Craig Breslow addresses the Rafael Devers situation
When sitting down with Craig Breslow just more than a week ago, the Red Sox chief baseball officer talked with WEEI.com about putting down a blueprint for the season with the intention of rolling with it through the first couple of months.
It’s safe to say, the Red Sox’ blueprint has been at least somewhat blown up.
For starters, landing on May 10 with a .500 record after another one-run loss (now 4-10 in such games) thanks to a 2-1, 12-inning loss at the hands of the red-hot Royals wouldn’t have been a preferred path. Living the life of Kansas City, which has now won seven straight and is a crazy 16-5 at Kauffman Stadium would be more what Sox were banking on.
That, however, was a minor smudge on the windshield.
What really put the Red Sox’ unexpected existence in perspective was the out-of-nowhere appearance by principal owner John Henry and team president Sam Kennedy. It goes without saying that a May trip to Kansas City was not on their schedules a month ago.
But that’s where we’re at: The team’s owner joining the team’s manager, Alex Cora, in meeting with the team’s star, Rafael Devers, to try and get the player’s thoughts, perspective and motivation back on the right track.
The plane was undoubtedly fueled up after Devers’ meeting with the media proclaiming his intentions to remain at designated hitter and not abide by the wishes of Breslow and Co. to give first base a try. Oh, and there were also the shots fired toward Devers’ boss, Breslow, that probably cemented the trip to KC.
“I think Raffy was clearly frustrated with the situation,” said Breslow, who also made the road trip, but was not part of Friday’s get-together with Devers. “My reaction was that potentially there was some misunderstanding on the communication, or an opportunity to provide communication. Hopefully that was a step in the right direction here.”
Breslow added, “It does seem like it was productive. It was a chance for [an] honest, candid exchange. I think the most important thing here is we believe that we’ve got a really good team that’s capable of winning a bunch of games and playing meaningful games down the stretch, and that’s what we need to focus on.”
The image of Breslow explaining his perspective to the media, or Henry milling about during a road tilt 40 games into the season all represented the kind of pivot the Red Sox could not have hoped for. Mix in the presence of Dustin Pedroia and his family in the stands - fair or not, immediately leading social media to surmise ownership had sent up the Bat Signal to the former second baseman - and the unexpected twists were all over the place.
“There will be times where I believe acting in the best interests of the organization is probably going to be difficult and uncomfortable, and I have to do it anyway,” Breslow said. “Especially for someone who has undergone pretty significant transitions in roles over the last few months, but a difficult conversation is not a reason to avoid.”
The problem is that this has all become much more difficult and uncomfortable not only for Devers, but for the Red Sox as a whole.
There have been plenty of positives on this early-season path. Hunter Dobbins continued to impress, throwing six shutout innings against the Royals, putting his ERA at 2.78 through four starts. And through all the uneasiness, the Sox are still living life as an American League contender, sitting in second-place (3 games in back of the Yankees) and a ½-game out of the Wild Card.
But it does feel like that rubber-meets-the-road moment is arriving. There are plenty of American League teams that have weathered their early-season twists and turns to hit some sort of stride as we head through the second week of May. The Twins are now one game under .500 after winning six straight. The Mariners (22-15) and Tigers (26-13) and Yankees (3 straight wins) are doing their best to define who is the elite of the elite in this flawed A.L.
And then there are the Royals, a team that was 9-14 just more than two weeks ago.
With the prospects of facing some of these teams in the coming days, the Red Sox are doing whatever they can to join this sort of club … Even if it means bringing their owner on a road trip to do it.
“It was a good conversation,” Cora told the media prior to the series-opening loss. “[Devers] expressed his feelings. John did the same. … I think everybody saw who was here, so I think that carries weight in the clubhouse.”