I had the pleasure of seeing Rafael Devers’ debut game against the Seattle Mariners in Seattle on July 26th, 2017. Although he went hitless that day, the next day he hit a home run, his first in the major leagues. Devers’ confidence as a rookie, I believed, augured well for the Red Sox. The Sox management apparently agreed with my assessment, and before Devers could wander off to another team as a free agent, they rewarded him with a 10-year contract that paid over 313 million dollars two years ago.
When I was coming of age, my father told me that I had adjusted to and handled the vagaries of life quite well. Baseball, like life, has its own vagaries. Unfortunately, I do not believe Rafael reacted well to those vicissitudes, so much a part of baseball. Although most of the sportswriters took the side of Devers after the Red Sox traded him to the San Francisco Giants, I disagreed. The sportswriters criticized the Boston team’s owners for not treating Devers wisely insofar as they had not communicated to him he would not be playing third base when they signed Alex Bregman, a third baseman, regarded as a much better fielder than Devers. Was it necessary to tell Devers that they were pursuing a superior player at his position before the offer was made? I, for one, do not think so. After all, how would they know that they were going to land Bregman, a highly touted player, who had received a lot of attention from other ball clubs.
Devers balked at management’s desire to use him as a designated hitter. He stubbornly resisted, stating his position was third base with finality, unwilling to bend to the wishes of management. The Sox ownership based their decision to choose Bregman as the starter at third base because it was understood that he was the superior fielder. Throughout his time with the Boston club, Devers had committed more than his share of fielding errors at third base. Devers’ refused to accept this reality resulting in bad vibes for all the younger players that looked up to Devers for his overall skills as a more seasoned teammate.
So, the season started with Devers as the designated hitter against his will; he did not get a hit for his first 28 at bats striking out much of the time. It was apparent to me that Rafael had become enslaved by an overactive ego. Fortunately for the Red Sox, Devers broke out of his hitting slump and began living up to the reputation he had had as an excellent hitter. But unfortunately, soon after, early in the season, both Devers and his team encountered a second unknown when Triston Casas, the Sox first baseman, suffered a knee injury that put him out of commission for the entire season.
Because Boston did not have a good substitute for Casas, the management wanted Devers to replace Casas. The owners tried to encourage Devers to take practice fielding balls at first base, a position regarded as easier to learn than other positions in the infield. Devers again refused. On May 9th, 2025, John Henry, the principal owner of the Sox along with president Sam Kennedy and Craig Breslow, chief baseball officer, all flew out to Kansas City where the Bosox were playing, to sit down with Devers and talk about the club needs. The content of the meeting was not made public but, after the meeting, it was evident that Devers did not wish to comply with management’s need to fill the gap left at first base due to Casas’ knee injury.
On June 15th, Devers was traded to the San Franciso Giants, the team that agreed to pick up the 255 million left on Devers’ contract with the Red Sox and send them four pitchers, two in the major league, and two in the minor league. Perhaps David Ortiz, ex Red Sox Hall of Famer, put it in the most concise yet truthful manner in discussing Devers plight: “Your worst enemy is your ego.”
Recently, baseball’s vagaries once more attacked the Red Sox when their ace, Garret Crochet, pitched an excellent game, in which his team was beating the Los Angeles Angels 1 to 0 going into the 8th inning. In the bottom of the 8th inning, Greg Weissert, one of Boston’s better relievers came in and allowed Christian Moore, one of the Angel’s worst hitters to hit a home run. This resulted in Crochet not being able to obtain the win for his stellar performance. But it does not end here. In the bottom of the 10th inning, with Boston ahead 2 to 1, Christian Moore hit another home run with a runner on base off Justin Wilson. That home run ended the game with an Angel victory 3 to 2.
However, it is not like good pitchers never receive team support. When Crochet pitched again against the Cincinnati Reds, his teammates got 7 runs in the 1st inning of the game. Crochet’s performance, that day was not great because he gave up 4 earned runs and one unearned run in 6 innings. But the 1st inning lead gave Boston the cushion Crochet needed to win the game at a score of 13 to 6. The irony here, of course, is that Crochet did not get the win against the Angels where his performance was far better than against the Reds where he was credited for the victory. Such is the beauty of baseball: One never knows what is going to happen next. Rafael Devers discovered this in spring training. As Big Papi (D. Oritz) alluded: What’s best for the team takes priority over what’s best for the individual player.
Dr. Bernard F. Natelson 