Reaction to the Rafael Devers deal
The easiest way to describe before the Rafael Devers news was surfaced yesterday and after was clouds. Before? It may not have been raining, but it sure was overcast. After? The sun started peaking out.
And 11-year, $331 million contract extension is always a good way to turn some of those frowns if not upside down then perhaps just a bit more perpendicular.
The deal gave Red Sox followers a feeling they simply haven't had a whole lot of in the past few years. That inkling that their team was going to try and keep pace with the rest of the money-spending Major League Baseball world.
But why now? What now?
After the feel-good moment that came with finally not putting a potential future Hall of Famer in the rearview, those are the questions that matter the most.
Why now? Because the Red Sox had to. When it came to the decisions made regarding Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, there simply wasn't the kind of desperation John Henry and Co. were facing (whether they admit it or not) they faced in the case of Devers.
The third baseman had landed with all the leverage heading into Decision Day, needing just one more season of production before entering the Free Agency Wild West. And, adding to Devers' stranglehold on the financial conversation, the Red Sox were slapped in the face of pricier-than-anticipated market over the past couple of months.
That last $31 million? That was most likely how much more Devers made simply by sitting back and watching free agents sign throughout this offseason.
Slow-playing negotiating - such as floating Matt Olson's comps - no longer had become an option for the Red Sox. And getting any sort of financial break for signing before free agency was certainly out the window. These were going to be Devers' terms, or at least pretty close to them.
And, making life even more uncomfortable for the Red Sox' decision-makers was the reality that would come if Devers left. As much as this was about on the field, it was equally driven by off the field. The Red Sox needed to start steering their ship back toward viability in the eyes of New Englanders, and away from the iceberg that is apathy.
If Devers left - even in a trade (due to the discomfort of what they got back in the Betts deal) - start Googling the Titanic.
To Chaim Bloom's credit, he did proclaim on the Bradfo Sho podcast in September that this was going to be different than the Betts situation. The Red Sox, he explained, were in better position to spend big bucks than at this time three years ago, having a better core of prospects coming up to not only maximize the best years of any long-term deal, but also keep the payroll in a semi-manageable place.
Sure enough, big bucks were spent.
You can make the argument that Betts still would have been a wise investment back then, particularly considering the relative lack of return of foundational players. The idea of Mookie and Rafael serving as the centerpieces for the next 10 years certainly seems like a solid business plan.
But what's done is done. The Red Sox have chosen their anchor in the form of Devers. That brings us to the other question: What now?
Is allocating so much to one player in the world of baseball risky? Of course. Particularly when it involves a player whose position and conditioning have been a constant topic of conversation throughout his big league career. And, yes, you can't run isolations for third basemen. There will be eight other players on the field to worry about, as well.
Even the richest teams don't have players making too high a percentage of their payroll, and if they are it can spell trouble.
This season Aaron Judge accounts for 17 percent of the Yankees' total. Bryce Harper is at 13 percent for the Phillies. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander each make 14 percent of the Mets' number. Manny Machado is a bit uncomfortable at 17 percent for San Diego. And Texas? Yikes. Fifty-three percent of their payroll is accounted for by three players - Corey Seager, Jacob deGrom and Marcus Semien.
Conversely, a key part to constructing a viable major league lineup is having that bat - or bats - others can lean on. A mistake made by the Red Sox after the departure of David Ortiz left was thinking that the likes of Betts, Bogaerts and others would simply make up for his departure by getting better. The reality was they needed the fail-safe that came with the DH to get better. Hence, the acquisition of J.D. Martinez the following year.
The Red Sox will have potential in their lineup in the form of Masa Yoshida, Triston Casas, Trevor Story, Kiké Hernandez and Alex Verdugo. But there alway be a need for certainty. And with the likes of Bogaerts and Martinez out the door, that will fall to Devers.
For this plan to work, the Red Sox needed this kind of player in 2023 and well beyond.
After all these years of negotiating this was where we landed: This Devers deal was non-negotiable.