Craig Breslow downplays Rafael Devers’s comments about staying at third base
"This is not the first situation where a player’s been outspoken about something that they take a lot of pride in. And that’s OK."
Rafael Devers caused a bit of a stir when he defiantly said that he was still the Red Sox’ third baseman following the signing of Alex Bregman on Monday, but Craig Breslow apparently isn’t sweating the situation.
The Red Sox chief baseball officer recently said he has confidence that the situation will eventually resolve itself without any extra drama.
“These things tend to have a way of working themselves out,” Breslow told MassLive’s Sean McAdam. “This is not the first situation where a player’s been outspoken about something that they take a lot of pride in. And that’s OK. Like I said, they tend to work themselves out.”
It was initially reported that Bregman would play second base for the Red Sox following his signing, keeping Devers at third. But, Alex Cora didn’t commit to playing Bregman at a certain position when spring training opened, leaving the door open for him to play third base for the Red Sox. Devers also wasn’t informed that he could be moved off third base until two days after Bregman agreed to a deal with the team.
While Devers has been the Red Sox’ starting baseman since his call-up in 2017, there’s a great argument to be made that Bregman should play the position over him. Bregman won a Gold Glove playing third base for the Astros in 2024 and has been regarded as one of the best fielding third basemen in baseball for much of his career.
Devers, meanwhile, has struggled at third. He’s the only third baseman in MLB history to have the most errors at the position in seven straight seasons (2018-24) and has posted a negative Outs Above Average in all but one season in his career.
Still, Devers indicated that he had no intention of moving off third when he spoke with reporters on the day of the team’s first full-squad workout of the year. Breslow said he’d potentially lean on Cora if any tough conversations have to be had down the road, but also continued to downplay any drama surrounding the situation.
“I think having really good players that are talking about positions is not a terrible place to be in,” said Breslow. “I said it when we were talking about Alex [Bregman] and introducing him, that my obligation is to put the best team on the field, on both offense and defense that I can possibly can.”
Of course, both players are strong hitters. Devers has hit at least .270 and 27 homers in each of the last full seasons and Bregman has hit at least .260 and 20 homers in most of the seasons of his career. So, there should always be a spot for both hitters in the lineup.
Only one of them was in the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Blue Jays. Bregman got the start at third, hitting a home run in his second at-bat. Devers didn’t play, as the Red Sox are slowplaying things with him after he dealt with a shoulder injury last offseason.
“He’s hitting off the Trajekt (pitching machine), which is great,” Cora told reporters of Devers on Sunday. “Today is the first day on the field. We had live BPs, he’s probably tracking there. He’ll let us know.
“He took grounders this morning with Flo (infield coach José Flores). Threw to first base. He’s getting there. But not 100 percent.”
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