Rarely do internal conflicts in baseball erupt into the open the way Boston Red Sox designated hitter Rafael Devers’s with Red Sox management has.
Devers moved from third base to designated hitter this offseason after Boston signed third baseman Alex Bregman, and now it appears the Red Sox want to move him to first base. On Thursday, Devers called out general manager Craig Breslow in nixing the idea and sent Boston to the brink.
How urgent was the situation? Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Red Sox owner John Henry flew to Kansas City to personally meet with Devers.
“(Rafael) expressed his feelings. John did the same thing,” manager Alex Cora said. “I think the most important thing here is we’re trying to accomplish something big here. And obviously there’s changes on the roster, situations that happened, and you have to adjust.”
Breslow termed the discussion “an honest conversation about what we value as an organization and what we believe is important to the Boston Red Sox.”
Boston is 20-19—second in the American League East division and two games back of the first-place New York Yankees. Devers, who Boston has under contract until 2033, is slashing .255/.379/.455 with six home runs and 25 RBIs.
