, someone in the outfield gets hurt and they want me to play in the outfield.” As for the first base spot, Devers seems to think an external addition is the answer, per Christopher Smith of MassLive: “Now I think they should do their job essentially and hit the market and look for another player (to play first base). I’m not sure why they want me to be in between the way they have me now.”
Perhaps he will alter that stance in time but he seems to be taking a strong stand for now. Per Smith, Devers doesn’t think there’s a chance he’ll change his mind. “I don’t think so. They told me I’m a little hard-headed. They already asked me to change once and this time I don’t think I can be as flexible.”
It’s been a strange few months in terms of the relationship between Devers and the Red Sox. Throughout the winter, the club was connected to third basemen Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado, despite Devers seemingly having that spot locked down. Devers has never been a strong defender, so there was some on-paper logic to the consideration of moving him elsewhere, but there was the question about Devers himself and how he would feel about being displaced. The two sides had agreed to a nine-figure extension in January of 2023, a contract which runs through 2033, so the long-term relationship would obviously be a real consideration.
Breman remained unsigned into the middle of February. The Sox scooped him up at that time on a three-year, $120MM deal, though one with notable deferrals and opt-outs after each season. The club didn’t immediately come out and declare their intentions in terms of defensive alignment and Devers was adamant that he would stick at third base. He said that he had been promised by the club that he could stay at the hot corner for the long term. Manager Álex Cora dismissed that promise because “That was under Chaim,” referring to former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. The Sox fired Bloom towards the end of the 2023 season and eventually replaced him with Breslow.
It soon became clear that the Sox wanted Bregman, the superior defender, to take over at third. Devers would be the club’s full-time designated hitter, not even playing the field occasionally. “Raffy is going to DH,” Cora said in March. “We had a conversation, we talked about it. He’s DHing. He’s the DH of the Boston Red Sox. One thing is we don’t want him to overthink it. Don’t get caught up in the whole thing. He’ll be OK.”
Though Devers was clearly not happy with being moved off his position, reportedly even thinking about asking for a trade at one point, he did strike a more amicable tone eventually. In the middle of March, with the start of the season just about two weeks away, he said: “I’m good to do whatever they want me to do,” he said. “I’m here to help. I’ve already spoken with them about that, and they know where I stand. I’m just ready to play.”
That all seemed to be working fine enough for the first few weeks of the season, until Casas suffered his aforementioned injury. A ruptured left patellar tendon last week led to knee surgery for Casas and he is going to miss the remainder of the 2025 campaign.
That quickly led to speculation about Devers being a good fit to replace Casas. In the initial aftermath of the injury, the Sox used guys like Romy González and Abraham Toro to cover the position. Those two have generally been light-hitting utility guys in their careers, less than ideal solutions for a bat-first position like first base.
Moving Devers into the spot would seemingly make things easier for the Sox. While learning a new position midseason would certainly be a challenge, first base is generally considered to be lower than third base on the defensive spectrum, with many subpar third basemen having become adequate first basemen over the years. Doing so would also free up the DH spot, opening up more at-bats for players other players. Outfield prospect Roman Anthony and infield prospect Marcelo Mayer are both somewhat blocked from regular playing time at the moment. It’s also tough to find a spot for Masataka Yoshida, currently on the injured list, as he’s also an outfielder. A poor defender, he was the club’s primary designated hitter last year.
Cora has publicly said a few times recently that he hasn’t asked Devers about the switch, but it appears the Red Sox privately considered the plan and Breslow initiated the conversation, which Devers didn’t take kindly to.
From his perspective, it’s understandably been a jarring half year. As of a few months ago, he thought he was Boston’s third baseman and seemingly felt secure in that role. Now he’s been shaken from that security and has been asked to adapt.
Still, his response has been bizarre and hasn’t always reflected well on him. It’s pretty rare for a player to refuse to do something his team asks of him. In fact, there have been dozens of players over the years who have switched positions in order to help their team. Learning first base might not be Devers’ ideal outcome but there’s little harm in exploring the possibility by taking some grounders and feeling it out, especially if the team thinks it can help them win some more games in the long run. Though Devers maintains the clubhouse rapport is good, it’s fair to wonder if any of his teammates are upset about this hardline stance, since it’s doesn’t appear to be a team-first decision.
Additionally, when discontent develops between a team and a player, efforts are usually made to keep it private. It’s especially uncommon for a player to criticize his team’s front office leader, especially for making a fairly understandable inquiry.
It’s inevitable more developments are forthcoming with this story. For now, it appears Devers will stay in the DH spot. If the Sox are unhappy with his refusal, there’s not too much they can do about it. Whatever drama has been happening off the field doesn’t seem to be impacting him at the plate. He has a .246/.370/.430 batting line and 123 wRC+ this year, even though he went hitless in his first five games of the season. They surely don’t want to subtract that bat from the lineup.
For the record, Devers does not have no-trade protection in his contract, so they technically could just run him out of town if they really wanted to. But there’s no indication that is a consideration or even a remote possibility. Even if they did come to a point of wanting him gone, shipping out a contract that still runs for eight-plus years and has far more than $200MM left on it is hard to move at any point. That would be especially true in the middle of a season, when clubs have mostly spent their budgets. Also, other clubs are surely aware of the public drama and would try to use it as leverage in any talks if Breslow called them up.
Unless more developments arise, it seems Devers will stick in the DH spot. The Sox will try to cover first base with guys like González and Toro, at least for now, though it’s possible they could pursue first basemen in the coming weeks and months.
As for the relationship between Devers and the Sox, this surely isn’t the last we’ll hear about it. As mentioned, Bregman can opt out of his contract after this season and seems to be trending towards doing so, since he’s having a great year. There may eventually be questions about whether Devers would be an option to retake that spot in 2026 or if the club would want to keep him as a DH for the rest of his contract, while someone like Mayer or Trevor Story or Kristian Campbell takes over at third. That means more twists and turns are fairly inevitable, in a saga that has already had plenty.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images.
I’m sick of him, ship his ass to Miami or somewhere that will cater to his every wish.
Great player – terrible attitude.
*hitter
Amazing how a fan favorite can turn in himself like this. We put up with his “defense” because of his bat and infectious attitude. We’ll always appreciate his ability to hit but some of the romance has disappeared. If he looks inside, he has to understand him not playing third is better for the club. The play Bregman made today, there is no way Raffy does it. The team has an emergency and options on how to best improve the roster has to be on the table. I think he privately has tried first and Cora has been covering for him.
“Amazing how a fan favorite…better for the club”…Raffy Devers is part of the “me first”, I’m all that matters, entitlement club.
Maybe at some point Raffy discovers that there’s actually other people(to consider)besides himself in the world. Or, maybe not.
simon – Agreed, Devers is an excellent hitter.
So I was right all along. I said all along things would not be cool with Raffy, he wouldn’t “get over it” within just a few days after how badly they treated him, and that a trade is probably coming eventually.
And I have never been more proud of him!! He is holding them accountable. He will not allow them to disrespect him anymore!!
Cora is like the girl who breaks up with her longtime boyfriend (Devers) because she found someone else (Bregman), says she never wants to see him again, turns her back on him, and then later on when she needs him, he tells her to go pound sand.
Hey Cora, was all this worth one year of Bregman? You’ve successfully alienated one of the chillest and most talented hitters in MLB, the face of the franchise. Congrats, hope it was worth it dude. Karma is a you-know-what.
And now the Sox have no choice but to either pursue other first base options, or force him to play first base … which they can do, but do they really want to?
Fever—spot on. I’m in the vast minority on this one, but for once, I agree with Devers. I’m not a Devers fan at all, never was, and hated the big contract. But I think he’s right. He’s been treated terribly through this whole mess, and I believe it’s time to move on from him and trade him during the offseason.
Chance – We may be in the minority here, but in the baseball world there are PLENTY of people who understand how badly Devers was treated and why his feelings are justified. At the end of the day, Raffy is a human being who deserves just as much respect as any other team’s longtime franchise player.
I am so damn proud of him!!
Treated terrible really? No one put a gun to his head when he signed that long contract that the Sox are stuck with him until 2033. Typical of today’s athletes in all sports. Pay me but don’t ask me to do more than I am supposed to do. Guy is a POS, Go back to your country and see how much $$$$$ you will be making.
I typically agree with Fever but not this time. Given the contract, Devers is acting like a spoiled two year old.
@fever does his contract explicitly say that Devera must play thirdbase? If not then he should play whatever the team tells him. Bench him until he gets it.
dewey – It’s cool my friend, no two people agree on everything.
I can relate with Raffy and understand why he feels the way he does. I wouldn’t expect everyone to.
We probably both agree the best resolution now is a trade.
