Question of the week: Should Raffy agree to play first?

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

6 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

It made no sense, it was useless, and Devers should have realized that.

It's basically a non-issue, or should be.

Well, it's not like devers is going to be joining Mensa anytime soon.

And the only reason it is an issue is because devers and/or management made it one.

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Well, it's not like devers is going to be joining Mensa anytime soon.

And the only reason it is an issue is because devers and/or management made it one.

Yes, Devers has done a lot of whining, as you and many others have said.

[Old Red]

16 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

He may have been a 3B at the time, but he was also an obvious candidate to be moved to 1B or DH at some point.

It was a massive overpay.  All part of the fallout from JH's catastrophic decision-making starting in 2019.

Agree 100%. 

[jdc69]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

It’s not just that, but McAdams reported that Raffy asked management about the rumors of Bregman, or Arenado coming to Boston, and he was told it was just media speculation.

Wow. If that ain't a big reason for this crappy year I'll eat my shorts. 

[urban cowboy]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

It’s not just that, but McAdams reported that Raffy asked management about the rumors of Bregman, or Arenado coming to Boston, and he was told it was just media speculation.

If true, that is really bad on the part of the Sox. 

[Maxbialystock]

17 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

he's the ultimate selfish POS for not even agreeing to give it a try. 

Meh.  First they took 3b away from him--only the position he had played for 8 straight seasons--and then Cora persuaded him to embrace the DH position, which he did.  Then Breslow gets a wild hair up his whatever and bypasses his manager to ask Devers directly to take over at 1b.   And he did that after Devers had adapted and in fact was flourishing at DH.

Plus, and I've only said this a zillion times, replacing Casas was an absolute no-brainer because he stunk with a WAR of -0.7.   Anyone would be better, which is in fact what has happened.   Toro's OPS is .847, which is what we were hoping Casas would do, but couldn't.  When he was hurt, his OPS was .580.   

Meanwhile Devers hasn't missed a game thanks to being the DH and has one less rbi than the MLB leader with 57.   And his OPS is .922, his best ever, and his defense is error-free.  

Breslow was/is an idiot to think moving Devers to 1b was a good idea. 

 

[illinoisredsox]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

It’s not just that, but McAdams reported that Raffy asked management about the rumors of Bregman, or Arenado coming to Boston, and he was told it was just media speculation.

Devers only made two mistakes here:

1) Asking the front office and

2) Believing anything the front office said.  He’s been around long enough to know better.

[illinoisredsox]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

 

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Well, it's not like devers is going to be joining Mensa anytime soon.

And the only reason it is an issue is because devers and/or management made it one.

Management, specifically Breslow, made it an issue.  There was no valid reason to move Devers to 1b.  None.  Casas stunk at 1b with an OPS of .580.  Toro's is .847.    Devers is not only having his best season ever at bat, he has made zero errors in the field.  

Breslow was an idiot.  

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yes, Devers has done a lot of whining, as you and many others have said.

Devers didn't like being replaced at 3b, where he has played for 8 years.  But Cora got him to embrace DH, where he has flourished.  The whiner is Breslow, who stupidly said he wanted Devers to move to 1b.  

[notin]

37 minutes ago, urban cowboy said:

If true, that is really bad on the part of the Sox. 

Really?

Doesn’t every team give non-answers like that?  Otherwise leaky stories can lead to embarassing and awkward moments.  Just ask Kevin Millar…

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Agree 100%. 

Too funny.

[Maxbialystock]

5 hours ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Not happening.

You have a very selfish player and a manager with no balls.

Nope.  Devers was bumped out of a position he had played for 8 straight seasons, so Cora convinced him to embrace DH, where he was flourished with the 2d most rbi's in MLB and an OPS, .922, that's his best in 9 seasons.  Oh, and he has committed zero errors on defense.  

Breslow is the idiot in this little drama for thinking replacing Casas was a big deal.  In fact, Toro's OPS right now is 280 points higher than Casas' was.  

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

No matter how we may feel about the Devers' situation one player is damn happy about it. That would be Toro.

[notin]

54 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Devers didn't like being replaced at 3b, where he has played for 8 years.  But Cora got him to embrace DH, where he has flourished.  The whiner is Breslow, who stupidly said he wanted Devers to move to 1b.  

Well, the move to 1b was to cover for an injury.  Might as well blame Casas for getting hurt…

[notin]

24 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

No matter how we may feel about the Devers' situation one player is damn happy about it. That would be Toro.

