One thing I learned as a sports reporter is cutting off your nose to spite your face never works.
Never.
You simply do not jettison your best player to Aldebaran because you don’t like him, and settle for the equivalent of a few broken bats and a bushel basket of used baseballs in return.
This is where we are today – four days after the Red Sox shocked even the San Andreas Fault by trading Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. Devers’ absence cuts a pretty big hole in the team’s batting order, and there’s no one to fill it. And despite what Yalie Craig Breslow (Sox general manager) said Monday, it doesn’t seem likely the team will win as many games as they would have with Devers in the lineup.
Breslow’s a smart dude. Most Yalies are. And fittingly, he used words like “alignment” and “point of inflection” – generally not words you hear in a dugout – Monday night in describing the ever-growing rift between team management and Devers. You don’t need to be flowery to describe what happened here. “Alignment” is another way of saying the two sides weren’t even close to being on the same page, and things got ugly. “Point of inflection” means the Red Sox finally decided Devers had caused enough tension, so he had to go.
That’s OK so far. Devers wouldn’t be the first player run out of town for wearing out his welcome. (Ever heard of Babe Ruth? That baloney about “No No Nanette” is fiction. Owner Harry Frazee was sick of him. It only took the Red Sox 86 years to recover from that.)
The best example of doing this the right way is what happened with Reggie Smith in 1973. He was a great ballplayer, but he had a prickly personality, especially around the team. Then-General Manager Dick O’Connell finally had enough and shipped him to the St. Louis Cardinals for Rick Wise and Bernie Carbo. Both played major roles in the 1975 Red Sox team that came within a game of a world championship.
Contrast this to the Red Sox way of doing business these days. We’ll get to Devers. But first, a little history.
The Red Sox knew, in 2020, that Mookie Betts was a top five Major League player, and would command a ton of money if he stayed in Boston. The Red Sox had no intention of paying him, and bided their time until they found a taker in the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Red Sox justified this by whispering that Betts didn’t want to be in Boston, even as Betts consistently denies this.
At least the Red Sox got a big leaguer in return – even though it was Alex Verdugo, he of great potential but rotten attitude. “Dugie,” who once F-bombed on the team’s post-game show, is now on his third team since the trade.
Xander Bogaerts was a dependable, reliable, and better-than-average player who never said “boo.” He was the ultimate low-maintenance player – a perfect teammate, like Betts.
Didn’t matter. The Red Sox wouldn’t pay him, either. The San Diego Padres didn’t mind, though. The Red Sox didn’t even get one used baseball for him. The pushback from losing Bogaerts is what prompted the team to rush to sign Devers to a 10-year, $313.5 million extension.
You’ll pardon me if I say this “alignment” and “point of inflection” talk about Devers is just bloviating nonsense.
Yes, he’d have helped himself immeasurably if he’d agreed to be a designated hitter after the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman. (He ultimately did, but the drama wasn’t necessary.) And yes, he’d have restored his reputation, which took a beating, if he’d agreed to play first base after Triston Casas got hurt.
But the Red Sox aren’t blameless. All they had to do was ask him to do these things instead of treating him like a hired hand. Monday, Breslow tripped all over his tongue to keep from saying the team blew it, too.
Nobody comes out of this looking good. Not Devers, not Breslow, not team president Sam Kennedy, and not owner John Henry (who I’ve heard owns a newspaper), who could have stepped in and issued an edict forbidding Breslow from moving Devers.
So now, the Red Sox are without their 15-homer, 58-RBI slugger with a half season to go. It’s true that Devers’ truculence on these issues was like giving the team the mallet with which to hit him over the head. The club took advantage, and dumped his salary as well. (The Giants will absorb the cost.)
The victims, once again, are the fans who pay the highest ticket prices in baseball and are constantly asked to “wait until 10 years from now.”
My old boss got tired of it all and hopped over to the dark side (the Yankees) a long time ago. Is it too late for me?
