Could/Would the Red Sox think about the idea of trading Rafael Devers? Who has the leverage? #MLB
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00So, I don't know, I mean, Wiggy suggested earlier that that's what you have Alex Corey
00:06here for and he'll fix everything and everybody will be happy when April arrives.
00:13But I don't know.
00:14It seems like a lingering, like, Mego, you brought up, Mego's filling in for Courtney
00:18today, by the way.
00:19You brought up the fact that he hasn't, when asked about whether he would want to be traded,
00:26I'm paraphrasing here, he would have to think about it.
00:30So, I mean, he's clearly trying to flex some leverage or something, I guess.
00:36For what?
00:37Like, what?
00:38Because baseball is the one sport that, by him not playing the field, they're not, like,
00:47I guess technically they are taking something away from him, but he still can be productive
00:52for you as a player.
00:54It's not like where they're taking away playing time from you in any other sport, where if
00:59you're a backup goaltender and we're going with this guy or basketball.
01:03The most beloved Red Sox player of the last 20 years was a DH.
01:09Yeah.
01:10So, it seemed to work out.
01:11Greg, can we just simply say that it's about how he said it?
01:14If he had this exact feeling and said, you know, I signed here as a third baseman.
01:20I've taken a lot of pride in my defense.
01:22Last year, I went down from 19 to 12 errors at third base.
01:26I hope to continue improving and to play that position is very different than the manner
01:31in which he reacted to the question.
01:33Would you agree?
01:34Yeah.
01:35Yeah.
01:36Like, if you just said, I want to get better.
01:37I need to get better.
01:38We all have to get better.
01:39Last year wasn't good enough.
01:40I think I can help the team best at third base, but if that's not the case, I just want
01:44us to win.
01:45Wouldn't that be a much better way to handle this?
01:46Yeah.
01:47Well, he called him out.
01:48He, and I'm paraphrasing again, but basically said, I should not have taken them at their
01:54word.
01:55Right.
01:56Which is, you know, calling them out.
01:58Go ahead, Sean.
01:59Yeah.
02:00No, I, like I said before, like my, my position is third base.
02:03I don't know how they want to go about it or what they want to do, but I know that that's
02:08the position I get ready to play every day and, and it's just, you know, that's, it's
02:15just my position.
02:16How would you react if they asked you to DH?
02:18How would you feel about that?
02:20No.
02:21No.
02:22It's just crazy to me.
02:23Cause it's not like it's a situation at second base where you have somebody like Christian
02:28Campbell coming up and it's a kid and they're saying, Hey, Devers, we want you to move to
02:33this different place.
02:35Cause we want to bring this kid up where I could understand him getting defensive about
02:40it.
02:41Ironically defensive because he's not good in the field, but this is somebody who they
02:45have been talking about bringing in for months at this point and are bringing in and he's
02:51so much more accomplished at the position than Devers ever has been.
02:55And they're just moving them over to DH, which as you said, Greg has a great legacy of DH
03:02heroes with the red socks.
03:03Like it is not a huge insult.
03:06He's making it into something much more complicated than it has to be.
03:11And that's where I'm like, kind of like, I like, that's where it's a head scratcher
03:15to me.
03:16Like it's not a big insult, but why is he taking at taking it as like, you're still
03:23going to be viewed as the face of the franchise, like even though you got Bregman, he's only
03:27here.
03:28I wonder if he feels that way.
03:29But Bregman's only here for three years.
03:30He signs a three year deal.
03:31You signed a, what was it?
03:3312, 12 year deal.
03:34So you're still the face of the franchise.
03:37I could see if it was Juan Soto signs a 10 year, whatever he signed the 10 or 11 year
03:44deal, 700 million and played the same position.
03:48And now like, Hey, we need you to move.
03:50Now you no longer are the face of the franchise because this new shiny object that they spent
03:55a ton of money on is the face.
03:58But I guarantee if you still ask anybody in the Red Sox organization, who is the face
04:04of the franchise, they're going to tell you it's ramping up.
04:06There's some onus on the player to make themselves the face of the franchise as well.
04:12You don't just automatically get that because you sign a big deal.
04:16And I like, and I got to tell you though, Greg, like the 508 texture has a great point
04:21about how we view A-Rod and Jeter.
04:23I just said A-Rod is on my douche Mount Rushmore.
04:27And Jeter was not as good of a defensive shortstop as Alex Rodriguez, but Jeter refused to move
04:33off short.
04:34A-Rod played third, went out of position and didn't complain about it.
04:39Nobody ripped Jeter.
04:41Nobody said Jeter was wrong.
04:42And give A-Rod credit for that because at that point in time, A-Rod was the bigger superstar
04:50in the sense of when he was the bigger superstar and he was like, Hey, listen, I'm going to
04:55put my ego to the side to play third base for Jeter because this is Jeter's team.
05:02But it's not even compared, Raphael Devers, when it comes to defensive play only is not
05:09Derek Jeter.
05:10Right.
