Devers tells Red Sox he won't play 1st base
MCMLVTopps
Posts: 4,985 ✭✭✭✭✭
The highest paid player in the history of the Red Sox says I ain't gonna play 1st. This situation has rapidly become yet another albatross around the neck of Red Sox management. Management knew from the jump they wanted to replace Devers with Bregman at 3rd base. Instead of ripping off the band aid right away, and letting Devers stew for a few days, they let things fester before resolution, and now they have another huge mess. I lay most of this at the feet of the milk toast manager, Alex (the CHEATER) Cora. Surely he sensed the attitude with Devers was brewing. Now, with Casas most likely out for the season, they are asking Devers to step up and play first. Instead of being a team player, Devers is now overflowing with attitude, saying "they can't expect me to play every position"...this is stupid on its face, he's only being asked to play first, not catch or play center field.
To quote from Cool Hand Luke, "what we have here is a failure to communicate."
This is an embarrassment to the team as a whole and management. No doubt several, if not many players are disgusted with this latest event in the never-ending saga of stupid contracts and players with attitudes. The list is long and not worthy of regurgitating. Cora never was a savvy manager IMO, he appears to not be able to discern when the storm is brewing, until the tarp crew hustles to work in blinding rain.
Devers meanwhile will continue to pout and act like a 5-year old, never caring about anything but himself. His teammates may console or agree with the horrible indignation being heaped upon this poor soul, but quietly I think they're major pissed and think differently behind closed doors.
Red Sox should have dumped the finger and toenail painting lump at 1st base before the season began, possibly getting a prospect or improve their pitching situation. Now they're stuck with coddling the attitude man who is laughing all the way to the bank. If they cave, they give Devers carte blanche. When I was in the working world I (as did everyone else) go or do what was asked by your manager, or else.
Just one of other reasons why I don't follow the team too much, but when the topic hits MLB channel and is the subject of much discussion, about Devers, I perk up a bit. No Red Sox bandwagon for me, and I've been a fan for a very, very long time. They need a Dick Williams style manager...and stop putting on that stupid Wally head after a homer. First it was the laundry cart, then the medal, then a cooler, now a Wally head. Play the game and get crazy in October.
https://www.mlb.com/news/rafael-devers-unwilling-to-play-first-base-for-red-sox
Comments
How can a player tell a team where he will/won't play?? That's absurd. Unless there's some clause in his contract that says he doesn't have to do something then he plays at the behest and whims of the team management. If I was the Red Sox I'd sit him on the bench for a week, call him back into the office and if he still refuses to play I'd suspend him. Keep him away from the ballpark altogether.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
Devers needs to be traded
I think he should be told where he will play. give him a week or 2 to "learn" the position and he will be the new first baseman by the last week of May.
If he refuses or pouts, I would bench him until he comes around.
I cannot imagine this attitude plays very well in the clubhouse. perhaps some peer pressure could be the solution.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Maybe send him down to single A to learn the position and let him work his way up to AAA. I'm sure he'll love the bus rides.
His hubris is off the chart disgusting to me...BIG mistake to ink him till 2033, he'd be tough to move.
@MCMLVTopps, as I was reading the post above yours I was thinking exactly what you posted. Since he admits he’s never played 1st Base give him a chance to work his way back to the Red Sox.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
I have never been a fan of Devers.
He does not care about anybody on the team but himself!
He has now burned all his bridges and needs to be suspended or shipped to AAA ball !
Moral has to be low on the team with this bullshit.
My Red Sox faithful collecting buddies: I'll give you the same advice I give my Mets fan brother: Come join the dark side
Im kind of with Devers on this one. They just asked him to move to DH which is an entirely different routine and now they want him at 1st. Realistically theyre going to ask him to play 3rd again next year when Bregman opts out of his contract unless he gets hurt, has a terrible year, or gets a bigger extension.
He doesnt like the Red Sox GM thats not really a secret, but like it or not Devers is in control. He cant be sent to the minors without his permission, he cant be traded without them eating a ton of money or taking on some really bad contracts in return, and if you bench him you still have to pay him.