Raffy is hitting well and seems healthy. His OPS is .834 and climbing. I’m happy he will stay at DH. His shoulders are probably happy they are no longer slamming into the ground. All the drama about his position will likely be forgotten. It looks like it will go down as a bump in the road in Devers’ career.
south – The third base issue is done and over with, but to answer your question it was a verbal promise …. nothing written in the contract.
And yeah, sure the team has every technical right to force him to play first base ….. but again, if his heart isn’t in it and his head isn’t in it ….. is it worth forcing him?
Remember he’s got the upper hand, he’s got the guaranteed monster contract.
Dodgers Jr.
You tell Devers “Go back to your country,” Devers is a baby, you are a big-ot.
Idk if this is on cora. Sox made a good move bringing in bregman. Upgrade to the lineup and in the field.
With that – I don’t blame devers for not wanting to change his position. It’s not selfish it’s smart. He hasn’t played a single inning of 1B in his 9 year career. This is on the GM for not upgrading 1B and putting their star player into a bad spot. Trade him? The Sox should have a good year, and they already diminished his value by making him one dimensional – even if he did lead the league in errors every year since 2018.( Still a 94% fielding pct)
FPG – I was writing this slightly long winded defense of Devers when I erased it all for this short defense.
Good for him!
Breslow has been here for a minute and a half, lied about where Bregman was gonna play. Tell Devers to throw away the glove, and then says, throw away the fielding mitt for the first baseman mitt.
Screw you Breslow, you messed this up seven ways to Sunday, and, to top it all off Bregman Is gonna leave after the season, and then what, Breslow gonna ask Devers to go back to third?!?!?! Get a clue, and a plan POBO
Devers is like the bizarro Mookie
Screw you Breslow, you messed this up seven ways to Sunday
============================
Breslow seems very thorough. He was likely just exploring all possibilities when he asked Devers if he was willing to try 1B.
I don’t follow the Red Sox drama but I’ve been coaching for 11 seasons and if one of my best players told me he wasn’t willing to fill a position that we feel he can handle and also helps the team, that player would get a healthy dose of reality and probably wouldn’t be wearing my jersey very long.
You’re getting paid to perform for what the team needs, not the other way around. Google ‘Mookie Betts’ if you need further explanation.
Not really. Spring Training is the time and place for a position switch not during the season. Here’s an idea. Move Bregman to 1B and have Devers play 3B again.
Great hitter. Nothing else. Not a great fielder, runner ect.
So not a great player.
Got paid for his bat despite his ineptitude at all other things baseball.
I get what Devers is feeling. I am also not certain that Devers can play a competent first-base. Devers’ agent should have had Devers phrase it more like maybe a different option would be best for the teams’ success.
Is this a change of scene, contact swap Devers for Bogaerts?
Contracts match. Boston gets an icon back, Padres get potential?
Nobody is taking Xanders contract. He’s a shell of himself. At least Taffy is producing
So comical as a majority on here want to punt Devers to the moon, send him to Miami or Colorado.
The contracts match up. Pads throw in a prospect or two and this actually works.
But, understandably, Boston fans are frustrated but really when, push comes to shove don’t want to trade Devers.
In all honesty, I like Bogaerts. I can see a rebound at some point.
Bevers is 28 and at the beginning of his prime years. Bogaerts is 32, and coming to the end of his prime years.
Red Sox fans should want to keep Devers, just mock his attitude
Yes just what the Sox need…more infielders
DBH – Story is on shaky ground, Mayer has the injury history and can play 3B and 2B (and probably 1B), so Trea would be a nice fit at SS.
MLB – Keeping a disgruntled franchise player is never a good thing, no different than any employer keeping a disgruntled worker.
tow – Agreed, some of the Devers-hate here is indeed comical. And this is a guy who NEVER had any type of behavioral issue, never did anything wrong behavior-wise like endangering teammates by smashing a telephone in the dugout or intentionally taking a strikeout looking in a big situation against the Yankees. The double-standard here is mindboggling.
But we know in general there’s a segment of Sox fans who don’t believe in loyalty to players, that’s nothing new.
“Padres get potential”… Raffy is in the top 5 of rbi produced in the last 6+ years. That’s considerably more than “potential”. And Bogey is now little more than an average player.
Good luck offloading Bogey and his onerous contract, but nobody is taking that contract without at LEAST 150M+ also included in the deal.
tow – I think a more likely trade would be Devers for Trea.
Comparable contracts.
Both teams want to move their star player.
Dombrowski has a solid relationship with Devers.
Sox could use a middle infielder.
Schwarber will probably walk after a monster season.
Bohm is on the trade block.
You heard it here first!!
No evidence Bohm is on trade block. Bohm will stay on Phillies this year and be released not traded during offseason. Aidan Miller is almost ready on Bohm will be arb eligible
The Phillies would be willing to trade Bohm, the problem is that they’ll get nothing back for him. After getting just one hit in the playoffs, he stated that he’s not willing to change his approach at the plate, and has proved it with only four walks this year. Can’t be a good change of scenery candidate if you aren’t willing to listen to coaches.
That makes sense.
phillies – Just curious, what do you think of a Trea for Raffy deal?
Obviously I’m not as dialed into the Phillies scene, but what I’ve heard is the Phillies are disappointed in Trea’s performance and would like to get out from under his contract.
Trea will be fine. Devers’ attitude would not go
over well in Philly.
I understand but who the heck is going to want this child on their team?
mab – I assure you plenty of teams would want him. He was a Top 4 MLB hitter last year until the injury crashed the end of his season.
“I understand.who the heck…Want this child on their team”…I agree that Raffy is acting like a “me first” spoiled child in this matter.
The whole idea of being on a “team” is that often you subjigate your own personal needs to benefit the whole of the group.
All that being said, Raffy is a proven run producer who in the top 5 of rbi driven in in the last 6+ years.
Never underestimate the number of things sports teams will overlook, under play and sweep under the rug for proven high level producers.
We see it literally every single day. Raffy’s stock may be a little down, but he’s still a very valuable and hard to find commodity, a run producer.
There’s at least 3 or 4+ teams that would be very, very interested in acquiring a disgruntled Raffy Devers, proven and tested run producer.
Every day my rage that the Sox chose him over Betts grows.
Maybe some meditation?
Xanax?
Xanax Bogaerts plays for the Padres, not sure he’d help.
Devers over Bogaerts seemed ok at time, but Betts has always been a top ten position player in the league and Devers has never been and never will be at even Betts’ current level.
Bogaerts I understood not committing the big money to. I liked the guy (and still do!) but I think it would have been a mistake by the Red Sox to outbid what the Padres paid him. Betts, though? Letting him go was absolutely terrible.
I agree, but I have the feeling that Betts let the team know he was going to test free-agency and wasn’t going to sign an extension. Or that he wanted to play elsewhere and wasn’t going to re-sign.
You can’t rewrite history. Betts repeatedly said he was going year to year and he read the market right and signed without going to free agency because of the pandemic. Bogey’s ridiculous deal set the stage for Raffy. It was a perfect storm that forced ownership to overpay. Even Bregman now is not getting his money from another club as most will see his Fenway numbers inflated elsewhere. He’s likely going to re-negotiate and remain Boston with ownership adding a couple of years.
Meow – I’m genuinely surprised, didn’t think you ever got angry.
But yeah I agree, it’s ironic how all of the Big Three (Mookie, Xander, Devers) will be forced out within a 5-year period.
I hiss and scratch as much as any cat 😾
Meow – Haha …. I always appreciate your humor :O)
Wait a minute, you’re not a Siamese are you? I’ve owned a Siamese cat, they can be VERY difficult to handle.
Fever – American shorthair :3
The Dodgers would actually be perfect for him, and they seem to have endless money to afford him too,
Nope! Munetaka Murakami mark my words lol.
Oh yes, we should definitely bench Shohei Ohtani for Devers…
/s
Didn’t he say he was too young to be a DH, and now when the door opens to return to the field, he doesn’t want to be a position player?
Not a good attitude. I don’t think he’s a prima donna, but he seems to somehow feel disrespected and that’s clouding his judgement on how best to help his team and to help himself.
My guess is Cora will work on him, eventually guiding him to the best decision.
Lord
Everything you said is true, but Devers probably will suck at 1B defensively
Probably, but perhaps not. Vlad Jr. wasn’t a good defender at third but made himself a solid defender at first. Mark Teixiera was pushed off third and became a gold glover at first.
It seems much of Dever’s fielding issues were on the type of long throws across the diamond after diving for balls that he wouldn’t deal with at first. He might be fine after learning positioning, scooping, etc., and that could be part of his hesitation —learning it in the fly in season. Maybe with an offseason and Spring Training he’d adapt to it, yet didn’t he refuse the idea of playing first even before Bregman signed?
