MLB’s offseason General Manager meetings went from November 10-13 in Las Vegas. Team officials from all 30 teams met to lay the groundwork for moves all offseason. Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is among the front office executives there, and he has also met with the media multiple times.
Many important quotes have come out of Vegas since the start of the meetings that have got Red Sox Nation feeling good about the direction of the offseason. Breslow has been surprisingly transparent with his plans and goals for the winter, and while that has given the fanbase a lot of hope, certain quotes have given it some pause. Tim Healey of The Boston Globe reported one that had fans second-guessing some of the franchise’s moves over the last year (subscription required).
“There is just something about a bat in the middle of the lineup that forces another team to game plan against it that has a compounding effect on the rest of the roster,” Breslow said.
Of course, that sounds oddly familiar to Red Sox fans…that’s because he essentially described Rafael Devers.
Craig Breslow quotes really remind fans that they are looking for a Rafael Devers replacement
The sting of trading away the face of the franchise in the middle of the season had started to subside. Fans had seen the emergence of Roman Anthony, lots of top prospects make impressive debuts, and the team made the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. Even though the team’s top bat was gone, the drama that had followed him all season subsiding was a nice reprieve.
Red Sox Nation knew that the team was looking to add another big bat this offseason. They had seen the lack of power play out all season, and in the back of their minds knew that it was to replace Devers’ production, but it wasn’t staring them in the face. That quote from Breslow was like a splash of cold water to the face, because he described what all Red Sox fans knew that Devers was.
Devers was the player that all opposing pitchers game planned around in Boston’s lineup. He was the center of gravity on the lineup card, and it became very apparent when his bat wasn’t in the lineup. Now, the front office is looking to replace him with another marquee player and to re-sign Alex Bregman. Had they not traded Devers, they would only need to bring Bregman back. It just makes fans wonder, what if they hadn’t traded Raffy?