Article: Rafael Devers Is No Longer A Boston Red Sox And It Never Should Have Come To This

[Nick John]

The Boston Red Sox swept the New York Yankees, got above .500, are on a five-game winning streak, and only sit 0.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. And yet, Red Sox fans are rightfully furious following the trade of Rafael Devers on Sunday night.

A trade that never should have happened.

This was, unfortunately, a divorce waiting to happen between Devers and the Red Sox, but not due to a lack of production. Devers has been one of the best offensive players in Boston since being called up in 2017, this season being no exception despite starting the campaign in an 0-for-21 slump. Prior to the trade, Devers had a stat line of .272/.401/.905 with 15 home runs, 58 RBIs, 18 doubles and 56 walks in 272 at-bats. He carried the offense in May with 33 RBIs. He’s 10th all time for home runs by a Red Sox, 17th in career RBIs, and is still only 28... yet, he was traded.

All because of Breslow.

This divide began over the offseason when the Red Sox were linked to Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado, both Gold Glove-caliber defenders. Despite that, Devers was reassured that he would be the third baseman, the idea being that they were looking at these guys to play second or first base. No matter what, Devers was supposedly the team’s third baseman of the present and future. Even Alex Cora said he viewed Bregman as a Gold Glove second baseman, the statement continuing the narrative that they weren't going to move Devers.

Then, they managed to sign Bregman, and the truth came out. Breslow had no plans to have Bregman play second. He wanted him at third base, while he envisioned rookie Kristian Campbell breaking camp as the starting second baseman. He wanted to take Devers’ glove out of the field and push him into the designated hitter role, something that wouldn’t have been a bad idea had he and the rest of the organization didn’t tell him he was their third baseman. The sudden change was a shocker; Devers wanted to play third base. His position. The position they promised him would remain his throughout the entire offseason.

Devers came around on the idea of being the designated hitter after some pushback and, despite wanting to play the field, did as he was asked and put his glove away. He wasn’t happy, but he was doing what could help the team, joining his bat with Bregman's to give the team a dynamic duo in the lineup while adding a Gold Glove defender. And then, on March 28th, Alex Cora was asked if Devers taking ground balls at third base before the team’s first two games of the season meant they were keeping him ready for potentially filling in at third base if needed.

As written by MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, Alex Cora responded with a “No,” followed with “Raffy is the DH. With Raffy, we had a conversation and we talked about it," Cora said. "He's DHing. He's the DH of the Boston Red Sox."

They had no plans for him to touch the field, and they told him as such. Breslow created this problem by his inability to be truthful to his star, his face of the franchise, and instead lied to try and keep him happy. Instead, it created a divide, and members of the media tried to paint Devers as having given up on the team, of him being disgruntled and wanting out. Despite the noise, Devers continued to produce, and was having another All-Star season as a designated hitter when an injury struck the Red Sox.

Triston Casas ruptured his left patellar tendon against the Minnesota Twins on May 2, effectively ending his season. The Red Sox didn’t have many options to replace Casas in the field, as Romy González was the backup but the depth was lacking. The team had Nick Sogard in Triple-A Worcester along with possible options in Nathan Hickey and Abraham Toro who could have been added to the 40-man roster. Breslow had a different idea and approached Devers about picking up his glove and learning first base.

Keep in mind this was the same man who lied to Devers the entire offseason. Devers stated that he would not play first base for the team, as he wasn’t someone who could just slide into a new position. He needed time to learn it, but at the moment, he did not want to play first base. You couldn’t really blame him after he was jerked around by the very man who asked him to move to first base after saying he wasn’t a good defensive third baseman. On May 8, Devers was quoted as saying “they told me that I was going to be playing this position, DH, and now they’re going back on that. So I just don’t think they stayed true to their word.”

The tension rose to the point that on May 9, John Henry flew out to Kansas City, as reported by ESPN, to talk with his star. Henry was joined by Breslow and Sam Kennedy. Cora was there too, where they had “an honest conversation about what we value as an organization and what we believe is important to the Boston Red Sox” according to Breslow.

Now, just over five weeks since that conversation, Devers has been traded on the night he hit his 500th career extra-base hit, a home run that gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead against the Yankees in a game they eventually won, 2-0. There’s little doubt that the trade was due to the tension from him being unwilling to play first base.

And, even if you think his unwillingness to change positions was selfish, you can’t blame Devers for it.

Breslow as the chief baseball officer should have handled the entire situation better. You don’t blindside your face of the franchise during the first week of spring training with a position change without talking about it beforehand. The lack of communication hurts your relationship with the player and will lead to issues down the road like the team saw with Devers’ unwillingness to play first base.

Per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, Devers never demanded a trade. When he was first caught off guard in spring training, he considered asking for one but never did; he was willing to give the only team he played for in his career a chance. He never wanted out, but grew frustrated from the mixed messages from people within the organization. Ultimately, he felt like a scapegoat for what was becoming an untenable situation.

Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe stated that his sources said “the team’s feeling was that a $313.5M contract comes with responsibilities to do what is right for the team and that Devers did not live up to those responsibilities. They had enough and they traded him.”

Again, none of this should have happened. The Red Sox signed Devers to that extension because of his extremely impactful bat. Breslow should have been honest with him from the beginning of the offseason and told him that they wanted to improve defensively at third base. That, as a team, they couldn’t look to rely on him after he made 12 errors in 2024 and had -9 Defensive Runs Saved. Instead, they gave him the runaround, destroyed the relationship between the franchise and their star player, and shipped him off to a team they’re playing in less than a week, all for a return package that was less than he was worth. The only positive of the trade is that the San Francisco Giants are taking on the entire contract, though, in what is a clear slap in the face to Devers, the Giants are also covered at third base by a premier defender (Matt Chapman).

Losing Devers less than two years into his extension is a mistake. It should be a fireable offense, but unfortunately, Breslow will be safe for the time being. The Red Sox will now have to navigate an offense that just lost its best bat while waiting for Wilyer Abreu, Bregman and Masataka Yoshida to return from the injured list. Breslow just sunk all the momentum the team just built for this season. His tenure in Boston doesn't have to be defined by this trade, but if the core he's building doesn't work out, it will be.

All I can say now is best of luck with the Giants, Raffy. Hopefully, they treat you right.

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[Bellhorn04]

Devers is selfish and the Sox had to do this.  I think we'll look back on this as a good move for the franchise.

 

 

 

[Bellhorn04]

We all wanted Raffy to be a big lovable teddy bear.  I'm not trying to character-assassinate the man, but when the full picture emerges I think it's going to be clear that he's the one who messed up here. 

Maybe David Ortiz has become a company man, maybe not, but he is saying things that indicate Raffy wouldn't listen to him, wouldn't take his advice.  

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

I think we need at least 3 or 4 more devers threads.

[Maxbialystock]

4 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Devers is selfish and the Sox had to do this.  I think we'll look back on this as a good move for the franchise.

 

 

 

I completely agree with the first part of the article and for the last month have said Breslow did not play fair with Devers.  Cora did by convincing Raffy to embrace DH, which he did very successfully--see his stats. 

As I have also said, replacing Casas was not a problem at all because he stunk before his injury.  Toro is so much better--and Gonzalez is also better.  To me Casas injury was a plus for the Sox.  

I am more than happy to criticize Breslow and agree he screwed this up.  On the other hand, Devers is vastly overpriced as a DH.  Plus the Sox biggest need is pitching.  

As I also pointed out, without Bregman in the lineup Raffy's OPS dropped steadily.   He had virtually nothing to do with what is now a 6 game winning streak.  That's a tad overstated, but all I'm really trying to say is that losing Devers is not catastrophic. 

I do not expect Mayer, Anthony, Campbell to blossom this year. 

And maybe they don't have to because Bregman should be back before the ASG.  Plus Toro, Narvaez, and Gonzalez all have OPS's above .800 and Abreu's is .792.  Duran's is not so bad with a .740.   Story's OPS in June is .826 and Rafaela's is .839.  That's 5 pretty good bats and 3 that might be good.  

At the same time--and contrary to moonslav--I think the Sox have an above average defense.  Certainly Narvaez, Bregman, Rafaela, and Abreu are in that category, and I think Story is too.  Duran is adequate in LF.  That leaves just 1b and 2b as the problems. 

If DWAR's mean anything, this defense is worlds better than the 2018 Sox defense with Bogey at SS, Raffy at 3b, Beni in LF, Nunez at 2b, and Moreland at 1b.  All had negative DWAR's.  2018 was a terrific lineup because they could hit and score lots of runs.  

The Sox rotation has just produced 6 straight superb starts, including 3 vs the Yankees.  When was the last time that happened?   Better still, the Sox won all 6 games, including last night in freaking Seattle.  

 

[harmony]

The article lacks attribution when it reports that "Devers was reassured that he would be the third baseman." Was the author privy to that conversation (or conversations)? How do other parties to those conversations view the exchanges (likely in two languages)? Does any party have anything to gain by going public with the details of those conversations?

From the outside we can only speculate that Rafael Devers and the front office experienced a breakdown in communications.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

Devers was a bad fielder at 14 years old and got to play the position of 3B for 14 seasons because nobody was honest with him and told him how incredibly bad he was.  All the lies about him improving created the monster than existed for 8 seasons in the MLB when he was NEVER qualified for the position.  The record pace of his errors had to be stopped at some point and because it was allowed to go on for so long the reaction by Devers was that of a boy who couldn't accept how truly awful, he was on defense.

The problem with the game today is that the clubhouse no longer controls the egos of the players.  40 years ago Devers would have been harassed by the pitchers for blowing so many plays in the field and the coaching staff would have reacted to the negativity by putting a better defender at 3B.  It was a harsh reality back then but it ended up being the best thing for the team not the individual like today.  If the video from the games since 2017 was used to review all his plays to do a quality check on the actual error count I believe his 141 errors would be closer to 282 than 141.  That is a fielding percentage of .891.  We haven't seen players with fielding percentages for 8 seasons that low since the dead ball era.

