Hitch

Adam Ottavino to the Red Sox. Minors deal with camp invite - John Heyman

This is one of those situations where using BTV as a tool is unlikely to even begin to paint the true picture.

When asked if his refusal to DH means he wants to be traded, Devers paused before sighing. “That’s a tough answer to give,” he said. “I haven’t given it much thought. I think you all know that this team drafted me. I’ve been here my entire career. I’m a Bostonian through and through. And I really haven’t asked myself that question, but I’m open to listening and hearing what they have to say moving forward. It’s not like I’m close to those conversations.” Can't quite make out if he's saying he's not closed to a conversation around being traded, or the situation as a whole. Quite a statement if it's the former, but maybe he was just caught unaware by the question, too. I cannot fathom what a trade for Devers would begin to look like.

It can't be about value, surely? He's got his contract. It changes nothing value wise. I think it's purely pride/wanting to be as involved in the game as possible. I've seen the Yoshi noise. If you've seen the same trade suggestions I have, I think you can safely rule them out as clickbait. Or that their author was high on crack at the time. Edit to add - it doesn't even have to be that one of Casas and Devers is the 1st baseman and the other the DH. Have them rotate and sell it as keeping them injury free/fresh due to their importance.

Listening to that, it sounds very much like Cora is expecting Bregman at 3rd.

98.5 The Sports Hub (@985thesportshub) • Instagram reel WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM 195 likes, 13 comments - 985thesportshub on February 17, 2025: "Should Red Sox fans be... Claiming the translator didn't quite get over how insistent Devers was. The thing is, if he is forced into DHing, I really do think he'll be the worse for it. I do believe he needs to be on the field to stay focused (total guesswork), which is why its surprising to not hear anything about possibly playing 1st.

And yeah, Cora trying to get some control back. “Different people here, right?” Cora said. “There’s a different leader here. Chaim is in St. Louis right now.” Honestly, I've no idea how we do this, but if we moved Devers and somehow come out even in production over 1/a few trades, I'd do it in a heartbeat. He always felt like the one not to give the huge and long contract to. We know who should have had it. *sigh* I don't see him aging well at all. And he's only a DH now! Good defence last year my ass. I've literally no idea how you manage the situation if he wanted out though.

Some of his quotes - “I’m somebody that believes in people’s word,” Devers said through translator Daveson Perez on Monday here at JetBlue Park. “I take it to heart. And it was very surprising they’d suggest that.” “That was definitely what was discussed when I signed — that I would be playing this position for a long time,” Devers said. “I don’t know what caused the change. But I know I’ve worked really hard on my defense throughout the years. I feel like last year I had a really good year. I still have a lot more to give. But I definitely feel like last year was really good.” “Since the beginning, I’ve known this is a business. Each side is going to do what’s best for them and what’s most comfortable for them. I don’t think that was the right way to do business. But I’ve always known this is a business.” So...this is going excellently.

Devers has spoken - “Third base is my position,” Devers told reporters through a translator Monday. “It’s what I’ve played. I don’t know what their plans are. I know we had a conversation — I made it clear what my desires were. Whatever happens from here, I don’t know.”

I said teams would try to neutralise you over a 3 game series. In part that's by using their left handed pitchers against the part of our line up that was left handed heavy. To anyone not being overly obtuse over this particular subject, it obviously doesn't discount them also using other tools at their disposal from reverse split relievers, relievers with good stats against certain batters or just overpowering relievers alongside this, but it would be clearly something teams would look at. It is of course possible, all the commentators both within FO's and not that have repeatedly said the Sox badly needed a RHH to balance their line up were just saying it for shits and giggles. 🙅‍♂️

I didn't say they were going to go 2 innings each for 3 straight games, but if you're LH heavy it's going to get targeted. Obviously. There's a reason the FO kept saying they needed to get a RH hitter in, whether you think it's relevant or not.

Yes, curious that he is. Makes me think there are maybe health worries with him. He'd suit a lot of teams at a decent price and yet he remains unsigned...

That's starters. If you have a host of left handed hitters in your team, bullpens can be set up to come in and neutralise you over a 3 game series.

We blew 17 saves after the all star game last year. When a guy has a good to great record at closing, you should spend cash on him. Having a guy who can pitch under the biggest pressure night in night out is worth the outlay/risk.

I agree, seems an odd move. Abreu, McAdams was suggesting would be the main piece.

The Boston Red Sox have a new-look rotation ready to take the AL East by storm in 2025, but they might not be done rounding it out just yet. According to MassLive.com's Sean McAdam, the Red Sox have spoken with the San Diego Padres about possibly trading for starting pitcher Dylan Cease. Boston's interest is leaning more towards "due diligence" than "aggressive pursuit," per McAdam, but there have at least been preliminary discussions of some kind.

I do this and fast if I'm the Sox.

I like Grissom and am loathe to give up on him, but his defence at 2nd is questionable (and that's being charitable) and so I don't see a scenario in which he could move to 3rd and definitely not SS. So it leaves maybe the outfield if he can play left and Bregman is at 2nd? He'll be the next Dalbec if he ends up stuck in AAA. Unless there's an injury things look bleak for him here.

Cutter with a lingering knee injury and Bello with shoulder sorness to open Spring Training Injury Roulette.

Hell of an attitude to bring to a discussion board.

Agree on point 1. Disagree on point 2 and 3. But we shall see in time one way or another. I'd love for you to be right that he'll end up valuable to us (and used).

Hardly explainable why a light hitting DH who can't run, can't play defence and is on a contract absolutely nobody would pick up even if it was at half value on the free list right now is suffering disapproving rhetoric? Goodness me.

An annoyance is probably too strong. But if he's available for £8m on the free market, we're not bringing him here. If he's available for even less but we had to give up a prospect, we're not bringing him here. Every year/every team there's a player that gets more heat than most (and perhaps more than they deserve). A counter movement always arises from people that think he's getting hard done by. That's what is happening here. Because I'm pretty sure that in my two scenarios above, not even the counter argument people sign him under those terms. Regardless, every respected RS journalist has posted this off season that the Red Sox are trying to find ways to move him. He's not wanted. That this point needs to be argued for so much, is quite surprising.

The point is he wasn't getting DH spots either, even following good days. Cora (and I believe Breslow) doesn't rate him. That seems obvious enough to me.

I do, For me he's a one tool, light hitting DH. But it's not about my opinion, (apart from his contract, I don't dislike having him around), but if you think Cora wants him on this team, you've either not being paying attention or forgetting how he treated him for parts of last year. There were days and weeks where he was getting questions on why he wasn't playing Yoshida DH against righties (or at all in the field), and he was glib, almost dismissive on times This happened routinely, I feel like a lot of you have forgotten this. A 2 minute google and you can find these sorts of comments coming out a lot last year - Yoshida played like twice in the next week after this quote. I remember Cora getting ratty about it when pressed. Like I said, it;s not what I think is going to happen, or how he is viewed, it's what Cora is telling you if you watch him talk about the guy. I get the impression (this is just a hunch) that Breslow sees him in not much a better light. If he was available for £8m a year, we would't be bringing him here. If they can find a way to give away his contract, he's gone. That people think he is going to start a significant amount of games in left field this year, just to get him in the lineup, blows my mind.