Alex Cora continues to insist Rafael Devers is Red Sox’ 3B, even if they sign Alex Bregman
"His size, the way he moves, it felt kind of like, ‘You will be a second baseman.’"
Alex Cora continued to make his case for the Red Sox to sign Alex Bregman at Fenway Fest, and he doesn’t believe any vast changes will need to be made to the infield in order to make it work.
The Red Sox manager re-emphasized that Rafael Devers is the team’s third baseman in a conversation with NESN on Saturday. He also pictures Bregman playing second base if Boston were to sign him, citing a conversation he had with the All-Star during his time as Houston’s bench coach.
“Alex was a Gold Glover at third base. We all know that,” Cora said on NESN. “But in 2017, I had a conversation with him and he needed to play third because it was [Carlos] Correa [at shortstop] and [Jose] Altuve [at second]. I always envisioned Alex as a Gold Glove second baseman. His size, the way he moves, it felt kind of like, ‘You will be a second baseman.’
“But he has played third base at a high level. So we’ll see where he ends up and we’ll see where he ends up playing.”
Cora made a similar remark when he glowingly spoke about Bregman during the Winter Meetings. At that time, the Red Sox’ pitching staff still needed to be addressed and there were rumors that they could trade Triston Casas in order to make it work while moving Devers to first base. There were also more quality right-handed hitters available.
A month later, the Red Sox have addressed their starting pitching but have yet to add a notable right-handed hitter. Casas’s name has also remained in trade rumors, lending credence to the idea that Devers would play first base while Bregman would remain at third base if the Red Sox were to sign the Astros third baseman.
But if the Red Sox sign Bregman and opt to play him at second base, they would be keeping the lesser fielder at third base. Devers has a .944 fielding percentage at third base and his 141 errors at the position are the most among active players. Additionally, Devers has had a negative Outs Above Average in all but one season of his career.
Bregman, meanwhile, has a .968 fielding percentage and 81 errors over nine seasons at the position. He won the Gold Glove last season for his AL-best .972 fielding percentage and has had a positive Outs Above Average in all but two seasons in his career.
The situation Cora proposed might not be the best for the Red Sox in terms of fielding. But it would certainly strengthen their lineup and help fill the right-handed hitting void it currently has in its lineup. Even though Bregman had a down season in 2024, he still hit .260 with a .768 OPS and 26 home runs. All three of stats would be the best among right-handed hitters on the Red Sox who played at least 100 games last season.
Cora and Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow have previously stated that the team is still seeking right-handed hitting help. Cora continued to state his case for Bregman in his NESN interview.
“I cannot go into specifics of the free agent [process] but I think he’s a pull hitter that puts the ball in play and he’s a good defender,” Cora also told NESN. “The intangibles are the intangibles. We all know that. The kid, he’s a winner since LSU all the way to the Astros.”
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