The Red Sox Have Two Third Baseman and One Giant Problem

Spring training drama! Two days in!

Rafael Devers looking only half as pissed here as he was yesterday. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Hi friends-

Last week I wrote a piece examining my three biggest questions heading into spring training. Number one on the list was who would sign Alex Bregman. Here’s what I wrote:

Bob Nightingale of USA Today reports that four teams have made offers of at least four years to Bregman, though none of them have met his asking price. Those four teams are the Astros, the Cubs, the Tigers, and the Red Sox. The Astros and Cubs are bamboozling me with their off-season moves, to be honest, with Houston getting rid of Kyle Tucker because they either didn’t think they could extend him long-term or didn’t want to pay what he will command when he hits the open market next off-season, and Chicago dumping Cody Bellinger on the Yankees to save money.

Neither of these teams make sense to me as destinations for the expensive Bregman, though I can see him returning back to the Astros on a shorter deal with opt-outs like Pete Alonso did with the Mets if his market continues to lag behind what he believes he is worth.

Bregman signing with the Tigers makes sense because Detroit needs offense in a very winnable AL Central division, and because Bregman already played for manager AJ Hinch in the first years of his career in Houston and presumably they like each other or the Tigers wouldn’t still be in the mix at this point.

But honestly? It makes the most sense IMO for the Red Sox to sign him…. as long as Alex Cora can convince Raffy Devers to move off third and become the team’s full-time DH. Stay tuned.

Reader, Bregman did sign with the Red Sox for three years, $120 million, as I thought he would. But reader, Alex Cora did not, in fact, convince Devers to move off third base and become the team’s full-time DH. We stayed tuned until Sox hitters reported to spring training Monday, and then we learned that Devers is Kendrick Lamar levels of mad about this.

“Third base is my position,” Devers told reporters through a translator Monday. “It’s what I’ve played. I don’t know what their plans are. I know we had a conversation — I made it clear what my desires were. Whatever happens from here, I don’t know.”

When asked if he would be willing to move from third base to designated hitter so that Bregman—a far superior defender at the hot corner could take over— Devers didn’t even wait for an interpreter to translate the question into Spanish before answering with one word: “No.”

Bregman graded as the sixth best defensive third baseman in baseball in 2024 according to Fangraphs with six defensive runs saved. Devers ranked as the worst third baseman who played enough innings to qualify, with -9 defensive runs saved. (Matt Chapman ranked best at +17, while Eugenio Suarez was second-worst at -6).

Basically, Bregman’s defense alone at third was worth 15 more runs to his team than Devers’s D. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a lot over the course of a 162-game season, but it’s fair to say that the defensive upgrade Bregman gives the Sox at third could translate into a few extra wins, which could be the difference between making the playoffs in a very tough AL East and sitting home and watching the Yankees roll to a second straight World Series appearance during another long and icy New England winter.

I know what you’re thinking. Here’s a guy making hundreds of millions to play baseball whining about the betrayal!!! of shifting from full-time employee at third base to part time as DH, without even having to take a pay cut. Please pass me the world’s tiniest violin.

But when Devers signed his mammoth 11-year, $313.5 million contract to become the franchise cornerstone before the 2021 season, he says he was told by then-GM Chaim Bloom he would be the team’s long-term third baseman. “I believe in people’s word and I take it to heart and I was very surprising that they would suggest [I move off third base],” Devers said yesterday through an interpreter.

The problem, of course, is that Bloom was fired just two years later (and 1,312 days after trading Mookie Betts).

After Devers’ comments about Bloom’s promise, manager Alex Cora basically said Bloom’s words are worth bupkis now because he’s not in charge anymore. “Different people here, right?” Cora said. “There’s a different leader here. Chaim (Bloom) is in St. Louis now.”

Ouch.

For his part, Bregman has said he is willing to playing second base—a position currently open, but that could soon be filled by MLB.com's 7th top prospect overall, Kristian Campbell

The way I see it there are four scenarios here: