{"id":473561,"date":"2026-02-17T09:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/473561\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T09:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:18:18","slug":"tom-werner-reflects-on-rafael-devers-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/473561\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Werner reflects on Rafael Devers saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Red Sox\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“When we had an injury at first base his unwillingness to play that position was extremely discouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"San
\n\tRafael Devers was traded to the Giants in June. . (AP Photo\/Benjamin Fanjoy)\t<\/p>\n

The Red Sox opened spring training in 2025 with one of the top sluggers in baseball on their roster in Rafael Devers.<\/p>\n

Just a few months later, the then-28-year-old Devers was shipped out to the West Coast<\/a> \u2014 with Boston trading Devers to the San Francisco Giants following a tumultuous stretch between the Red Sox and their former franchise player.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking to The Boston Globe\u2019s Pete Abraham on Sunday<\/a>, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner was candid when asked to reflect on Devers\u2019 final months with Boston.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like to speak ill of any player. I\u2019d like to say that he\u2019s a wonderful person,\u201d Werner told Abraham. \u201cBut, of course, when we had an injury at first base his unwillingness to play that position was extremely discouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strife between the Red Sox and Devers began last February after the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman \u2014 with Boston expecting the two-time World Series champion to take over at third base and shift Devers to DH.<\/p>\n

Moving Devers \u2014 who led the AL in errors every season at third from 2018-24 \u2014 off third and having him become a full-time DH would seemingly benefit all parties.<\/p>\n

But Devers was upfront about his displeasure with being moved off the hot corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThird base is my position,\u201d Devers told reporters in Fort Myers last February<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s what I\u2019ve played. I don\u2019t know what their plans are. I know we had a conversation. I made it clear, kind of what my desires were and whatever happens from here, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Devers eventually relented and moved to DH once the season began, things unraveled once again after first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the vacancy at first, Devers refused to move from DH back to the infield \u2014 calling out Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m a ballplayer but at the same time, they can\u2019t expect me to play every single position out there,\u201d Devers said last May. \u201cIn spring training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove \u2014 that I wasn\u2019t going to play any other position but DH. So right now, I just feel like it\u2019s not an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position.\u201d<\/p>\n

A little over a month later, Devers was traded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a discouraging episode,\u201d Werner said. \u201cJust pick up a glove.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters from Fort Myers on Sunday, Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy acknowledged that the franchise likely would have handled things differently last winter and spring given that the end result was Devers being dealt to San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould we have done things differently leading into it? Absolutely,\u201d Kennedy said of Devers.<\/a> \u201cYou question yourself: Where did we make mistakes? What could we have done better? But at the end of the day, we were faced with a decision that was a hard one, and we made it and are really proud of everybody who worked together on that. Time will tell. We\u2019ll see how the results are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

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