The Boston Red Sox have had an active offseason, making moves in order to go “all in” for the 2025 season. Boston has signed reliever Aroldis Chapman and starting pitcher Walker Buehler. They have also traded for reliever Jovani Moran and ace Garrett Crochet, among others. Red Sox fans have been optimistic, and this good feeling rose more when they added another solid piece to Rafael Devers and crew last week.
The Red Sox signed one of the top free agents, third baseman Alex Bregman, to a three-year deal. The contract could go up to $120 million over those three years. While the deal does include a player opt-out option after each year, it has shown fans that Boston is here to stay.
Alex Bregman Signing Brings Confusion to Red Sox 3B Rafael Devers
The one issue (if you could call it that) that came from the move was the status of current Red Sox slugger, Rafael Devers. Devers is coming off of a season where he hit 28 home runs, 83 RBIs and a decent .272 average. Those stats are certainly nothing to scoff at and it was an uncharacteristically “bad” year by Devers’ standards as well. His incredible production is why the Red Sox signed him to a 10-year deal back in 2023.
With the amount of money Boston has given Devers and how much he is a fan favorite, there is little doubt they want him included in the team with Bregman as opposed to Bregman being his replacement. The question though is whether or not he’ll play his normal third base position.
Alex Cora Speaks About Rafael Devers
At a recent press conference, a reporter asked Red Sox manager Alex Cora about Devers. More specifically, they asked about the previous Red Sox General Manager Chaim Bloom promising Devers that he’d stay at third base when he signed his extension. Cora’s answer was one that could cause some massive problems being the Red Sox and Rafael Devers.
Technically, Cora is correct that Chaim Bloom is no longer with the organization. With that in mind, one has to question the price of Cora’s comments. While Devers is locked in with Boston, this comment by Cora has not gone over well with Devers himself.
The bigger issue is if this will become an even bigger deal than it already is. If Cora is serious and actually takes Devers off the field and makes him play as a designated hitter, this could get dicey quickly. While Devers has led the league in errors each year at third base since 2018, angering him certainly won’t help anything. Alex Bregman is fresh off of a 2024 season where he won the American League Gold Glove award but again, annoying your star player is an extremely interesting choice.
Angering their franchise player a month before the season has yet to start is definitely something Boston’s front office was looking to avoid at all costs. The one question left is if this situation will continue to escalate, stay the same, or if tensions can calm down before the season kicks off.
If neither side budges in this fiasco, there is a very real possibility the Red Sox utilize Bregman as their third baseman of the future and trade away Devers. Doing so would be one of the more shocking trade stories in recent memory. Although unlikely, it’s more likely than Boston’s infamous Mookie Betts trade in 2020 with the Los Angeles Dodgers ever seemed to be.
While Boston has done many things right this offseason for the first time in a while, they have one more massive decision to make that they need to get right. If they play this wrong, they could lose Bregman and Devers in less than a year. If they play it right, Boston might be just a few years away from perennial contention.
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