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‘I don’t want that type of distraction’: Rafael Devers still doesn’t want to talk contract extensions mid-season
"I know my value."
Red Sox star Rafael Devers stuck to his stance of waiting until after the season to talk publicly about a new contract at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
“I don’t want to worry about that,” Devers said, per The Boston Globe. “That’s why, like I mentioned after spring training, I wasn’t going to talk about any contract discussions throughout the season because I don’t want that type of distraction. That’s something that’s between the team and me.”
RED SOX
Still, Devers did say the Red Sox’s preseason offer was “pretty similar” to the deal Braves first baseman Matt Olson received — eight years and $168 million.
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“I know my value,” Devers said. “I don’t want to be compared with anyone else, regardless of what the position is. I’m me, and that’s who I want to be compared to. I know what my value is.”
Devers also conceded that the team thinks about the trade deadline.
“We know that we have to improve on the field,” Devers said, per the Globe. “So if that’s through the trade deadline, great, but we also know that we had some injuries as well. So it’s something that we’re constantly thinking about — how can we improve — and I know that [Sox officials] are thinking about that, too, and they’ll do whatever they feel is best for the team.”
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Xander Bogaerts, meanwhile, does not believe a new contract will come together this season, since it hasn’t to this point.
“At this point we haven’t had [any conversations about a contract during the season], so I wouldn’t even put much thought into that,” Bogaerts said Monday, per the Globe. “If we haven’t had anything up to this point, then I’m not assuming anything will happen because it hasn’t so far.”
Earlier this season, Bogaerts’ agent Scott Boras said he would speak to the Red Sox again about Bogaerts after the season. On Monday, however, Boras told Alex Speier of the Globe that his ears “are always open.”
“I meet with the owners a lot,” Boras said. “There’s nothing that prevents them from talking to me or me talking to him.”
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