The Rafael Devers saga is a bad look for just about everyone involved
As the dust settles from the Rafael Devers saga in Boston, one thing is clear: No one looks particularly good following the divorce.
Craig Breslow and the Red Sox front office are being raked through the coals, and rightfully so. Devers had reason to be mad at the Boston brass, but it's clear he didn't have a team-first mentality throughout the ordeal. And a lot of folks are treating manager Alex Cora like he's an employee at Initech, wondering what exactly the so-called player's manager does here.
The Red Sox had their reasons for sending Devers to the San Francisco Giants in Sunday night's shocking blockbuster, but the organization -- and front office in particular -- still comes across as a circus with no ring leader. Breslow and company maintain the team is not waiving the white flag on the 2025 season, but the front office is going to have to crush the trade deadline and upcoming offseason in order to win back favor from the fanbase.
In the end, no one looks particularly good after the Rafael Devers saga came to a sudden and surprising end in Boston.
Craig Breslow and the Red Sox front office
The Red Sox may have rid themselves of a headache, but the front office will take a beating on this one for years to come. And rightfully so; just two years after the team signed Devers to the richest contract in franchise history, the Red Sox brass completely alienated one of its best players.
It's different than the Mookie Betts situation, but here we are again watching the Red Sox let a supreme talent leave town for little in return.
The Red Sox-Devers marriage was strained beyond repair this spring when the team kept assuring Devers he'd be their third baseman despite making a run at Alex Bregman in free agency and reportedly exploring a trade for veteran Nolan Arenado. The Red Sox should have been discussing a possible move to DH with Devers all offseason.
It wouldn't have been hard to explain. The team was desperate for a right-handed bat, and Bregman was the best option available.
There was chatter about Bregman potentially playing second base for Boston, but that never looked to be the case after he signed with the team in the spring. When it was clear Bregman was taking over at the hot corner, Devers lost his glove for good.
Breslow admitted fault and said he'd grow from this fiasco. Admirable, but it doesn't absolve him from creating the path to this point. The team botched just about every aspect of this trade, from the lackluster return package to the awful timing to waiting over 24 hours to even address the move. It's been open season on the Boston front office since Sunday night, with national reporters and former players alike ripping them to shreds -- and it's all warranted.
We can't forget about John Henry. Outside of a trip to Kansas City to try to convince Devers to play first base, he once again looks like an absentee owner during this fiasco. Henry left Breslow and Sam Kennedy to face the media -- over Zoom -- and has yet to comment on the team trading its highest-paid player.
Kennedy going the "scoreboard" route during that Zoom call wasn't a very good look either, considering the Red Sox have been to the postseason just once since the Betts trade in 2020.
"I'll put our record up against anybody else's in Major League Baseball over the last 24 years. We're incredibly proud of what we've built here," Kennedy told reporters Monday night. "We've got more trophies and banners to show for it than any other organization in Major League Baseball, and we are so proud of that."
Reminder: The Red Sox have finished in last place in the AL East in three of the last five seasons.
Breslow spoke a lot about roster flexibility and the salary cleared off the books (with the Giants taking over the remaining $250 million of the contract) when discussing the trade Monday night. Now it's up to him -- and Henry -- to put that money where their mouth is and actually use it to improve the club at the deadline or in the offseason.
Rafael Devers
Devers had every right to be mad at the team for how they treated him this spring. Breslow and company should have been up front with him about their pursuit of Bregman and Arenado and the chances he'd move to DH.
But given how well the Red Sox were compensating Devers, he probably should have picked up a glove and played the field when the team asked him. While Devers was far from a defensive dynamo at third, getting out of the DH spot after Bregman was injured would have helped get younger players to the bigs and cleared the outfield logjam. And while Devers playing first base after Triston Casas was lost for the season likely would have been a disaster, he could have at least made an attempt to help out the team.
When you've lost Big Papi, you've done something wrong. Devers even rubbed some salt in the wound during his San Fran introduction, saying he'd be willing to play anywhere the Giants ask him to. A short time later, he had a glove on his hand and was putting in some work at first base.
Devers was not in the wrong for being mad at the front office. But he was absolutely in the wrong for not putting his ego aside and the team first.
Alex Cora
Cora's calling card has always been that he can connect with players. But he seemingly took a back seat throughout the Devers saga.
At no point was the manager able to work his magic with Devers -- whom he had a great relationship with throughout the years --and convince him to play the field. Maybe Cora tried and threw up his own white flag early, passing the issue onto the front office. But Cora shouldn't escape unscathed from this.
He's got the easiest path to repair his image though; if the Red Sox turn their season around post-Devers, Cora will get a lion's share of the credit.
But for now, the entire Red Sox organization is trying to wash away a giant stain from this Devers fiasco. The Giants are the only real winners in the saga, at least for now.