Using someone with a 300 million dollar contract like a utility player is pretty unheard of. They should have just moved him to first and made Casas the DHJ. Between signing Bregman and giving Casas priority over him for the first base position he feels disrespected
I think you may have missed my post about sending Devers to a minor league club to learn the position.
They cant without his permission. They have no options remaining on him, he would have to agree to it which he wont
I was not aware he couldn't be sent to a minor league team for "training". Can you give some proof to this?
As for being disrespected, that's always a fall back position, and other than bruising his ego is a bunch of BS. Let us not forget, Rafael Devers is an employee, no more, no less. I agree the Red Sox have failed miserably in handling the entire situation. I think Devers feels like a yo-yo, being bounced around, and I agree they should have put him at first, DHd Casas. With Casas now out, what happened to Masa...a quote on him:
The team has said that they want him to be at 100 percent throwing. He, himself, weighed in on the noise on Tuesday and made it clear that he could hit right now for the team if they wanted him to, but his shoulder isn't where he wants it to be, as shared by MassLive.com's Christopher Smith.
Masa says he's ready to hit, he doesn't need to throw anythig....wake up management, use what you have instead of creating chaos.
A very very expensive yo-yo.
duncan butterfly
He certainly is an employee but with 300 million+ assured hes more of a CEO than a worker. I agree he definitely feels like he doesnt know whats next for him. One of his comments was along the lines of what happens if I play 1st and then they sign a 1st basemen and an outfielder gets hurt. I can understand his concern and frustration for it.
I will never understand the logic of the Casas staying at first. Its a matter of when not if that guy gets hurt. Hes really not even that good anyways. That was quite the decision to give him priority
With Masa their hands are pretty much tied if Devers wont relinquish the DH spot if he cant throw. Realistically though Masataka didnt have much power to begin with and if his shoulder is hurt he probably wouldnt help a whole lot anyways
For the sending him down to the minors, any player that accumulates 5 years of MLB service time cannot be sent down to the minors without them agreeing.
In Devers case hes also going to end up getting full no trade protection sometime in 2027 which every player who plays for a team for 10 straight years gets.
They would never sign a new 1st baseman, so that logic is gone. Slice it as you wish, he's still an employee, no more, no less.
Never cared for Casas, something wrong with a guy that flaunts painting his finger nails and toe nails and says he "gonna rock it this year", whatever that means. Guy never seems to smile and appears to be "elsewhere". Should have dumped him last year.
Again, Devers follows the manager's direction, he cannot sustain his position of "I ain't gonna do that". Simple enough!
Having survived 36 years in the Federal Government, I assure you, I worked from time to time under some royal a$$hole$ who were masters at aggravation and giving almost impossible assignments. To not perform as directed, meant killing your future, always dangling the annual evaluation. Only thing to do was apply for other jobs that became available, ace the interview and hope for the phone call. The stories I could tell!! What a glorious day of freedom that was, scraped the sticker off my windshield, handed my badge to my manager, shook his hand and headed for the elevator. Wanted no party, no lunch, no signed card, no gifts, nada...just freedom. I do miss my friends. I digress.
Masataka is the only logical place at DH, pathetic offensive numbers that he has. Touted as the Japanese superstar, and the Red Sox paid a TON for him...another sad contract into the long history of Red Sox missteps. Either they platoon at 1st until Masa is throwing 100% and leave Devers as DH, or the chaos will go on.
Didn't know about the 5 or 10 year rules, not too well versed there.
The bottom line is that Red Sox management botched this thing from the git go. All they did was piss off Devers and now want him to play 1st. I can't say they aren't jerking him around, and his pride is severely bruised. Should be an interesting conclusion to this at some point. To be fair, he should be given the opportunity of a stint at AAA to learn the finer points of playing 1st base.
The dominoes began to fall when they FOOLISHLY let Mookie slip through their fingers. That will forever be etched in the history of Red Sox lunacy.
YEP!
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
The time for the Red Sox to stop kotowing to this guy is sooner rather than later. What happened to the player state of mind that says "I'm willing to do whatever I can to help the team" in the modern day??
