The Boston Red Sox and Rafael Devers have now been involved in a controversy about Devers’ glove for almost three months.
It sounds like the final conclusion has pretty much arrived.
Red Sox beat reporters from Mass Live collaborated on a new report Friday that essentially says there won’t be any Devers in the field this season.
“Though manager Alex Cora has publicly left the door open for Devers to eventually start getting reps at first base this summer, privately, team officials remain very pessimistic about the chances of Devers taking the field at either corner,” Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam wrote. “This week, one official expressed with some certitude that the experiment would not be happening. Unlike Campbell, Devers has not taken a single rep at first base during pregame work this season. In recent weeks, he has not been seen taking grounders at third base as he was earlier in the season.”
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It seems pretty obvious, too, if you follow all the signals.
Triston Casas suffered a season-ending injury at first base, and Devers didn’t take a single rep there.
Alex Bregman got a month-long injury, and Devers hasn’t taken any pregame grounders at third base, either.
It looks like Devers will just DH.
After a nightmare start to the season, Devers has been a monster at the plate, so Boston is likely plenty happy with him in that role.
It still seems a tad limiting to keep a player making hundreds of millions of dollars in a role that doesn’t even put a glove on his hand.
But at this point, the Red Sox probably just want Devers happy. And if he is, that’s gotta be good enough as Boston figures out the pieces around him.
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