There’s a belief anyone can be put at 1B, but few can play it well. What were Ron Washington’s words in Money Ball…?
The Red Sox have a real mess on their hands with Devers!!!
His ship is sinking fast!
He’s undesirable and untradable!!!
Colorado would be a great fit for him where he can hit 50 homers and get paid to lose 90 games!
He obviously doesn’t care about winning if he isn’t willing to move to first
They asked him to improve his 3rd base play – nothing.
They asked him to lose weight – opposite – gained weight
They gave him $300M+
They had to bring in a player at $40M/yr to play his position.
They asked him to be a team player and play 1B – Nope.
Starts year possibly deliberately striking out 15 times in his first 19 at-bats across the first five games
Yeah role (roll) model!
I guess the Red Sox get a pass in creating this animal? Stop promising this guy positions when you can’t possibly predict your needs. Where im from your word means a whole heck of a lot and you don’t get to break it and expect people to continually take it in stride. I think Devers should play where he’s needed and best for the team but I also wouldn’t promise the guy a permanent position and expect to be able to pretend you never made promises you now want to retract
The red Sox also seem to have a roster boondoggle of their own creation here. They wildly overspent most projections for Yoshida and as a result his solid but unexceptional offensive ceiling with pronounced defensive limitations is untradeable without eating a lot of money. Add on the story contract, bregman, the very early extension for cedane and the abrupt about face on expectations and assurances devers heard when he signed that deal and you’ve got a really awkward roster puzzle on your hands. The Sox have seemed kind of reactive and shortsighted in their spending in recent years and it’s showing up now.
Lmao
Si, claro = yes, of course
Now that’s a team player!
My favorite part of this fiasco is just how awful he is at defense. He’s delusional until they’re ready to throw him a bone and now he’s gonna throw a mega tantrum. What a big baby.
He already said spite.
But in his defense, he might suck at the 1B
He even kind of looks like a big baby. I guess he has the attitude to match it.
In his life there’s something lacking
What he needs is a damn good whacking…
The Beatles
I thought that song was about police.
I can see his point.
He’s not that great defensively, has been told so, and now they want him to throw on a glove and play a position that he’s never played before on the fly.
But he was bad at 3rd. Maybe he’ll be passable at first. He won’t know if he doesn’t try. Also, it’s a team sport. The team is asking for his help since their top option is done for the season. Him choosing not to play 1st is telling the team he doesn’t care. It’s a super selfish move.
Time for a change of scenery… Colorado could use him to keep the fans happy & he can pad his near-HOF stats
If you are willing to take back Kris Bryant, sure.
At least Bryant has a good attitude.
Good luck with that contract
Dude getting paid Millions to play a game and he doesn’t even want to play. Stop the crying and help ur team win games.
Not exactly fair. He loves to hit and clearly he enjoyed being a third baseman. Certainly he’s no team player and it seems he’s being spiteful over having his precious 3B taken away from him, but there’s no reason to think that he “doesn’t even want to play”.
He’s an employee and he’s being paid $300 million. If they ask you to play centerfield, you do it. Grumble all you want, but you still have to do it.
Apparently not. Ahahahahahaha!
Joe – They told him he would never, ever play in the field again.
Not even as a fill-in for Bregman on days off or if he’s injured.
It’s like they thought really hard about the best way to insult him, and then went with it. Unconscionable.
FPG: “They told him he would never, ever play in the field again.”
“It’s like they thought really hard about the best way to insult him”
=========================
It’s more like they they thought about the best way to keep him healthy and in the lineup. His shoulders may finally be healthy due to not not slamming them into the ground diving for balls.
Wow what a jerk.
Devers has to be on the trade block now. That kind of me first attitude can play in the NBA, but not in baseball. Start packing your bags Devers! I’m certainly not a fan of yours from this day onwards. Team comes first- always!
I hear Anaheim is lovely in July
The Angels have a slightly used 3B they’d probably be willing to swap
Nobody is taking on that monstrosity of a contract
Ssowl- If I didn’t read this report, I’d say he’s worth $31m/yr for sure due to his bat.
There could be some takers. Cubs need a 3B and look like a contender. Mariners desperately need an impact bat, don’t have a solid 3B and have a surplus of pitchers, which we need (Luis Castillo plus some prospects maybe). Yankees need a 3B, but I don’t think they’d put up with that attitude either and they’re all ready to sign Munetaka Murakami next year.
No respectable franchise will want him.
We could ship him to the Rockies 😂
31m a year for 800 something ops dh only? I don’t like that. Definitely not a bargain. How’s he going to be well into his 30s as a fat lazy slob.
Do the “Mariners desperately need an impact bat” when Seattle is second in the American League (and third in MLB) with an OPS+ of 125 to offset a pedestrian ERA+ of 98?
With aces Logan Gilbert and George Kirby on the IL, the Mariners have no “surplus of pitchers.”
Castillo and prospects for a DH with a 8 year 200 million dollar contract? Put down the pipe
He’s not a DH only player- he’s a bad defensive 3B. A lot of top bat 3B are poor defensively. Chipper Jones was one such player. Red Sox don’t want to play Devers at 3B when we have Bregman and sensibly so, but y’all are nuts proclaiming him a DH only.
Forget Castillo and the Mariners then. Situation has changed. They’re a cheap organization anyway.
A “cheap organization” with the second-best record in the American League after winning nine straight series.
That kind of me first attitude
===================
I don’t blame Devers at all. He is right that it is not easy to change positions. I think it is crazy to attempt to change to a new position during the season.
Suit- Dude. You’re speaking like a couch jockey. Being a team player isn’t about doing what’s “easy”, it’s about sacrificing for the betterment of the team. Devers is a f***in immature baby who has no leadership skills and a subpar off-field work ethic.
I’d trade Devers to the Phillies for Nick Castellanos and Andrew Painter or Castellanos, Mick Abel & a mid-tier prospect. Castellanos would be a good DH and we’d pick up a good pitching prospect who’s ready sooner rather than later.
Phillies love spending money.
Phillies could start Devers at DH. Move Bohm to 1B and Harper back to RF
The Phillies have Schwarber as their DH.
El- I meant to say start Devers at 3B
You have no idea about me or Devers. You are reaching conclusions about people you have never met. Devers is hitting well. He doesn’t want to switch positions. It’s not the end of the world. If he switches to 1B, he might be horrible there and his offense night to down the drain. It’s hard to say that Devers is clearly wrong. I respect that he doesn’t jump through hoops.
Rookies: I’m willing to play anywhere orr do anything to help the team
Vets with comfy contracts: Don’t ask me to do anything. Go away
My favorite part is “I just feel like it’s not an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position.”
Like yeah, out of the blue that would be kind of inconsiderate. But it’s because Casas just went down for the year!
I’m sure he would have been more than willing to work with them had they not told him to hang up his glove in the off-season. Gotta read the whole article before commenting.
This has been an ongoing conversation for 3 years and he’s repeating the same thing every time he’s asked. Gotta know the whole story before commenting.
An ongoing conversation for three years? Is this before, during, or after they said he’d be the long term 3B before he signed the extension in 2023? Which was 2 years ago so …
You understand different people said that, not this front office. And yes, there was talk of moving him off third even with the last regime but agreed to let him play third at the extension because he pushed back against it. Players moving positions as they get older is normal in baseball, hence the original point of the original post that you completely missed.
I didn’t miss anything.
Older is in his mid thirties. It’s not two years after signing the extension. In no way, shape or form is two years into a 10 year extension a long time.
And yes Bloom is gone but Cora, Henry, Kennedy, etc are all still there. If they thought differently then, they could have said something differently then.
tigers – What on earth are you talking about?
It’s well documented Raffy kept being told all last offseason that “he’s their third baseman”.
Not once, not ever did the Sox warn him he could lose his 3B job if he didn’t improve.
And you know what? They SHOULD HAVE.
How does this counter anything in my post? I didn’t even say his name. Fans obsessed with blindly defending their favorite players are creepy
Because you said “not this front office”….
The coach, the owners, nearly everyone but the GM/CBO is identical. Even the assistant GMs (Romero, Ferreira, Toboni) are the same.
Joe – You tell ’em!!
Yeah Cora was such a weasel trying to put all the blame on the one guy who was no longer there.
I highly doubt they told him verbatim “hang up your glove”. He interpreted it that way because he’s a whining selfish man-child. No franchise is going to back themselves into a corner by telling a player they won’t play in the field no matter what.
They could have phrased it any way they want to, but the point was they told him he’s not playing the field anymore.
Devers told the truth, which was confirms by Cora, about the FO saying he’d be the long term 3B. Don’t think he’d start lying now.