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
Now Red Sox management and the owner have reached DEFCON 1 with the Prima Donna of the team aka Devers. The owner and brain trust (if there is such a thing there) are all flying to KC (where the team is playing), to break bread, or break something in hopes of resolving their self-created mess with Mr Attitude. It is also now reported that Mr Attitude's position has not been well received in the clubhouse. Now that the inept Red Sox management have not only shot themselves in the foot, they have a foul smell in the clubhouse, which is detrimental to esprit-de-corps. Without question, the situation has reached cancer status, whether malignant or benign remains to be see.
I guess $313.5 million doesn't get what it used to.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/red-sox-owner-staff-fly-meet-frustrated-313-5-million-star-amid-position-drama-reports
https://www.si.com/mlb/veteran-red-sox-players-not-happy-rafael-devers-public-complaints
I get what youre saying about the federal and other jobs, but thats just not how it works in the sports world. Once you gurantee a guy 300+ million or a massive contract like that youre giving them the power. The manager and GM will be fired before anything happens to that player. That goes for every team. The Padres planned to start Tatis in the minors his rookie year and Manny met with management and basically said no Tatis is breaking camp with us and he got his way.
In the case of the Red Sox this whole thing has been so mismanaged the GM probably should be fired. Devers has a good bat but I never liked that extension. They panicked after Bogi left (who even switched to 2nd for a while) and extended the wrong guy. They should have given the money to Bogi. Mookie they basically had no chance. They messed up and let him get to close to free agency and wanted a discount to extend him which they werent willing to give. The Dodgers were going to win that bidding war once he got there and just went ahead and extended him for full market value.
For Casas I dont really care about the nail thing although the coloring is weird. Most guiys use a clear coat since youre wearing cleats and gloves all day and it helps from fungal issues. I really dislike him for what he said about the prospects actively trying to hold back their careers. On top of that hes an average player that cant ever stay healthy. If you cant stay healthy in your early 20s its only going to get worse
I never liked the Masa signing, they did other teams a favor signing him. I was never high on him, hes very small for a corner outfielder. Japanese and Korean hitters also have a high bust rate, the pitchers have a better track record. Very unusual for one to sign with an East coast team as well
Somebody lit a fire under Devers a$$ today as he had 4 hits today!
https://www.nbcsportsboston.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/john-henry-craig-breslow-rafael-devers-kansas-city-alex-cora-first-base/708527/
All it takes is one rotten apple to ruin a bushel of apples. How come all of a sudden he is starting to hit again?
This why Guaranteed money is ridiculously bad, I know players and agents would never go for it but once the ink is dried on these contracts there is no leverage to combat poor performance or poor attitudes
EXACTLY!!
The alternative is you get hold outs like in the NFL before guaranteed money started being significant. At the end of the day the players are the product.
In Devers case the Red Sox put him in a no win position. They told him to put his glove away for the season and he did. Now they want him to play first base just a couple weeks later when he hasnt been working in the infield at all and been working on the DH routine which is essentially pinch hitting 4 times a game
Fans are going to hate him if he doesnt switch positions, and fans are going to hate him and blame him if he does play first blaming him every time he messes up a play.
Devers with 8 RBI's today.
Devers = 🔥
Let's see if he plays 1st base in S.F.
I think he will if they ask him too.
Devers tells Red Sox he won't play first base, Red Sox finally tell Devers he won't play for them at all.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
He immediately said he'd play wherever SF wants him to play.
Devers is not making many people on the Giants very happy. He has missed 3 appointments with one of the Giants great players to get some tips on playing first base. Ortiz tried to help him when he was on the Red Sox and he never even acknowledged him. He has a ton of talent and thinks only of himself, I see why the Red Sox turned down a more lucrative offer for him to get some sucker to take on his complete contract. Good luck to the Giants with that big baby as he is being a jerk as usual!
No matter what he does for the Giants I am glad he is gone from the Red Sox . Look what they have done since he left!
Devers to start at first base for the giants.
since the trade: 29 games, 2 home runs, .219 average.
perhaps the Fenway effect with Devers was strong...
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Hope he bats .200 for them