Craig Breslow doesn’t sound like a guy who wants to try moving Rafael Devers back into defense again, despite Sam Kennedy’s on-air comments praising the designated hitter for taking grounders before games.
Kennedy, president of the Boston Red Sox, said it was “good to see” Devers taking ground balls when NESN’s Tom Caron asked him if disputes about playing third and first base earlier this spring were now “water on the bridge” on a pregame show.
“We know that if the time is right and we need him, he'll be there. But we’re focused on winning games, and keep him raking in that lineup,” he said.
Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow distanced himself from that statement during his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “Greg Hill Show.”
“I saw Sam make those comments. I obviously can’t speak for Sam. I don’t know that we should take it precisely at its word,” he said. “What Sam was probably getting at is, there’s been a lot of attention to Raffy and the media, and Raffy and me. But, at the end of the day, when push comes to shove, Raffy is usually in the right place at the right time.”
“Right now it’s in the middle of the lineup. If there continues to be a need somewhere else, we’ll explore that in due time,” he added.
Hill playfully followed up with, “What you’re saying is, Sam doesn’t know what he’s talking about?
“I did not say that,” Breslow said amidst chuckles.
“If you were to go to him and say, ‘Hey Raffy, we need you tonight, over on first base,’ then you feel like he would be available and ready to go?” Hill asked
“I did not say that, either,” Breslow answered. “These things tend to blow up and then tend to blow over. We saw it coming out of spring training. Raffy is extremely competitive. He’s also emotional. But he cares deeply about the team and deeply about winning. He ends up doing the right thing, and that’s all we can ask. Right now, the right thing for him is to continue to anchor the lineup and help us put runs on the board.”
Devers made headlines on two different occasions for publicly rebuffing position changes: he resisted moving from third base to designated hitter to make room for Alex Bregman, and then refused to play first base when Tristan Casas suffered a season-ending injury.
But he’s flourished as a designated hitter, drilling 14 home runs (seventh-best in the American League) and maintaining a .911 OPS. His 57 runs batted in trail just Aaron Judge in the league.
Breslow has a bit of a tight rope act keeping the peace between the highest-paid Sox player and finding what’s best for the team as they try to claw their way out of fourth place in the American League East. What’s clear from his WEEI appearance is that addressing whether Devers will return to the field has become a lightning rod within the Sox, as he tip-toed around giving any kind of determinate answer about Devers’ flexibility. It’s nice to hear he “cares deeply about winning,” but so far this season – at least to outsiders - it appears as though the unstoppable force of the Red Sox’ internal dysfunction has met the immovable object of Devers’ stubborn pride.