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The Red Sox have traded Rafael Devers, their highest-paid player, and they didn’t even wait for the smoke to clear to start telling the press that they did it because they felt like Devers wasn’t a team player. His refusal to move to first base after Triston Casas’ season-ending injury was a poor portent, you see, and it was time to move on, as the player on the 10-year, $313 million deal had certain responsibilities they felt he was not fulfilling.
What of the responsibilities the Sox had to Devers, though? Per Devers himself, the team had promised him that, as part of his signing a contract with a franchise that had traded Mookie Betts to clear salary and had let Xander Bogaerts walk after yet another insulting offer for a homegrown player on the way out, that third base was his position now and into the future. After Devers spoke to ownership over the winter about their need to bring in some help — “I’m not saying the team is not OK right now, but they need to be conscious of what our weaknesses are and what we need right now” — they went out and signed free agent Alex Bregman… to put him at third base. Without consulting Devers on it.
Devers was, understandably, upset about being moved off of his position without even being consulted about it. Perhaps Devers, in another conversation with ownership, could have been brought around to the idea of shifting to DH to make up for the very weaknesses he’d mentioned ownership needed to strengthen, could have made the kind of adjustment himself that he suggested they needed to make in order to win. But the Sox should have broached the subject with their highest-paid player and best hitter on the team, instead of just bringing in Bregman and saying, “throw out your glove, Raffy, you don’t need it.” Devers did end up moving to DH, too, let’s be clear about that, and while his timing was off a bit at the very beginning of the season, owing to missing some of the spring recovering from shoulder issues he had avoided surgery for, he’s hit .292/.418/542 with 18 doubles and 15 homers in 68 games since that one horrid week.
He did not respond well to being asked to move to first base, no, but he’s never played first before, and he’d already made one position switch that he didn’t want to nor have a choice to, despite promises he’d stick at third, in the last few months. Devers has thrived as the DH, clearly. First might be where his glove has had him ending up in the long run since before he even signed his extension, and chances are good that, as Hall of Famer and Sox legend David Ortiz said when he suggested the Red Sox leave Devers alone about first base for now, that the slugger would eventually give the position a shot in order to do what’s best for the team. But the Sox poisoned the well, again, and given how they handled things the first time around, there’s little reason to believe they went about the first base question with anymore tact than they had the DH one.
That Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and Co. seemed to believe they didn’t need to keep former executive Chaim Bloom’s promise about Devers and third, that they had inherited only the written language of the contract and not the handshakes, including that of owner John Henry, who has been the constant throughout these processes, that put the signature on the dotted line, and that the subject didn’t even need to be discussed, should tell you a lot — and is disappointing to see from a former player turned exec, as well.
The Red Sox didn’t necessarily want to extend Devers in the first place, but felt that they had to do so, that there was going to be a serious fan and free agent reckoning when it came to Boston’s reputation were they to lose not just Betts and Bogaerts, but Devers, too. Now loaded up with the kinds of prospects the organization lacked at the moment they realized they had no alternatives besides extending Devers, they’re free of him, and the hundreds of millions still owed to him, but are also a worse team than they were before the trade. How they reinvest the money will go a long way towards sorting out whether the deal was “good” for them, but this wasn’t a trade made with that sort of calculus in mind, either. It’s worth pointing out, too, as always, that Boston makes the kind of money that ensures that they never have to consider “reinvesting” money or luxury tax implications or whether Devers’ deal projects to be “underwater” at some point or anything of the sort.
They have chosen to be concerned with all of that, however, as they did for Betts. Devers might not be Betts, no, but few players are. Devers was both the best of what was left from the last team to feature Betts, and all that was left, and Boston seemed almost annoyed by still being stuck with him, by having a player around who would remind them to improve the team and then tell the press he’d said as much, about a player who told them to do their jobs and first a new first baseman rather than make him switch positions for the second time in a few months, in-season, to one he’d never played before. To one who did not appreciate being treated like anything but the star he was paid to be — do not find yourself surprised if Devers becomes the Giants first baseman in short order, if for no other reason than because San Francisco’s front office, led by Buster Posey, gets to have that conversation without insulting Devers in myriad ways first.
The Red Sox extended Devers because they had to extend him, lest their reputation suffer in the eyes of the people who make their money and take their money. They then replaced Devers at third in the second season of the extension, without consulting him on changing positions despite having assured him that the hot corner was his, attempted to swap his position again a a few months later, and then traded him in what could very well amount to a salary dump before immediately leaking to the press that he had forced their hand by not being a team player. Yes, this will certainly help the reputation of ownership and the front office in the eyes of fans and players alike.
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