Moving Devers to DH and doing like Cora suggested, having him retire his glove, was the right thing to do and it happened 8 years too late for Boston.  The team would have been better off playing JD Martinez in the outfield and DHing Devers in 2018 when he made 24 errors.

It's over and he's gone so let's move on.  We have $260 Million to spend on our needs for the next 8 years and should be happy we got the money back.  Now Breslow must use it wisely.

[Hugh2]

Sox are still going to have the bonus portion of the Devers contract count against the CBT for years to come, but it will free up a nice chunk of change. 

[Dibble]

The article makes it seem as if Devers had no part in this. If he were just professional, worked hard, and was team-oriented, his remaining on the team for the remainder of his huge contract wouldn't even be considered.  The team would have overlooked the fact that he did not fulfill all that was expected (e.g., being a team leader), given that he had a $300 million-plus contract.  A temperamentally difficult, one-dimensional player, with negative influence in the clubhouse just wasn't worth it.  As you would say to a kid, he had choices and made bad ones, and that's on him.  He's a grown 28 year old man, after all.

[notin]

It’s not as simple as telling Devers “hey, your defense at third base is killing us, so we’re moving you.”  I’m not entirely sure thats any better.  And what happens if you tell Devers that, and then you still cannot get an upgrade? The Cardinals want you to take all of Arenado’s money and want Roman Anthony? Bregman prefers the Detroit offer?  Do you then go back to Devers and say “about your defense and that new 3b, April Fools!”

(I do not think the Cardinals were that unreasonable.  Just making a point that the deal could fall apart.)

And I seem to recall Bloom’s initial extension offer to Devers paralleling a contract that was signed about that time by Matt Olson, and the explanation was they envision Devers’ future at 1b.  If that’s true, it has come up before. And it’s probably why Devers was asking about his future at 3b to begin with…

 

[Nick John]

9 hours ago, harmony said:

The article lacks attribution when it reports that "Devers was reassured that he would be the third baseman." Was the author privy to that conversation (or conversations)? How do other parties to those conversations view the exchanges (likely in two languages)? Does any party have anything to gain by going public with the details of those conversations?

From the outside we can only speculate that Rafael Devers and the front office experienced a breakdown in communications.

The entire offseason we had Cora and Breslow saying that Devers was the third baseman. It came up probably every other week and we heard it.

From the Winter Meetings in December:

"Rafael Devers is our third baseman, and we're really excited about that," Breslow told WEEI's Jones and Keefe.

And then Cora at Fenway Fest in January:

"Raffy Devers is our third baseman," Cora told NESN's Tom Caron. "Alex was a Gold Glover at third base and we all know that. In 2017, I had a conversation with him. He needed to play third because it was (Carlos) Correa and (Jose) Altuve. I always envisioned Alex as a Gold Glove second baseman."

[harmony]

24 minutes ago, Nick John said:

The entire offseason we had Cora and Breslow saying that Devers was the third baseman. It came up probably every other week and we heard it.

From the Winter Meetings in December:

"Rafael Devers is our third baseman, and we're really excited about that," Breslow told WEEI's Jones and Keefe.

And then Cora at Fenway Fest in January:

"Raffy Devers is our third baseman," Cora told NESN's Tom Caron. "Alex was a Gold Glover at third base and we all know that. In 2017, I had a conversation with him. He needed to play third because it was (Carlos) Correa and (Jose) Altuve. I always envisioned Alex as a Gold Glove second baseman."

Thank you for the response,

[Randy Red Sox]

On 6/17/2025 at 5:34 AM, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

I think we need at least 3 or 4 more devers threads.

when they trade a franchise player this is what you get

[moonslav59]

30 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

when they trade a franchise player this is what you get

It's painful, isn't it.

Verdugo for Betts.

We get Story, then lose Bogey.

We get Bregman, then lose Devers.

We lose Sale, Nate and Erod and get Kluber, Richards and Gio- now Buehler. We couldn't even replace Porcello's lost contract, and he sucked at the end.

[jad]

On 6/17/2025 at 8:09 AM, Bellhorn04 said:

We all wanted Raffy to be a big lovable teddy bear.  I'm not trying to character-assassinate the man, but when the full picture emerges I think it's going to be clear that he's the one who messed up here. 

Maybe David Ortiz has become a company man, maybe not, but he is saying things that indicate Raffy wouldn't listen to him, wouldn't take his advice.  

And Pedro Martinez is saying that all the stuff about Rafy being a bad team-mate is total b.s.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, jad said:

And Pedro Martinez is saying that all the stuff about Rafy being a bad team-mate is total b.s.

Was he in the clubhouse?

I doubt any current player would speak out against Devers. The fact that none have come out to say glowing things about Devers may or may not telling.