FORT MYERS, Fla. — Rafael Devers often uses a translator when engaging with the media, as was the case Monday afternoon when he sat down at the talkin’ bench outside the Red Sox clubhouse at JetBlue Park. But no translator was needed when, just a tick more than three minutes into the conversation, Devers was asked how he’d feel if the Red Sox asked him to be their designated hitter so that the newly signed Alex Bregman can play third base.
“No,” Devers said.
He was asked again if he’d be willing to be Boston’s designated hitter.
“No,” he said.
“I play third,” Devers said in English.
What if the team insisted he be their designated hitter?
“No.”
What about playing first base?
“No.”
The late Red Sox president Larry Lucchino was fond of saying the Sox are in the “yes” business. Rafael Devers is in the “no” business.
Now then, does this mean Devers will get his wish and continue playing third base for the Red Sox? No chance. We know this to be true because of a couple of things Devers said during his media session, which led to something Red Sox manager Alex Cora said a few minutes later that should put the entire matter to rest.
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First, we’ll give you the Devers quotes, which he delivered in Spanish with translation by Daveson Pérez from the team’s media relations staff. Referencing the 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension he signed a couple of years ago, which he believes included a promise he’d remain a fixture at third base, Devers said, “That was definitely what was discussed when I signed, that I would be playing this position for a long time.”
Devers then referenced a recent meeting with Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow about moving to DH. “Yeah, it was definitely a surprise,” he said, as translated by Pérez. Returning to the contract extension he signed two years ago, Devers said, “I believe in people’s word and I take it to heart.”
Rafael Devers on being asked to DH:
“No. I play 3rd… I gave them the answer that I just gave, no.”#RedSox pic.twitter.com/uEZiCtarhx
— NESN (@NESN) February 17, 2025
But then Cora met with the media just minutes after Devers spoke. This was by design, as the club knew Devers would be expressing his unwillingness to trade in his glove and switch to DH duty. Told that Devers spoke of promises that were made when he signed the contract extension, Cora had a ready explanation: The person who signed Devers to that contract, former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, no longer is with the Red Sox. He now heads up baseball operations for the St. Louis Cardinals.
“Different people here, right?” Cora said. “There’s a different leader here. Chaim is in St. Louis right now.”
Stop the music. That’s it, right there. For as carefully as Cora spoke his words on Monday, and for all the respect he gave to Devers, it’s hard to get past the manager putting it out there that words spoken two years ago have no relevance to where the Red Sox are today. Yes, Devers signed a lucrative contract extension with the Red Sox, and, yes, he’s going to get every penny due to him. But that part about playing third base for years to come? Cora shredded that argument.
LIVE: Alex Cora sits down with the media after full squad workouts. https://t.co/kD5Sd2YWLR
— Red Sox (@RedSox) February 17, 2025
Call it a lawyer’s dodge by Cora if you want. I’ll go so far as to suggest that a lot of people, not just Chaim Bloom, suggested Devers would be a long-term fixture at third base. Like campaign promises, lots of stuff gets said at the negotiating table that doesn’t come to fruition.
The Red Sox are a better team with Bregman at third base. Everybody knows that. Devers has never been more than an average third baseman, and he’s heavier and slower as he enters his age 29 season. (He said on Monday he weighs 240 pounds.) He can still hit, though, and it’s his hitting, not his glove, that may one day get him into the Hall of Fame.
“Since the beginning, I’ve known that this is a business,” Devers said. “I know that each side is going to do what is best for them, what is most comfortable for them. I don’t think that was the right way to do business.”
Devers nailed it. Half of it, anyway. Baseball is a business. But Devers comes across as insincere if he thinks the club moving him from third base is not the right way to do business. It’s actually very good business, presuming the Red Sox are serious about making a World Series run this season, as they keep saying.
The Red Sox are a better team if Bregman plays third base and Devers swallows his pride a little and becomes the designated hitter. And we know this is precisely what the Red Sox have in mind, considering that in just one week Cora has pivoted from saying, “(Devers) is the third baseman for the Boston Red Sox,” to now ladling out a lot of gobbledygook about “roster construction” and moves that still need to be made.
Cora wants Bregman to play third base, even if he won’t come right out and say so. And he wants Devers to be the DH, even if he won’t come right out and say so.
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It all makes for a nice little spring training drama. But spring training dramas have a way of disappearing in a day or two, and that’s what will happen here. Devers has been with the Red Sox since 2017 and is the last remaining holdover for the 2018 World Series championship team. He has earned the right to pout a little, even if he did so in a rather agreeable and pleasant fashion on Monday afternoon.
But here’s something to think about: Devers has a deal that runs through 2033, by which time he will be 36. Did anyone think he’d still be playing third base by then?
Sooner or later he was going to be Boston’s designated hitter. It’s just that sooner arrived the moment Bregman walked in the door.
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(Photo: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)
