{"id":41258,"date":"2025-03-14T14:29:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T14:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=41258"},"modified":"2025-03-14T14:29:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T14:29:25","slug":"red-sox-313-5-million-superstar-changes-tune-on-refusal-to-give-up-3rd-bas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=41258","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox $313.5 Million Superstar Changes Tune on Refusal to Give Up 3rd Bas"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/main>when the Boston Red Sox capped off a “Grade A”\u00a0offseason by signing former Houston Astros two-time All-Star\u00a0third baseman Alex Bregman\u00a0to a three-year, $120 million deal, the natural next move was to reassign the team’s superstar slugger, entering\u00a0the second season of\u00a0his 10-year, $313.5 million team record contract, to somewhere other than third.<\/p>\n

For Rafael Devers, a reluctance to give up his position may be understandable. The 28-year-old has played\u00a0all but 25 of his 955 big league\u00a0games at third base. So when he was asked about moving to a full-time designated hitter role to make way for the defensively superior Bregman \u2014 last year’s\u00a0American League Gold Glove\u00a0winner at third base \u2014\u00a0he flatly refused.<\/p>\n

That was in mid-February. By mid-March, he changed his tune.<\/p>\n

On Thursday,\u00a0according to The Boston Globe, Devers said he is open to making the switch to the DH role. The three-time All-Star, after getting in four at-bats in a simulated game at Boston’s spring training home of\u00a0JetBlue\u00a0Park, told reporters that he wanted to clear up his stance on the position switch \u2014 and sounded a much more conciliatory note.<\/p>\n

“It’s not my decision. I don’t call the shots around here. I’ll go out there and do what I need to do,” he said via a translator, as quoted by veteran Globe reporter Peter Abraham. “I just want to help the team win. Whatever position I’m playing, I always take these things as a competition and a way to get better. That’s just how I see it. I’m just ready to help the team win.”<\/p>\n

More MLB:\u00a0Red Sox Pitcher Pulls Insane Starbucks Prank on Rookie: ‘I Thought It Was a Joke’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In an earlier interview, on Wednesday with independent\u00a0Spanish-language sports journalist\u00a0Nicole B\u00e1ez, Devers also made sure that fans knew he bore no ill-will toward his competitor for the third-base spot, Bregman.<\/p>\n

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“We’re teammates, we’re friends. He’s earned the affection of everyone here,” Devers told B\u00e1ez. “He’s a great person, and we know the kind of player he is. He’s here to help the team. We’re all positive here on the team, and what we want is to win.”<\/p>\n

Devers\u00a0also told B\u00e1ez\u00a0that physically he feels “pretty good” and planned to make his spring training\u00a0debut in Saturday’s game\u00a0at JetBlue Park against the Atlanta Braves.<\/p>\n

Whether Devers will play third base or DH in that game is not yet clear. Despite his earlier insistence that he would only play third, he has not played a single out at the position, or any other position, so far this spring \u2014 with\u00a0just two weeks to go\u00a0before the Red Sox open their season against the Rangers in Texas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Boston Red Sox superstar slugger Rafael Devers now says he is “good” in whatever role the team chooses, but hinted he would still prefer to play third.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":41260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nRed Sox $313.5 Million Superstar Changes Tune on Refusal to Give Up 3rd Bas - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=41258\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Red Sox $313.5 Million Superstar Changes Tune on Refusal to Give Up 3rd Bas - 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