KC – You’re 100% wrong.
Cora CONFIRMED Devers would never play the field, not even when Bregman has a day off or if he’s injured. Do you not understand how insulting that is to Raffy? It’s like telling him he’s not even good enough to be a backup.
And Cora has refused to allow Devers to take reps at first base for years …. in fact, Cora refused to allow Raffy to play first base in the WBC when the Dominican Team manager wanted him to.
I wonder how his teammates feel about him.
I wonder what they say about him among each other. Obviously, they haven’t said it to him.
Looks like his teammates like him just fine when I am watching the games.
Jbig – His teammates and the rest of MLB love the guy.
I could provide plenty of direct quotes proving it, but I have a strong feeling you’d simply ignore it.
Zoinks!
Yea this is a bad look..he was better off not speaking
Every additional quite added makes him look worse. The remark about the outfield is so petulant and disingenuous.
It looks like what it really is…
When you call out a GM like that you are pretty much saying to ownership, “Get rid of the GM or trade me.”
8 years/$250M or so left on that contract… 8.67 years, really…
*a quarter of the way through the season, but the point stands…
lol, what a team guy. but he hits, so he gets to do and say what he wants.
What an egomaniac!
“that was then” is the right response to his concern about the request changing
oh no, things changed bc of personnel changes!
What is he gonna say when he stops hitting?
Thank you for the contract?
Actually agree with Devers. Dude didn’t want to leave the field, ended up being forced too, now they ask him to play a different position on the field and become uncomfortable in another role. no thanks the boston redsox are a shell of their former past.
Yep, I just posted something similar. They should have been having him work at 1B to get him onto field and Casas off against tough lefties maybe. Give your roster flexibility.
Will I play first base if they bring in Bregman? NO!!! I play third base! You weren’t LISTENING! CLARO?
You skipped the part where he signed a 300+ million dollar contract to play baseball for the boston red sox ..in whatever capacity they choose…hes not writing checks , hes cashing them..till he starts writing them he should do what is asked..nobody is asking anything unreasonable here..hes being a child
Yeah and they told him he’s lousy at defense and he’s no longer expected to play the field. Now they want him to? Kinda bs in a way
so
No, he signed the contract with a supposed guarantee that he would remain at 3B. Then when Cora saw a chance to get a buddy on the team he lied to Devers initially and told him they were pursuing Bregman to play 2B to get Raffy to help recruit him and then once they signed him they tell Devers “oh, BTW that deal to remain at 3B was with the old FO and we’re not honoring that and you’re moving to DH.” And you wonder why Devers is pissed?
Pool – they said he would be the long term 3B before he signed the deal. They went back on their word there. They told him to hang up his glove. Now they want to go back on their word again. When does it end?
When he’s traded
I get what you are saying and maybe im being naieve or silly trying to equate it to a normal job but in every job or business change is a given in 2025 the days where we all go to work and do the same thing for 50 years are over..he just needs to box up his feelings and get witb the program..amd realize he isnt calling any of the shots
I get sucking it up and dealing with it to an extent, but I’m a big believer of actions have consequences. Consequences can be good or bad, it’s just a result of the action.
If this was my job, and they took a responsibility away and said that I will not do it even though I wanted to, and then something happens and they come back and need my expertise, well that’s just another bargaining chip. Pay me more money or give me some sort of additional perks because you completely mismanaged the situation originally.
I see the point you are trying to make..but the problem with your argument is devers traded his bargaining power when he signed the contract..and if he refuses to honor his contract you are right there will be consequences..so he can say whatever he wants..as long as he plays ball..and if there really was some sort of agreement to stay at 3b..then he needs to have his union lawyer file a greivance
I agree 100%. Boston fans were against him when he wanted to keep his position and now they are against him when they are changing him again. It’s one thing for that to happen to a utility player, but it shouldn’t happen to the face of the franchise.
“Boston fans were mad when he was selfish and then they are mad again when he is even more selfish”
That’s one interpretation. Mine is a different one.
And incorrect
Sort of exactly what you said.
How exactly is that anything short of selfish?
He is no longer the face of the franchise. That title goes to a team leader. This is not how a leader acts.
He was never a leader
Boston paid him to be the face of the franchise. They chose him over Xander. Whether he acts like it or not is really immaterial. They are still paying him as the face of the franchise.
I’d expect the face of the franchise to step up and volunteer for something like this. Look at Bryce Harper.
They need a smarter face of the franchise !!!
They had Mookie Betts and threw him away :c
Anyone who has ever been involved in any sort of team knows people like this. Not sure why that’s your take away, he’s literally willing to let the team lose
Marlins – he’s willing to let the team deal with the consequences of their horrible handling of the situation in the first place.
By signing an all star player who is light years better at defense? By changing their front office and not having the same empty promises? How exactly did Devers look like the “good guy” there?
One was a demotion. This is a lateral promotion from his previous position for the benefit of his team.
These are all lateral moves. He’s in the starting lineup for the major league team every day regardless.
This is a communication problem. The Red Sox didn’t communicate to him things would probably be changing before they signed Bregman.
They are the ones that told him 3rd base was his for the foreseeable future. They are the ones that didn’t have the hard conversation beforehand. Who knows why. But when you sign a contact with specific understanding between parties, if those conditions are changing now, or soon, it’s respectful to have that talk in private. And as far in advance as possible.
Not once the media is asking 100 questions. This is poor management by the team. It didn’t have to be this messy. And yes he’s not acting in the best interest of the team.
You can tell he looked at this contract as his job marriage, with certain conditions understood and spoken. The media sniffed around and pounced on a possible affair, asked him about it, speculated about it in front of him, and then the team brought in his replacement.
I know it’s a professional contract to play a game. But he had one role to fill and accept (DH), and he did. Now they want more.
For better or for worse, the marriage was consummated (contract signed). Now they all have to live with it, and so do the kids (fans).
Awful take
What a POS.
Whatever happened to doing whatever you can to help the team win? Trade this moron
What if the team’s bus driver goes down, should they ask him to fill in there too? The Red Sox have lost their way. Ahahahahahahaha!
He’s not really wrong because I think they should have started the transition to some 1B in Spring Training, while also getting little work at 3B to play there “every once in a while.” I don’t think they should have said to put away the glove.
Who knows what they tried to get him to do in the spring. He basically sulked the duration.
If they said put your glove away, sounds pretty cut and dry they didn’t try him at 1B at all. Especially since it was never reported on.
What would be the point of Devers taking reps at 1B if Casas doesn’t get injured? He’s probably complain then that they worked him out at the position, but never played him there.
Get him into some games obviously. Casas doesn’t have a long track record of success and he started out horribly this year. Would have given you another option. It’s not weird for teams to have 2 guys capable of playing 1B lol
Get him into some games? Lol. As the DH he’s already in games. And, when Casas gets a day off, probably when the team faces a tough lefty. you don’t play another LHH in his place.
It’s open up a spot for platoon guy at DH though.
So, platoon the DH position, instead of at 1B? What’s the difference? Any RHH position player can be the DH.
Giving reps to Devers at 1B at ST, not knowing Casas would be injured, for the sole purpose of platooning at DH, while losing the platoon advantage at 1B makes zero sense. Especially since Casas has hit LHPs better than Devers.
Something tells me this contract isn’t going to age well
I wonder if Devers is ignorant about how awful this looks or if he just doesn’t care.
The second one
Why does it look awful? The team told him to hang up his glove and now that they had an injury and literally no depth at 1B, they need him to play the field.
Maybe they shouldn’t have told him to hang up the glove in the first place. You reap what you sow.
Let me ask you this. If Devers were playing third right now and they moved Bregman to second to start the year, and now they wanted to move Bregman to third and Devers to first because of the injury to Casas, what do you think his reaction would be? Based on his history I’m guessing Devers’ reaction would be exactly the same.
I think he is too immature to actually understand.
Bingo. Zero self awareness.
What would happen if they put him at first base and he flat out refused to take the field? Would they still have to pay him?
He could just claim aback injury or something. Try and prove that untrue.
No need to. Let him claim the injury, place him on the 60 day IL for the rest of the year, and collect the insurance. Trade him in the off season to the worst team willing to take the contract no matter what the return.
Yeah because that’s a winning move, trading your most productive hitter for essentially nothing. Maybe they should have avoided jerking around an important player to the team the way they did.
No one is going to take that contract. Not without the Red Sox passing a significant amount of it. And throwing in some decent talent to the deal.
He is not even the 3rd most productive hitter this season. Maybe he should pull his head out and just do what is best for the team.
In 2006, the Nationals wanted to move Alfonso Soriano from 2b to LF. He was unhappy with it, and dragged his feet in spring training. But he played 158 games in LF that season, and had zero appearances at any other position.