Toro has been a pleasant surprise so far

[notin]

1 hour ago, illinoisredsox said:

Devers only made two mistakes here:

1) Asking the front office and

2) Believing anything the front office said.  He’s been around long enough to know better.

Agreed.

Teams really can’t say anything else, just in case the moves dont pan out…

[urban cowboy]

18 hours ago, notin said:

Really?

Doesn’t every team give non-answers like that?  Otherwise leaky stories can lead to embarassing and awkward moments.  Just ask Kevin Millar…

When you give someone hundreds of millions of bucks, seems like that brings them into the inner circle. What they did (if true) wasn't a non-answer, it was a lie. Same at work, if my boss is recruiting my replacement and denies it, and then my replacement shows up, I'm going to be pretty pissed. They should have said, beforehand, hey Raffy, we're looking at moving you to DH before they start talking to Bregman. I'm not saying with everybody, but this is your #1 franchise guy for the next decade. 

[Old Red]

18 hours ago, notin said:

Well, the move to 1b was to cover for an injury.  Might as well blame Casas for getting hurt…

Cora has said just recently that the Red Sox are solid at 1B, and Toro, and Romy are probably covering better than what that horrible 3B Raffy would be if he tried to play 1B IMO.

[notin]

23 hours ago, urban cowboy said:

When you give someone hundreds of millions of bucks, seems like that brings them into the inner circle. What they did (if true) wasn't a non-answer, it was a lie. Same at work, if my boss is recruiting my replacement and denies it, and then my replacement shows up, I'm going to be pretty pissed. They should have said, beforehand, hey Raffy, we're looking at moving you to DH before they start talking to Bregman. I'm not saying with everybody, but this is your #1 franchise guy for the next decade. 

Ok let’s run with that analogy.  If your boss tells you he is recruiting your replacement, does that make you happy?  

I doubt any team gets honest about stuff like that.  What were they supposed to say?  “Yes, we think your defense at third is a place we can upgrade and we want to move you to another position.”  Ok, but what if you tell Devers that, and then Bregman signs with Detroit and no Arenado trade gets workedE out?  “About your defense, well, ummm, jusssst kidding?”

And no salary brings a player  into the inner circle 

 

[illinoisredsox]

15 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Cora has said just recently that the Red Sox are solid at 1B, and Toro, and Romy are probably covering better than what that horrible 3B Raffy would be if he tried to play 1B IMO.

Toro has been fine defensively and is contributing on offense.  He’s not going to make an all-star team, but he’s been solid.

Both Gonzalez and Sogard have shown their middle infielder backgrounds by trying to make plays they shouldn’t; Romy had one last night.  First base isn’t difficult, but there are nuances that have to be learned and just throwing someone over there may not yield the results you want.

[Maxbialystock]

12 minutes ago, illinoisredsox said:

Toro has been fine defensively and is contributing on offense.  He’s not going to make an all-star team, but he’s been solid.

Both Gonzalez and Sogard have shown their middle infielder backgrounds by trying to make plays they shouldn’t; Romy had one last night.  First base isn’t difficult, but there are nuances that have to be learned and just throwing someone over there may not yield the results you want.

 

True.  To me that makes Breslow's bypassing Cora to get Devers to play 1b idiotic.  The same mind that did that also paid Sale's salary with the Braves, where he won the Cy Young award, and replaced him with $20 x 2= $40M Giolito, who has been a disaster.  

I have a sneaking suspicion Breslow made a big deal about moving Devers to 1b to deflect our attention from the fact that this season's pitching is awful--in part because of the Giolito for Sale deals 18 months ago.

 

And it kind of succeeded because for weeks the headlines were that Devers was a no good, low down malcontent--while the Sox pitching got worse and worse and is now ranked 22d in MLB in ERA.  

[Old Red]

5 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

 

True.  To me that makes Breslow's bypassing Cora to get Devers to play 1b idiotic.  The same mind that did that also paid Sale's salary with the Braves, where he won the Cy Young award, and replaced him with $20 x 2= $40M Giolito, who has been a disaster.  

I have a sneaking suspicion Breslow made a big deal about moving Devers to 1b to deflect our attention from the fact that this season's pitching is awful--in part because of the Giolito for Sale deals 18 months ago.

 

And it kind of succeeded because for weeks the headlines were that Devers was a no good, low down malcontent--while the Sox pitching got worse and worse and is now ranked 22d in MLB in ERA.  

