Ahead of the Red Sox 6-1 loss to the Rangers on Tuesday at Fenway Park, manager Alex Cora made headlines with his flat out rejection of the idea of designated hitter Rafael Devers playing first base at some point this season as the team continues to search for a permanent replacement for the injured Triston Casas.
“We talked about the Raffy first base thing the other day,” said MassLive’s Chris Cotillo on Tuesday. “Have you had any conversations with him about it?”
“No,” Cora responded flatly.
“Do you plan to?” Cotillo followed up.
“No,” Cora repeated with the same affect.
On Wednesday with WEEI Afternoons, Cora was singing a completely different tune when it came to this conversation.
“Right now with him, he's very comfortable with his role, right?” said Cora. “And we asked him to do something in spring training that as you guys know, he didn't agree [with] in the beginning. And then little by little, he has embraced it because he knows the quality of the player that we have at third base [and] where we’re at as a team.
“I always say that time is our best friend in situations like this. And you know, there's two reasons. Like, Triston got hurt Saturday, and we got some capable players. Romy is having a good season. Toro, you saw him yesterday - he put some good at bats. So I'm not saying we'll never have that conversation, but I think for now, where we’re at, I like Raffy as a DH. I like him as I make my DH. You take away the first weekend of the season, he's been one of the best hitters in the big leagues, and he's doing an outstanding job.”
WEEI’s Ted Johnson follow-up, asking if this change in tune means he hopes Devers will be playing first base at some point down the line this season.
“I mean, to be fair with the player, I think, like I said, he's getting used to [playing DH], and he's been really good,” said Cora. “I know that people think that you just stick him at first and see what happens, you know?
“And I actually had a conversation with my brother today about different scenarios and all that. And if you think about it, there's three players - well, everybody has to be involved in the game, right? Defensively, you have to. But the catcher, the pitcher and the first baseman, they have to be locked in, and it's not that easy. You know, positioning is a lot different than in the past. I think in the past, we’d just say, ‘OK, put him on first base and just catch throws.’ Now if you look at it, we play the first baseman off, and there's different alignments.
“You know, we can say, ‘OK, Raffy is going to play first.’ It's not going to happen tomorrow. It's not going to happen in five days, you know? So there's a process, and it’s a long process, too. But like I said - for the player, to be fair with him, I think we're in a good spot with him where he's at mentally and with this process, and getting used to what he's doing. And in my opinion, to throw something at him right now, it [would] be very unfair.”
“Have you talked to anybody else on staff [about playing first base]?” asked WEEI’s Nick “Fitzy” Stevens. “Maybe a Trevor Story or Kristian Campbell, since he’s had a little positional versatility.”
“No, we haven’t done that,” Cora said with a bit of a laugh. “But one of the things - and as you guys know, it works in sports, it works in everything, right? You have conversations, you know? And not everybody needs to know what's going on in there, right? And me and Craig [Breslow], we have a lot of respect. We like working with each other, and I think the common goal here is to win the World Series. And we understand that this is a different team today than what it was Saturday, right?
“Before the season started, we were talking about Triston Casas hitting fourth, playing first base and hitting 35 home runs, right? And he's not going to be able to do that. So we have to make adjustments. It doesn't have to be right now. We'll explore every option, and then we'll make a decision based on the team.”
So if a replacement for Casas doesn’t have to be “right away,” and a potential position change for Devers being a “long process,” then what should fans expect as a realistic timeline for a solution at first base?
Cora isn’t ruling out one of his current platoon options.
“I'll tell you what - if Romy Gonzalez is still hitting .350, then he's the answer,” said Cora. “He's a good defender. He's a good athlete. The one thing about this, obviously the negative - we don't have Triston the hitter, the power. We're going to take something positive out of this bad situation. Romy’s very athletic. We can be more aggressive running the bases. He's a good defender, and he's actually putting it at bat. So hopefully he is the answer, and we don't have to explore any other venue. But you know, we'll keep talking about it.”
In 55 plate appearances for Boston, Gonzalez has found his groove in his second season with the team:
- .327 batting average
- .382 on-base percentage
- .449 slugging percentage
- .831 OPS
If the season ended today, those would all constitute career highs for the 28-year-old. And with 16 hits, 6 doubles, 6 RBI and 10 runs scored, he’s pacing towards eclipsing all his major career hitting marks (outside of home runs, as he has yet to go yard).
This type of production from Gonzalez does vindicate Cora’s rationale, to this point. And if Gonzalez can remain clean in the field (0 errors on the year), that’s an obvious added bonus to the in-house solution.
With all of this said, Gonzalez’s numbers are comprised from a relatively short sample size. If things regress back to the mean for the career .251 hitter, Boston (18-19) is going to have to pivot quickly as their boat continues to take on water at the quarter-pole of the season.
Sox will look to even their series with the Rangers (18-18) at a game a piece with Tanner Houck (0-2, 6.38 ERA) on the mound, with Tyler Mahle (3-1, 1.19 ERA) getting the start for Texas. First pitch at Fenway Park is set for 6:45 p.m. ET.
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