I think that players have to play where they are told.
But then again, if a team hates a player, can they demand that he play shortstop when he really should not play SS, and hope that he refuses to play to avoid paying him?
Phillies, No. They could put him on the restricted list, and he would not get paid. If they choose to put him at 1B, he does not have a choice if he wants to get paid.
Bro you’re making $30mil/yr just shut up and go try out first.
Try to trade that contract no going to be easy
Some fans don’t get how difficult it is to learn to play a new position during a Major League Season.
Potato potuto apples to oranges but Austin Wynns of the reds, a career catcher, had a total of one inning at first base his entire major league career thus far coming into their matchup against the braves a couple nights back, and he looked like a gold glover over there. He made a couple diving stops, fed the pitcher the ball on the money for an out a few times as well. You have players like that, willing to put everything on the line to do as the team asks and do everything to help your team win, and then you have Devers, one of the top paid players in the entire sport not willing to help his team out, even after he watched his own teammate suffer a catastrophic season ending injury. He’s pretty pathetic in my book. Also just to add a little extra spice to the tea, Wynns has .01 less WAR than Devers in less than half the playing time. And only 2 less home runs. He’s hitting better than Devers in a small sample size through and through. Devers may have heated up, but Wynn’s start has been better.
Don’t think anyone is under the illusion that its easy, but clearly the Red Sox think he’s capable of it, and that it would make the team better. Devers is paid well, his focus should be on helping the team win however he can, even if it means struggling for a bit
Okay. Its difficult. Are they not paying him enough for difficult?
Jorge Posada went from C to 1B during the playoffs. It’s not like Devers threw away all of his gloves and stopped taking fielding practice at 3B. He can take some reps at 1B too.
I certainly don’t think it would be easy. But I expect the face of the franchise & highest paid player on the team to step up and try it. Betts would have.
This comment will probably be lost but……
Might it be possible that Mr. Devers knows full well that he can’t play 1B and if he’s put there he’s going to have fans (and the Boston media) coming after him harder than they are today just talking about a possible move? Not to mention that his precious hitting ability is going to suffer.
3-4 years ago I saw a point where Mr. Devers was improving at 3B and posted that here. Of course that improvement soon evaporated.
To me (and many fundamental baseball followers) 3B is the most inconsequential position on a hardball baseball team. Taking a guy like him and moving him to the position that handles the ball more that any other than P and C is simply crazy in a league where there is now a DH. Imagine the man trying to catch throws from the other 3 infielders when they’re off-balance and trying to nip a batter running to 1B…..especially in a close game…..and even more especially if in the close game there are opponents runners on base when the pitch was thrown. Whew! Talk about the reaction from fans and media on social media……and that’s inevitably going to happen….a lot.
First off, this guy knows his limitations. He’s a crummy 3B and that isn’t changing. Put him at any other position and it’ll be worse. DH is a nice way for him to hide behind any criticism…….except the Boston media loves to stoke the fires……and MLBTR must be paying people by clicks because this same tired story had come out 3 times a week on here since even before Bregman was signed.
Like the answer or not can we finally put this topic to rest?
Raffy is settling in to the DH role and if play 1B would mess with that either from a performance or a maturity standpoint then it’s probably not worth it
They should bring up Roman Anthony to be the primary DH (or to rotate thru with their other outfielders), and use Devers off the bench.
on the 1 hand i see his POV. he is the team superstar. massive contract. he wants to be on the field. he never asked to be taken off and installed as DH. he watched as they replaced him at 3rd base with a new FA signing. hell yea i’d feel bad for myself too. now they’re asking him to fill in at 1B, not bc they think he can do it but bc they have no other choice and werent expecting casas to go down (he’s always injured, boston should have had a plan B). imagine someone told you “you’re not good at defense, you dont belong in the infield, you belong on the bench and can only play when its your turn to bat.” then a minute later “ooopsie my bad, we need you on the field again.”
all that being said, ofc devers can always just suck it up and be more mature and do whatever he can to help his team win. many players would just shut up and play and do their best no matter what the circumstances are. thats called being a team leader. but both sides are at fault in my opinion. but at the end of the day, its devers who can easily pick up a first basemen glove and end all the noise. instead he wants to create more controversy. but there’s no way in hell you even consider trading him. despite the immaturity, he is a beast at the plate. his shoulders finally seem fine again. he’s smashing the ball again. boston needs to suck it up too and accept the fact that their superstar bat is a bit childish.
When you pay someone that much, you should know the person your committing to.
To think they signed Devers and traded Betts. You know, the guy playing shortstop for the dodgers. After playing second base and right field.
As I said in the other thread, he should be willing to mop the floors with the money they’re giving him. He’s a prima Donna, and it’s going to hurt the team more than help
If he will not play where you want him to play Don’t pay him anymore.
Or just put him there anyway. File a grievance if he balks.
IMO its fine to think you can’t play a position, but its really bad vibes to call out your team in the media for asking.
Devers apparently doesn’t know that the media is self-serving and how to deal with them.
I don’t think he cares. He was smart enough to say the right things to land his Red Sox contract.
Dude there are so many guys who would be happy to fill in anywhere so they could play major league baseball, but we have multi millionaires saying their feelings are more important than the success of the team.
I am a guy that would love to play baseball for a living with that contract. But I suck at baseball. Just like most of the guys you are referring to. Results determine value.
Jose Altuve volunteered to move to left field and volunteered to move from leadoff to batting second in the lineup if it would help the team. I know some of you dislike Altuve, but he’s a veteran willing to do whatever it takes to help the team. Now THAT’S a team player.
He even cheats to win. What a hero.
Dude unwilling to learn to help his team says all you need. I think if I’m the GM that would honestly be the final straw. And, Raffy, it ain’t that hard!
Look what Javy Baez did for the Tigers. He’s a pretty good CF’er now. He’s really turned it around.
I thought Fever Pitch Guy claimed that the Sox staff never asked Devers to play first base? Wonder where he’s getting his sources from
Never mind, FPG said Devers claims he wants to play the field, which is inconsistent with this article. Yet Fever Pitch Guy says his sources are all reputable…
I think fpg makes most of it up as he goes till called out them throws a tantrum
Gotta be one of the most unlikeable players in the league right now
LOL. What a jerk. Glad he’s Boston’s problem. Tigers don’t have any of those currently, thank god. Gleybor Torres could possibly pull that, but he hasn’t yet. AJ handles these type situations well.
Dodgers should trade Muncy for Devers. And play him at 3rd.
Devers is the worst 3B there is, and a diva besides. Not opposed to trading Muncy, but definitely not the least bit interested in Devers.
No thanks.
Dodgers don’t need another stiff.
You think the Red Sox want Muncy?
He must be asking for a spot on the bench.
I wonder if he would have the same attitude before getting his money?
The team told him to hang up his glove instead of doing the smart thing and having him work on it incase Bregman opts out, or even getting reps at 1B to be versatile during spring training.
Instead, they said hang up the glove and now they need him and want him to bend over backwards after treating him like an afterthought to sign Bregman.
Play stupid games win stupid prizes Red Sox FO.
Bregman should offer to play 1B. Let Devers have his 3B back. Bregman is the new guy here. Sure Bregman is a far better 3Bthan Devers, but the whole way the Red Sox went about this was wrong.
Ship him out? Not a team in the world gonna take on that contract or attitude.. good luck with that!
No chance!
Devers range is knee to knee at best!
Lets see. You are saying the Red Sox should play Devers at 3B and lose more games because he was there before Bregman?
“What we have here, is a failure, to communicate.. “
Diva.
probably a good long term extend candidate
It’s actually not very hard to change positions and tons of players do it midseason or offseason. What a clown.
It actually is difficult. The fact that many players do it, doesn’t mean it isn’t. The players that do move to another position do so knowing that the team needs them to do that, despite the difficulty.
Javi Baez called from CF to say “thanks for making me look even better…”
At least he’s committed to winning…..except if it involves him playing 2B or 1B.
Good teammate? What is he thinking about? His team needs him to play 1B, and he’s refusing. Red Sox are stuck with him and the huge contract. Nobody wants that cancer in their locker rooms.
Unless he has a full no-trade clause in that contract they should trade him for anyone that is a decent player without the attitude. That said the Ownership knew what they had and what kind of player Devers was before extending him.
I’m pretty sure I read the no trade option starts next year… his 10 year/5 with one team.
“Rafael Devers does not have a no-trade clause in his contract with the Boston Red Sox. This means the Red Sox can trade him to any team without his consent. “
Mr devers YOU ARE A COLORADO ROCKY!
Diva
Trade him asap to a team in last place
They are paying him over $300,000,000 to play baseball. Meaning he needs to do what is asked of him. If he feels disrespected maybe he should give the money back and try somewhere else.