05:11Exactly.
05:12So like, I mean, give me a break.
05:15I could see if he was good and, and you go, okay, he's, he's solid and Bregman's better
05:22and I can get where I'm going.
05:23Well, he doesn't want to move, but he's still good.
05:26He's he wouldn't lead the league or second in the league last year in errors.
05:29He's like, he's not very good.
05:31He's minus nine in defensive runs saved over above average.
05:37To put that in comparison, Bregman last year was six.
05:40It's a difference of 15 runs.
05:41Greg, you made a great point that like really should be examined in the sense of he's willing
05:49to die on this hill.
05:53Like, well, maybe he's just, he's just grasping for leverage.
05:57For what?
05:58But there's no leverage in baseball.
05:59He's got his contract.
06:01He's got his money where he doesn't mean any leverage.
06:04It's not like you're going to, you know, you're going to trade them like, why is he willing
06:07to die on this?
06:08So, and then that goes to where is his douchery level?
06:12Right.
06:13This is Eddie.
06:14Hello, Eddie.
06:15Hey guys.
06:16Sorry.
06:17Listen, Devin has been a stiff on the field for as long as you've been playing.
06:20If he wants to play third base and be the everyday third baseman, how about get better?
06:25How about learn how to play the position a little bit better?
06:28And by the way, how many gold gloves has this kid won and how many gold gloves do we
06:32think he'll win in his lifetime?
06:34I rest my case.
06:35Yeah.
06:36Yeah.
06:37That's just, it's, it's weird.
06:38It's weird that he's willing to die on this hill for what, what, what just to be like,
06:43all right, I play third base.
06:46I wonder if he, do you think that he expected Cora to be because Cora up until like yesterday
06:51and he's, he's, he hasn't changed his tune, but when they brought Bregman in and even
06:57in the introductory press conference, Cora and Kennedy were saying, Bregman's a guy who
07:02can play second.
07:03He can even play short.
07:04He can play so many places.
07:06And then when, when Devers took it to the, I play third base, that's what I, what you
07:13just heard.
07:14Then Cora says that was an agreement that was made with Heim Blum and he's in St. Louis.
07:21Maybe they made an agreement with Bregman to that.
07:23He can play third base.
07:24There's a different leader here.
07:25So, you know, Heim is in St. Louis right now.
07:28But if, if I would also add though, which would Cora say that, let's say a Breslau gets
07:32fired this year and the new GM doesn't like him, should the new GM not honor the contract
07:36that Cora side with Breslau?
07:38Like that's kind of a slippery slope.
07:40No.
07:41Right.
07:42And Cora should just be like when he did do it, which now as fans, you sit there, he basically
07:46said we're going to do what's best for the team.
07:49So we all have eyes and we all can see that if Bregman is outperforming Devers at third
07:55base, then Cora, why isn't he playing third base?
07:59Is it, isn't third base?
08:01Can you move Devers to second?
08:05But if you don't feel comfortable in there, why would you not make your team better defensively?
08:09Why would you, isn't third base like a key position?
08:11Either way, if you're moving someone over to second, then you're not giving Christian
08:15Campbell the opportunity to come up and develop quickly as well.
08:19I think that's a part of it.
08:20Like I think they realize they must have a confidence that he is going to be opening
08:25day is going to be your second baseman.
08:27And I see people in the Twitch chat saying, why are we talking about this now?
08:31It's going to get sorted out.
08:33Well, they had months that they were going after Bregman.
08:36They sit, there were leaked reports out saying that he was the priority after they pivoted
08:41out of the Juan Soto sweepstakes.
08:43So it hasn't been sorted out to this point.
08:46I don't know how you don't react to those comments from Devers yesterday and feel a
08:50little alarmed about the situation.
08:52Do you guys think this was the first they heard of it?
08:55Like do you think Cora and or Sam Kennedy or Breslow had had conversations with Devers?
09:01In other words, were they caught off guard by what Devers did yesterday?
09:04Or is this something that's just been, they've tried to put out the fire, but been unable
09:08to behind the scenes?
09:10They definitely had conversations with him.
09:12Like they definitely think so.
09:13Yes.
09:14Because if we're having, we were having conversations about this in Megos, right?
09:18Weeks ago, if they bring in Bregman, he seemed like a guy to you yesterday that has had an
09:25ongoing conversation about whether he'd be willing to move to DH.
09:29He didn't seem like that at all.
09:31Not willing.
09:32They had a conversation.
09:33He's like, no, I'm not going.
09:34Even though we had a conversation, but there's no way we, we were talking about this weeks
09:40ago that maybe Devers goes to second.
09:43Does Devers DH?
09:44Does Bregman go to, like, we're having this conversation, how are we having it?
09:49And we're just, you know, Joe Schmoes or Mrs. Joe Schmoe on the radio and Josephine, Josephine,
09:56sorry.
09:57And they're not having it with Devers.
09:59Like that would be acid.
10:01It's unfortunate that you're week one and you're starting it off that way.