Rafael Devers Is Now Playing Against The Red Sox, His Former Team

When the Boston Red Sox signed third baseman Rafael Devers to a 10-year, $313.5 million contract prior to the 2024 season, after allowing Xander Bogaerts to go to San Diego as a free agent, after trading Mookie Betts to the Dodgers before he could become a free agent, after low-balling Jon Lester on an extension before trading him to the Athletics, a movie quote kept repeating in my head.

Kevin Bacon, playing the role of Captain Jack Ross in Aaron Sorkin’s 1992 drama, “A Few Good Men,” stands up in a bar and says to Tom Cruise’s Lt. Daniel Kaffee:

“You got bullied into that courtroom by the memory of a dead lawyer.”

Now, obviously, the Red Sox didn’t bullied into anything due to anyone’s death. But, they did get bullied into signing Devers by the memory of deals gone wrong, players gone too soon, and fans’ trust essentially just gone. Boston paid an excise tax to retain Devers in an attempt to get back in the good graces of the Red Sox faithful. And it worked…for about 18 months.

Much has been written about the devolution of the relationship between the Red Sox and their highest-ever paid player (full contract division). Joon Lee, writing for Yahoo Sports, may have had the first in-depth piece, with insider information that took the organization to task.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was next, getting quotes from Hall of Famer David Ortiz (more on that below). He, too, had the inside scoop, with previously alluded to but not necessarily reported details about meetings between the club and their (now former) star.

Buster Olney of ESPN took a swing as well. Prior to publishing his article, Olney had not been shy about castigating the Dominican slugger on his thrice-weekly Baseball Tonight podcast. When I ran into him at Dodger Stadium last weekend, he quickly rattled off no less than five players who had switched positions for the betterment of their teams. In his missive, Olney made suggestions for how the Red Sox could rebuild the trust that has been lost in New England. (Suffice it to say that it will take a LONG time.)

Joe Posnanski may have written it best when he stated that neither the team nor the player “covered themselves in glory” in how this all went down.

Over the winter, as the team pursued both Nolan Arenado and Alex Bregman, the Boston brass had ample opportunity to let Devers know of their potential plans. And Alex Cora’s excuse that he reached out but did not hear back from Devers as he tends to “go off the grid” for the winter simply doesn’t hold water.

Further, the idea that Bregman wouldn’t be an issue insofar as he offered to play second base doesn’t let the team off the hook. It seems unlikely that the reigning American League Gold Glove-winning third baseman would switch positions long-term (his agent certainly didn’t want that to happen). In short, the Red Sox, through a simple failure to communicate, and to communicate in a manner that befitted a player of Devers’ caliber and stature, essentially ruined the relationship.

On the other hand, Devers, with his $300+ million contract, quite easily could have put the team ahead of himself. When approached about becoming a full-time designated hitter, “yes” would have been an acceptable answer. Or, at least, “let me think about it and work on it.” Rather, he chose “no,” and then had to be coaxed into it over the course of spring training.

When Triston Casas went down with a season-ending knee injury, Devers could have volunteered to break in a first baseman’s mitt. But, when the team suggested he take some ground balls on the right side of the infield, he petulantly responded that Alex Cora told him not to even bother bringing a glove to the field, so he would not be starting now. In fairness, Devers had repeatedly said he didn’t want to be a team leader. Mission accomplished, I guess.

Ortiz seemed to understand the import of the situation and who had the leverage.

“I know the communication between Devers and the Red Sox wasn’t the best at the very beginning, but at some point, you have to realize the organization has the power over everyone. They can play you, trade you, let you go. Sometimes, as a young player, it’s hard to understand that. But they have the power to do whatever they want. The only thing you can control is what you do on the field.”

So, when things finally came to a head and Boston had the chance to move the player and the more than $250 million remaining on his contract, they jumped. After the trade, president/CEO Sam Kennedy said the following:

“In the end, I think it’s pretty clear that we couldn’t find alignment with Raffy. We all worked at it over the last several months, going back to the offseason, starting with Alex Cora and Craig and the staff, and then up to me, and all the way up to John Henry. We worked at it. We had a different vision for him going forward than he had and we couldn’t get there. We couldn’t find alignment, and we reached that inflection point and made the decision to make a big move.”

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow added:

“As we think about the identity and the culture and the environment that is created by great teams, there was something amiss here. And it was something that we needed to act decisively to course correct.”

It has been reported that the team felt that Devers was not setting a team-first example for the club’s core of young players, Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, and Roman Anthony, all of whom were in the big leagues when the trade went down (Campbell has since been optioned to Triple-A to hone his hitting and take reps at first base).

With all of that as prologue, it must have felt like a pebble in a shoe and sounded like nails on a chalkboard when, at his introductory press conference with the Giants, Devers said, “I am here to play wherever they want me to play.” And then, to add insult to the insult, when the Red Sox came to San Francisco to start a three-game set on Friday, they got to witness Devers donning a first baseman’s glove and taking grounders there prior to the series opener.

All of this set the stage for Devers to face the Red Sox for first time in his nine-year career. Rather than batting second as he had in Boston, manager Bob Melvin penciled him to the #3 hole, where he hit behind Mike Yastrzemski and Heliot Ramos.

At 8:22 p.m., Devers stepped to the plate to a standing ovation. He dug in to face Hunter Dobbins, his teammate just one week ago who had riled up the rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees. On the first pitch – a 94 MPH fastball – Devers grounded, ironically, to first base, where Abraham Toro flipped to Dobbins covering to record the out.

Devers came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the third, with the Giants leading 3-2. He took a 94 MPH fastball for strike one; and then laid off two fastballs up in the zone. He fouled the 2-1 offering straight back. And then hit the 2-2 pitch 104 MPH off the bat and 385 feet to left center, where former teammate Ceddanne Rafaela made a leaping grab against the wall to rob him of extra bases.

In the bottom of the 5th, he hit a soft one-hopper that Trevor Story fielded cleanly and then threw wildly. Toro, the current first baseman, kept his foot on the bag to record the out. It is enough to wonder if Devers would have had the same footwork at first had he been playing there for the Red Sox in that moment.

In the bottom 7th he batted representing the tying run. He swung through a high fastball for strike one; and then just missed a 94 MPH fastball, fouling it straight back. He then lifted a can of corn to center.

In the bottom of the 9th Devers faced Aroldis Chapman with one out and the Giants trailing by two. Yes, the same Aroldis Chapman that Devers took deep on a 103 MPH fastball to tie a game at Yankee Stadium his rookie year.

Chapman tossed a 100 MPH brush back, and then an 88 MPH slider that Devers swung through. After a foul ball, Chapman exacted some revenge, striking out Devers on a 102 MPH heater up in the zone. After the game Chapman said that neither the pitch up and in nor the eventual strike out had any special meaning.

In the end, Devers went 0-for-5 against his former team, and the Red Sox beat the Giants 7-5. On Saturday afternoon, Devers hit one of his patented opposite field blasts for a two-run home run to give the Giants a 3-0 lead. That dinger would prove to be the difference in a 3-2 San Francisco victory. The rubber match is Sunday. Regardless of who wins the game and the series, as between the Red Sox organization and Rafael Devers, at this moment, there are no winners.