I am so disappointed in him, he was my favorite player, but I can’t root for someone that values the name in the back over the name in the front.
They need to tell him do it or you’re suspended, stop with this childish crap
Trade Devers to the Cubs. Problem solved. Maybe the Cubs will send Turner back too.
Clown
Still needs a translator? Pretty lame, screams LAZY!
Red Sox could have paid Mookie Betts, who volunteered to play one of the hardest positions in baseball (shortstop) to help his team. But they paid this clown instead.
Great teammate.
Have to laugh. All the commenters who whine about him not being a “team player” or willing to try first because he should do “whatever will help the team” are the first ones to complain when their boss asks them to do something not in their job description.
tigerdoc616, Your take is comparing apples and oranges on the basis of supposition..
@tigerdoc616 You’re making stuff up.
I’m bored on a day off from work, I’ve finished my household chores, this is the top story right now, so I’ll ask an off topic question I’ve been pondering:
If this Trent Grisham performance is real and sustainable and he ends the season with 50 HR’s and 100 RBI’s and 5.5 WAR or better, what kind of context could he be looking at, do we think? And would the Yankees attempt to re-sign him?
“I’m bored.. Trent Grisham performance is real..50 HRs and 100 rbi”…I’m more likely to believe the Trent Grisham that’s been a well below average hitter for the last 5+ years, than I am a guy who’s suddenly an unbelievably good hitter in his walk year.
Trent Grisham is considerably more suspicious than Jurickson Profar was last year and people called me “old man”, when I mentioned how Profar suddenly became very good, just in time for a new contract.
That is a very fair point. When it’s a guy on your team doing this, you don’t want to question it. He’s a brand new father, he seems like the nicest dude on the planet, his mustache is awesome, he was a salary dump/complimentary platoon player in that trade…
All that said- he consistently displays 20 HR power in almost every season, with one season where he paced for 28 HR’s.
Bottom line is: He has real power no matter how you slice it.
And unlike Profar, he isn’t bouncing back to an extreme degree after a disastrously down period where he seemed washed up- he’s provided very consistent performance and it’s possible that getting to play in Yankee stadium and getting more regular AB’s could have allowed him to take his 20 HR-power to 40-ish HR power, not unlike Jose Bautista did when he ‘figured it out’ and became ‘Joey Bats’ after being a middling journeyman player.
But it’s completely fair to wonder if he’s enhancing his play in order to secure a bigger free agent contract, especially after the Yankees convinced him to take less money in his final year of arbitration- which, how did the Yankees convince him to take a 10% pay cut rather than giving him a token raise in his final year?
Usually Yankees will give a guy *extra* money in their final year of arbitration, because they have zero intention of extending them.
Typically the Yankees low ball their arbitration players when they’re leaning toward re-signing or extending them in free agency.
So I have no idea what their thinking was/is now with Grisham… and lets be honest, he’s still only pacing for about 5.5 WAR.
Remember Chris Carter? He swatted 41 HR’s one year but only generated 0.7 WAR, but the Yankees gave him 1 year/$3M to see if he could replicate it.
So I don’t think Grisham’s sudden power surge is gonna trick anybody into handing him like, 5 years/$125M or anything, but it’s gotta count for something and it’s not like he had very limited or no power prior to 2025.
Also:
Profar’s 162 game average: 1.2 WAR with extremely inconsistent power and 4+ negative value seasons until he ‘miraculously’ turned it around in 2024 out of nowhere…
Grisham consistently provides 3+ WAR value over 162 games and has again displayed very consistent power numbers.
He’s actually been way more consistent and productive compared to Jose Bautista through the same point in his career-
So guys do sometimes ‘figure it out’ or ‘put it all together’ a bit later in their careers, without juicing.
He sure sounds like a d..k! Big baby not a team player
Is his 3b better than Bohm?
Send him to the White Sox. Punish him and make him suffer.
-said the White Sox fan 😀
“More to come…” (on the next episode of Devers’ Drama… will he really Outfield? Or is he just mentally in Out Field?)
What a diva.
That contract is gonna be hard to move, but they gotta try.
Coach and GM tell him he is awful defensively and that he will no longer play the field. Cora had no problem telling the media that Devers was a DH only for the Red Sox now. Cora closed the door earlier this year. He didn’t even leave it cracked and now Devers is using those words against him.
He is salty and I’m here for it, but he is also awful in the field. Not a Red Sox, but I presume this relationship becomes pretty toxic before too long.
Devers should have a talk with Javy Baez.
Baez plays wherever the Tigers ask him to. He’s a terrific SS, but plays a credible 3B and is now a bona fide CF’er. He’s also hitting over .300.
Devers might be hurting his team, but he’s really hurting himself. MLB is really hard and putting more stress on yourself by being at odds with your manager and teammates….and the fans only makes it harder. Red Sox fans are incredibly loyal and supportive of their guys. Rafael is asking for it. Fenway will not be as welcoming for him going forward.
The Red Sox are in a bind. Trading him is almost guaranteed not to get a decent return. Can’t keep him. Can’t trade him.
Who’s the clubhouse leader in Boston? It should be him….but he can’t be if he refuses to help his team.
This is the way.
Baez was a disaster, but he seems to have accepted the reality of his situation and he and the Tigers are trying to make the best of what’s left on that contract with creative mixing and matching of his role on the club and it’s basically working out, finally.
If the money is guaranteed and the results speak for themselves, for better or worse, one would think the player would be eager to help the team out any way they saw fit.
How about moving Rafaela to SS, Story to 1b, and then bringing up Anthony? Maybe Mayer eventually displaces Rafaela to a super UT role?
But wow have they made Devers upset, although he hasn’t exactly been great about this either. When Yoshida comes back he’ll be blocked at the DH slot too. I feel like they need to trade one or the other.
Yoshida can hit but can’t throw so he’s already blocked at DH by Devers.
Yall are gonna lose Bregman anyway after the year —- keep Devers happy.
The Red Sox and Bregman and by extension Cora might all decide they want to remain a throuple and either Bregman doesn’t opt out or the Sox extend him-but I don’t think he’s simply opting out and walking in the hopes of a different team giving him more money when he’s a year older, after the experience he had last off season.
3B isn’t going to belong to Devers if Bregman opts out. Marcelo Mayer would surely be the default option there.
Devers says: “He (Breslow) played ball, and I would like to think that he knows that changing positions like that isn’t easy.”
Of course Breslow knows that. I know that, and I never played professional ball, let alone at the ML level. I think most baseball fans know that. But, unexpected events sometimes create situations that require a GM to ask players to do difficult things to help the team. Breslow isn’t the first, and most guys would do what’s asked.
I think he knows that but after the move to DH he’s not willing to make another change, or at least not without whining first,
If 3rd opens up this year then hes going to keep his butt in the DH spot cause he already moved once?
He would be crying to Cora to go back there, what a female dog
Devers is NOT a team player. Pathetic!!
I mean realistically moving that contract is going to be super rough. Devers is still a very good offensive player. Let him ply those specific tools if hes unwilling to make a defensive adjustment. Unless hes just going to be disruptive to the clubhouse, then you kinda have to move him elsewhere.
This whole situation at least how it may end reminds me of Nomar
Nomar was actually a really good player. The Sox fans have always overestimated this guy’s talent. An average war of 3 over 7 years doesn’t make you a superstar.
Hang in there, Red Sox fans. Just…nine more years to go.
Cora, Breslow, and the rest of the empty suits now have to lie in the bed they made for themselves after the way the Bregman signing was handled late winter and throughout Spring Training.
My dignity and pride have an incredibly high price.
I don’t know what it is, but I’m pretty sure it’s lower than $300m.
If the bosses paying me $300m wanted me to play 1st Toilet Stall Janitor, I’d say sure.
He talks a big game for a guy batting .246 with 5 HRs.
Guaranteed contract! And he’s making it so no other team would want to make a fair trade for him.
Couldn’t be happier that the GM that traded mookie and gave this guy huge money now works for the Cardinals. This is how the smallest market in MLB keeps winning the division.
MY pride will not allow me to be a great teammate.
Sox should just look for a first baseman they are a dime a dozen. They already have a good offense why cause distractions during the season
So, judging how he said he was a third baseman and didn’t want to DH, and a week or two later he was DH, I’m guessing it’s 5-7 days until he’s our starting first baseman.
Not sure if this is Boston media or just Devers being terrible at communications or his interpreter, but they need to fix something there.
It’s funny how we don’t like players’ attitudes but we are fine with organizations going back on their words. It was a terrible promise made to him but that factored into his decision. If you go back on it, he doesn’t need to cater to anyone.