I think Cora, and Brez had a disagreement on Raffy going to 1B, and Cora said he wasn’t going to even talk with Raffy about it, so Brez did. When Brez talked with Raffy about moving to 1B Raffy got pissed, so JH had to come in to help soothe things over with Raffy, but Cora, and Brez as well IMO. I don’t think it had anything to do with any pitching problems.

 

[Maxbialystock]

2 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I think Cora, and Brez had a disagreement on Raffy going to 1B, and Cora said he wasn’t going to even talk with Raffy about it, so Brez did. When Brez talked with Raffy about moving to 1B Raffy got pissed, so JH had to come in to help soothe things over with Raffy, but Cora, and Brez as well IMO. I don’t think it had anything to do with any pitching problems.

 

Cora was dead right and Brez dead wrong.   AS I have said too often, replacing Casas, who was having a terrible year, was the easiest thing in the world.  Thus not one, but two Sox--Toro and Gonzalez--have been better than Casas, who absolutely, positively is not missed.  

So why did Bres think it necessary to bypass his manager and go to Devers directly for what we now realize--and I realized when it happened--was a stupid move?  

One more time.  Replacing Casas was a no brainer.  So was leaving Devers as the DH.    Thus my theory that Breslow was throwing up a smokescreen, which actually worked for awhile. 

In fact, there are still plenty of talksoxers who think Devers is a malcontent for embracing the DH position that his manager told him to do.  

Meanwhile, the Sox biggest weakness, pitching, goes to the back burner because it's more fun to blame Devers than to try to fix the pitching.  

 

[Old Red]

16 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Cora was dead right and Brez dead wrong.   AS I have said too often, replacing Casas, who was having a terrible year, was the easiest thing in the world.  Thus not one, but two Sox--Toro and Gonzalez--have been better than Casas, who absolutely, positively is not missed.  

So why did Bres think it necessary to bypass his manager and go to Devers directly for what we now realize--and I realized when it happened--was a stupid move?  

One more time.  Replacing Casas was a no brainer.  So was leaving Devers as the DH.    Thus my theory that Breslow was throwing up a smokescreen, which actually worked for awhile. 

In fact, there are still plenty of talksoxers who think Devers is a malcontent for embracing the DH position that his manager told him to do.  

Meanwhile, the Sox biggest weakness, pitching, goes to the back burner because it's more fun to blame Devers than to try to fix the pitching.  

 

I agree with you 100% on Devers.

[urban cowboy]

3 hours ago, notin said:

Ok let’s run with that analogy.  If your boss tells you he is recruiting your replacement, does that make you happy?  

I doubt any team gets honest about stuff like that.  What were they supposed to say?  “Yes, we think your defense at third is a place we can upgrade and we want to move you to another position.”  Ok, but what if you tell Devers that, and then Bregman signs with Detroit and no Arenado trade gets workedE out?  “About your defense, well, ummm, jusssst kidding?”

 

But they aren't just kidding. They are telling him he needs to improve his defense or someone else is coming. He can either improve his defense, or grab the first baseman's mitt and start practicing. They've been transparent, and he doesn't have a gripe (other than why did they sign him to 10 yr contract in the first place) 

[notin]

1 hour ago, urban cowboy said:

But they aren't just kidding. They are telling him he needs to improve his defense or someone else is coming. He can either improve his defense, or grab the first baseman's mitt and start practicing. They've been transparent, and he doesn't have a gripe (other than why did they sign him to 10 yr contract in the first place) 

Do you think his defense has never come up before?  I suppose it’s possible.  But is it realistic?  The mere fact that he had to receive some sort of reassurance that he would be playing third base tells me it has…

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

On 6/7/2025 at 3:40 PM, Maxbialystock said:

Nope.  Devers was bumped out of a position he had played for 8 straight seasons, so Cora convinced him to embrace DH, where he was flourished with the 2d most rbi's in MLB and an OPS, .922, that's his best in 9 seasons.  Oh, and he has committed zero errors on defense.  

Breslow is the idiot in this little drama for thinking replacing Casas was a big deal.  In fact, Toro's OPS right now is 280 points higher than Casas' was.  

Nonsense, it was a completely selfish move on devers' behalf. And toro's OPS has nothing to do with it because nobody had any idea that they would get that type of production from him at the time of casas' injury.

[Bellhorn04]

Well, it seems to have worked out from a baseball standpoint, with Devers and Toro both raking. 

[mvp 78]

He has the best OPS+ of his career this year. I wouldn't put him back in the field, unless they revoke the DH rule.