Red Sox execs explain Rafael Devers trade, Craig Breslow says team might win more games without star slugger

Boston Red Sox Brass on Monday evening held a press conference to fight the recent surprise and the controversial trade in Slugger Rafael to the Giants of San Francisco. The Red Sox returned to the Giants on Sunday as a centerpiece of a trade of five players which allowed Boston of young talents in return and also put around 250 million dollars on the contract of permanent in the books of San Francisco.

On the other hand, the Red Sox lost their best striker, who is still at his peak, and they did so in the playoff position in the American League (and which came out of a scan of New Yorkees Rivals).

“In the end, it was quite clear that we could not find the alignment with [Devers]This is the truth, “the Red Sox CEO told journalists on Monday, Sam Kennedy.” We have all worked there in recent months to return to the off -season. … We had a different vision for him in the future than him, and we could not get there. We could not find the alignment, and we reached this inflection point and made the decision to take a big step. “”

This eligible “alignment” was indeed the motivation of trade, and it alludes to a bidirectional controversy which defined a large part of the Boston season to date. He finds himself the frayed relationship between Devers and his old team. Before and after the signing of Boston, Alex Bregman’s free agent last winter – whose Red Sox did not discuss with ahead in advance – Devers fell to the idea of ​​leaving the third goal to make room for Bregman. It was, after all, the position that Devers had occupied for his entire big league career, and it is not common for the players to be “demoted” on the defensive level at 28 years old.

Why the Red Sox exchanged Rafael Devers: Star Slugger made the request for the spring trade in relation to the fractured team

Julian McWilliams

From the club’s point of view, however, Bregman was obviously the best defender, and Moving Devers meant improving what was not a good defense on the field as a whole. Finally, Devers gave in and agreed to become the full -time DH of the Red Sox. He turned out to be a role in which he prospered.

However, it was not the only upheaval in spring. As Julian McWilliams of CBS Sports reported:

“According to a familiar source with the situation, Devers was invited to take foundations in the third and the first goal of training in the spring. He refused – and rather asked for a job. This request put the wheels in motion for what has become a growing gap between the best player in the Sox and the Front Office, led by the Director of Baseball Craig Breslow.”

Then in early May, the first basic player of the Red Sox, Triston Casas, underwent a knee injury at the end of the season, which left a vacuum in the position. According to all appearances, the club wanted to fill this void. He had never played the first goal as a professional, and he would assume the role in the middle of the current without the time to prepare or practice. On the other side of things, the transition to the first basis should not be an expensive task for a player with more than 8,000 defensive rounds to the third goal of the majors.

At that time, manager Alex Cora said there was no desire to move to the first goal. Deves, however, said that Breslow had indeed approached him about such a decision and that he had said to Breslow No.. At this point, the dust was such that the owner of the Red Sox, John Henry, had a face -to -face meeting with devers to clean the air. Whatever the editorial staff of the air, it was not enough to keep pervers in Boston.

The Director of Baseball of Red Sox, Craig Breslow, echoes the substance of Kennedy’s remarks on Monday and we ended with something Audacie dit Breslow. “And therefore at the end of the season, I think we could look back and say that we have won more games than we would have otherwise because of how this list is now able to come together.”

Breslow also declared on Monday “that there was no mandate” to unload the whole contract of permanent in the profession, but rather to improve the team by creating, in the words of Breslow, “a more functional list”.

Although it is difficult to say that getting rid of a striker like Devers is reflected in a better team, it makes Boston’s list less complicated. Due to the influx of young high -end positional talents such as Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, the Red Sox managed a little strangulation in terms of playing time. The large -part business in exchange for pitching opens up roles and a constant playing time for these young high ceiling players. This, however, does not mean that the Red Sox will be better here and now without delay or even in the coming seasons.

As for the return of Boston to the trade, Breslow notably mentioned the potential of Jordan Hicks as “an” dominant “late round and noted that the Red Sox have” identified certain development opportunities “with Kyle Harrison which would allow him to become a front of the front of the rotation of the big leagues.

As for Devers himself, the new giant will have his say at his introductory press conference at Oracle Park on Tuesday afternoon.