Going back on their word, or filling a need for the team? He’s making an average over $30 million a year! But he only cares about himself… not the team, not his teammates, not the fans. His decision? He had no decision. He’s an employee and he has to do what his employer tells him to do. You’d understand that if you had a job.
“It’s funny how..promise made to him”…Raffy is not some rube, wide-eyed, 1st year baseball player.
He’s been around the block much more than a couple dozen times.
No athlete should be dumb or naive enough to believe a “promise” made by a previous team leader will remain intact for the 10+ years of his very long term contract.
Sports teams are not charities or amateurs and literally make major, major changes every single year and have never really operated the way you’re suggesting.
Hahahaha… I’m laughing at the pathetic Red Sox fans. I told the the Sucks fans I knew what a stupid mistake it was tying your franchise to this fat little boy. I figured his career would be over by about 30 as he blew up into another Pablo Sandoval Remember how that worked out for you!? But I didn’t count on his FU attitude towards the team and the fans. To think you could have had Mookie as a career Red Sox. Great choice!!!!
Who wins the pool of: Devers will not be happy about the teams will ask him to do??
Devers might be the next / current Marcus Stroman or Mike Hampton:
He will never be happy anywhere and his performance will yo yo and he will act like he’s so happy for a change of scenery, then the change of scenery will be his new normal and he’ll struggle because he’s got defensive limitations and the DH position isn’t what it was when guys like David Ortiz dominated them and he will become disgruntled again, etc. and the team will look to trade him/he will demand a trade and we could be seeing the next Mike Hampton type where they try to burn the remaining money off across 2-4 different clubs over the duration of the deal.
…and to add to my above. Wasn’t Cora the coach during his extension negotiations and he gets to pull his “don’t blame me” stunt. There is zero org accountability here.
Cora is a conceited, arrogant guy who takes no blame for anything and acts like he’s above reproach but is also proud to have cheated (except where it comes to being Puerto Rican, wherein he really tried to hide behind identity politics pride there when that story first broke…) and he will never take accountability for his part in scandals or failures.
…and this is ONLY the 2nd yeAR of the contract…….stay tuned……
Pretty sure they wouldn’t want you in the outfield, Raffy.. let’s be serious here.
Boot his ass. He is not the only one going “Back on their word” Back when they picked up Breggy, 2 weeks later “I’ll play where they need me”, which now has the caveat of “SIKE !!!!”
Send him to Tampa OR the ROckies, oh, or the Athletics 🙂 Send him to what the other players consider the bottom of the barrel
Better yet. Send him to AAA for a couple weeks. He’ll play where he’s told to get back to the Majors. Baseball is a very team oriented sport. He has apparently not been taught this or anything related to being a good teammate.
Guy’s getting traded at the deadline. I’ve been saying that since the offseason.
Objectively, the attitude Devers is displaying is not that of a leader. But at the same time, this definitely feels like a bed the Red Sox made and have to lie in. Of course they couldn’t have expected a Casas injury, but it really feels like they mishandled this situation at every turn. And all for one year of Bregman
I’m good to do whatever they want me to do,”
Except what they want.
Pass him down on Waivers, let the roulet of silliness snag him
How many of us commenting have had jobs where our Job description got changed and we either went along or left.Devers is a drama queen and Henry and Werner need to tell Breslow and Cora to tell Devers he works out at 1st or he doesn’t play.
Should have just kept his mouth shut on this one IMO. And if anything, playing first would have actually helped boost his value at least some
This is the problem of a GM change. You agree to one thing with a guy, and someone else comes in and changes it all. Now back to back GMs have made splash signings of 3Bs and they get to pay $65M/year to a single position for potentially 3 years now.
De has all the leverage though. If they don’t play him he still gets paid and the team loses benefit of at least his bat. It’s a shame he doesn’t at least consider trying it.
No one player is bigger than the team. Period
Did I say he was? Was responding to someone who said just cut him..not that easy. Thier post is gone now.
So never said one player bigger than team. Period
Well I was wrong. I was pretty annoyed at all the speculation yesterday based on people parsing various inconclusive things said by Cora and Devers but now Devers makes a clear statement and confirms it all
Unbelievable. I think it’s time to get rid of this cancer. He’s sending a real good message to teammates. One of the most selfish players in memory. I feel bad for Boston fans.
Where is BigPapi when you need him? Needs to help put Rafa in his place. Getting paid $30 mill, supposed to be the team leader and this is what he’s upset about? Pathetic. Breslow should’ve handled the singing of Bregman better but this attitude BS sounds like a whiny spoiled 14 year old.
Selfish player and really ain’t that great . One dimensional
This Guy”
Trade w/ Miami
Sandy Alcantara for Devers and Marcelo Mayer That is a terrible trade but I bet the Red Sox might think about it.
Devers (who I call Jiminy, because he looks like Jiminy Cricket) is a PR nightmare. I mean, I respect his honest answers, but he could use a media training sesh or two with Crash Davis.
Devers is right. If the Red Sox want to win, they need to stop publicly shaming their best hitter. Leave him alone to mash at DH.
How’d they shame him? This was Devers publicly stating he won’t play 1B, not the Red Sox putting him on blast. Devers is doing this all to himself.
No one tried to shame Devers. The media is poking around looking for stories and they got one. Devers can’t keep his mouth shut.
They haven’t done anything publicly. Devers has.
Jeez, what a strange situation. Devers seems a little delusional about his defensive acumen or lack of. It’s not a good look for either side. Front office could have handled this better too the whole Bregman to 2nd was a bizarre red herring that they didn’t really need to put out there, doesn’t seem like they ever entertained the idea. Weird that Devers is being so petty, I get that his feelings are hurt but at the end of the day do you want to be in a position to win games or not.
So I’m just guessing but does the name on the back of his jersey say “Selfish “ ?
Go make friends with Wander Franco and see how that goes Doughboy! He otherwise grab a glove and go where they tell you go. They own you for the next decade.
I don’t really get the hate.
Red Sox are treating their star player like a back player, you build around guys like Devers not move him to positions based on signings and injuries.
If they wanted him to play 1B they should have talked to him in the offseason and started that process long before Bregman or the Casas injury.
“If they wanted him to play 1B they should have talked to him in the offseason and started that process long before Bregman or the Casas injury.”
So they should’ve talked to him about playing 1B before they ever had a reason to play him at 1B? What?
Is that how teams treat their star players now?
When has another team ask their best player in their prime to move to a position they have never played before midseason?
You made exactly my point, they shouldn’t use their best player to fill holes, they should fill holes around their best player
“I don’t really get the hate”…And so virtually no one agrees with your point of view and so you label them all as guilty of “hate”? Gotcha.
I think we all know where labeling others leads and has gotten us here in America.
I’m not American you dork.
And there’s lots of comments who agree with me, if you were able to read more than 2 sentences in a night I’m sure you would have got to them
In the beginning of spring training I said.. if they are paying you as a star 3rd baseman and want to put you at DH it shouldn’t be a problem.. I even said if my company wanted to pay me as a manager and they wanted me to push carts all day , I would be the best darn cart pusher… Well now if I was a cart pusher and they said, we’d like you to run a deli shop…. Sorry.. my hypocrisy only runs so far….
If he refuses to play 1B, put him on the restricted list so he won’t get paid. He signed a contract to play baseball.
Or they could DFA him. I’m sure Milwaukee would love to play him at 3B for league minimum.
Yes, I’m sure the Brewers and every other team would be happy to have him at league minimum.
If there is a way for them to get away with putting him on a restricted list without pay, then they should. But there would be a massive grievance filed and the team probably loses that. He’s not holding out, he’s just being a pansy about everything they ask.
It’s not that hard, Scott. Tell him Wash.
It’s incredibly hard!
Red Sox have reached a stalemate with Devers. Obviously he’s unwilling to be a team player & do what’s best to help the team win.
It’s time for the Red Sox to give Devers a dose of reality. Put Devers on the trade block & find someone else who not only wants to be a team player & can help the team
Devers is producing very well for the team at DH.
Ultimate team player lol. That contract is looking real bad. You think Judge would refuse to play any position to help the team?
This is how you respond to that…
youtube.com/watch?v=NQiCTXN17Kc&ab_channel=Wa…
Ha ha. This guy is a manchild. There was some doubt before, now there is none.
Hey Devers, grab your glove, get on first, and STFU.
Sincerely – Red Sox Management
If X didn’t have an NTC, I’d do everything short of trading De Vries to swap him with Devers if he’d be willing to play 1B with SD.
Meanwhile Javier Baez has gone from SS to 2B to SS to 3B to SS and now is apparently a GG Centerfielder
Different players have different priorities
I’m a Yankee fan and I feel bad for Red sox fans. This is bad.
Devers is an All-Star DH. Looks like he will have a great year.
Is he going to pull this once a month for the next 8+ seasons?
I want to see what he does if they are down 16-1 one night and they ask him to pitch.
The MLB version of George Pickens
BoSox shouldn’t pretend to be so obtuse They know that Devers was their most valuable offensive asset and to talk to him like he’s some AAA player is not appropriate. But he swallowed hard and moved to DH though many players would have just kept silent and moved there – there are also those that would have not moved. Now, they want him to move to 1B. Both moves should have been discussed behind closed doors with respect and deference for Devers’ views and feelings. . Why? Devers has more leverage than the BoSox have in this situation because they have to pay him.-no matter what. So, how does this end?. Devers will move but resent it and show it. The fans will resent Devers. It’s Boston. Devers is. black. He’s going to be run out of town before a new season begins. Unhappy ending all around.
Playing a different position shouldn’t be a big ask for a player that already got the bag. If he was a free agent and hadn’t gotten a good contract yet I could see the pushback, but the guy is rich and he’s only out for himself.
Do you think you just get a 1B glove and it’s all figured out?
I mean I get it, he was promised this, promised that to stay in Boston. New regime jerks him around…essentially demotes him. None of us would be like ok cool at work, you’d be in hr or talking to a lawyer. I’ve been a Sox fan my whole 45 years of life and I’m a Mainer. Some of you fans disgust me, bringing up wander Franco?? Gtfo
He has a right to be upset, but that shouldn’t be shown to the general public. The team comes first and he’s paid to do a job. They shouldn’t even ask, they should tell him you’re playing first or we are sending you to yoshida land.
Should have started in Spring Training. Having DH only players is dumb. Keep your roster flexible. Especially when they’re still young.
He doesn’t have a no trade clause and the contract isn’t prohibitive. I’d move on if there are takers.
Devers is an idiot. A couple years ago everyone was saying the team better pay devers or they’d dis disown the team. He was the fan favorite and everyone supported him. He’s somehow turned himself into the enemy in a couple months. He got his money and he doesn’t care about the greater good of the team. It’s not like they are asking him to catch. 1b and 3b are pretty interchangeable for a lot of players. If he really didn’t want to lose his job he should have been a better defender. Never thought I’d say this but Bregman is a true red Sox leader and devers is just an over paid cry baby. I hope they find a way to get rid of him at this point.
The thing that really boggles my mind about this is that he was always a bat-first defensive position just to have someplace to put him type of a player who was always destined to be moved to a lower skilled position or full time DH for the majority of the second half of his career. This was always his profile and there have been tons of players like him who were just as offensively prolific that had defensive positions that were token just to keep them in the line up- so I don’t get why he is so upset.
This isn’t personal. He’s a certain kind of player and this is how that kind of player’s career tends to go and he’s still going to get his at bat’s and the money is all guaranteed….
So again- why is he so prideful about being a position player when that was never the reason he was signed to a lucrative extension or received any of his arbitration salaries, etc.?
Exactly. Hopefully he hits the lights out this year and shows that his contract is a bargain compared to the free agents and we can trade him to someone who will be dumb enough to play him at 3b.
Oh I am a Yankees fan, haha. All due respect but I hope y’all are stuck with him, he stops trying and is a financial albatross and awkward waste of space on the roster who becomes a massive head ache for the team that provides minimal to no productive value because he’s checked out and refuses to make an effort.
I hope he is y’all Jacoby Ellsbury/Yoenis Cespedes.
That said- the objective reality of the situation remains that he can be a reasonably productive offensive player who shouldn’t really care what position he plays, so long as he gets at bat’s and his checks clear.
It would take some major dumb to want this guy on your team.
Do we all think the Red Sox organization have no responsibility in Devers stance on this? Don’t give a player your word on his position when you can’t hardly predict roster needs from year to year. Why he was so set on playing 3rd I can’t say but the President of baseball operations assured it was his when he signed. I’m not saying he happily moved to DH but I don’t think he’s made a huge issue of them going back on their word but maybe it’s just a little early for him mentally to entertain being ok with them going back on their word a second time and asking him to move off DH to 1st. My suggestion is don’t tell players they have a position set and you’ll get far less backlash when you ask players to move around the diamond
If that is true it was bloom that said it and he’s an idiot. If it’s not in the contract, it doesn’t exist and there are no obligations. This is a devers issue, not a team one. Could they have handled the off season better with him? Sure, but I don’t think his reaction would be much different.
Someone pays me that kinda money I’d scrub toilets from Dawn to dusk. Grinning all the while.
I’d scrub with my tongue
“… there are also those that would have not moved.”
Wrong. No player gets to decide where he plays. Teams, as a courtesy, will ask a player to move to a different position. If the player says no, it’s still the team’s decision. But that usually doesn’t happen. If it has, it wasn’t made public by the player. The difference here is that almost all players will do what the team asks, since most guys are team players. Look at how many players play different positions.
“Both moves should have been discussed behind closed doors…”
It was Devers that went public with a preemptive, “I play 3B”, amid all the speculation of where Bregman would play. He also is the one that went public with the team’s ask of him to move to 1B. To my knowledge, the Red Sox did not announce that that they wanted Devers to play 1B. That was revealed with Devers’ declaration that he wouldn’t play there.
Devers’ ethnicity (calling him black suggests Afro-American, which is not the case) might play a role in the perception of some fans, but certainly had no affect on how he was handled by the team.
The red Sox need to get rid of this lazy clubhouse cancer. He is in no way interested in improving the club at all and wants to complain about everything. Get rid of him or things are going to get much worse.
Punk on dever.
Trade this guy. Is it all about me me me or what is best for team????
Big words from someone who would easily be replaced by the #1 prospect in baseball right now if traded.
Red Sox fans in Spring Training: you’re a terrible fielder and should be a DH only player.
Also Red Sox fans: this guy is a loser for not wanting to play the field
“Red Sox fans in Spring Training: you’re a terrible fielder and should be a DH only player.”
Which is true, if everyone is healthy. When injuries happen even guys that should only be a DH, need to help out.
“Also Red Sox fans: this guy is a loser for not wanting to play the field”
It’s not because he doesn’t want to play the field. He declared himself a third baseman. It’s because he’s unwilling to do what the teams asked him to do to in a time of need. Why was he willing to play 3B, but draws the line at 1B?
lol you really think he would play 3B if they asked him? No chanc. They essentially told him he’s bad defensively but want him back in the field.
Why was he willing to play 3B, but draws the line at 1B?
==============
Looks like they forced Devers to switch from 3B to DH. After that, I find it hard to blame him for resisting switching from DH to 1B. However, I think it is best for him and the Red Sox for him to remain at DH. I think he will be healthiest at DH. His shoulders may finally be healthy and he is hitting really well. I don’t want to mess with it.
Yankees fan here, so you can call into question my objectivity, but I think Devers has a point. Yes, he’s being paid an enormous amount of money and should be willing to play a position he could probably master, at least marginally, with a minimum ramp-up. But it looks like the Red Sox could have handled things better. If Bloom has said “as long as I’m here” then his beef would be off-center. But I don’t see a lot of people claiming that–instead, it’s “Bloom’s promises as unenforceable” which sound a lot like a process answer tat’s a bit weasel-y. I also would speculate (speculate, that’s all) that Red Sox management used Devers’ then status as a #B in negotiations with Bregman’s agent. Devers is stuck now, and the Red Sox are stuck with an unhappy player. Not a great outcome although I’m sure they’ll eventually patch it up.
Great. So the team is stuck with an overpriced DH(albeit a good one) with a bad attitude. He’s an employee of the team. It’s not like they are asking him to clean the toilets. They are giving him a chance to play the field again and help out the team in the meantime. This is very reasonable request.
I know others disagree, but I think his attitude blows.
You are correct. Terrible attitude.
Man, I never really looked at Devers’ overall stats before- and oh boy was he *overpaid* to begin with. Oof he was overpaid by about $6-$8M per season and by about 3-4 seasons- I don’t understand how the Red Sox justified this contract to themselves, given his defensive limitations and his age going into the deal….
I suppose it doesn’t matter if he’s making $17.5M or $20M or $25M or $31M, etc. his salary isn’t really the issue at this point… but still…
They overpaid Devers by about 3-4 years and $5-$6M per year even going by his peak performances.
And another thing. I remember both Miggy and Albert played 3B at one stage and both ended up playing 1B; I don’t get what this guys issue is?
Doesn’t he want to help the team?
He wants what he wants, mainly.
Typo. Berman instead of bregman
Only 8 more yearssssss!!!!
He’s getting paid $30 million a year?
Show me how you’re being treated unfairly, Raffy.