FORT MYERS, Fla. — It was only a coincidence that the barnstorming Savannah Bananas were playing at JetBlue Park Sunday afternoon just as the Red Sox were finishing up a news conference to introduce free agent signee Alex Bregman.
See, the fellas in the yellow uniforms are a fun bunch of Bananas, from their behind-the-back catches to the guy who goes to bat wearing stilts. And Bregman is a brash, rah-rah ambassador of fun who played on two World Series-winning teams during his days with the Houston Astros. Hey, kids, what’s more fun than winning championships?
Know what didn’t register on the fun meter on Sunday? While many of Bregman’s new teammates gathered behind the media throng to watch the proceedings, longtime Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers wandered by and then kept on wandering. And we wondered why. Maybe Devers was unable to hang around due to a family commitment. Maybe he had tickets to watch the Bananas. But it does add a dose of intrigue to spring training, considering that Bregman is a Gold Glove third baseman who may wind up playing that very position — that is, Raffy’s position — for the Red Sox.
Devers is scheduled to meet with the media on Monday, at which time he may well say he’s thrilled to have Bregman as his new teammate and that it’d be best for the Red Sox if the new guy plays third base. That way, Devers could be a mostly designated hitter, which would enable him to devote more time to his true passion, which is swinging the bat. As I’ve already written, the Red Sox should bring in Hall of Famer David Ortiz to counsel Devers on the mental adjustments one needs to make to be a designated hitter.
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But Sunday’s media availability was less about what was said than about what wasn’t said. And if you’re worried you’re about to get yet another news bulletin from the press box that the Red Sox still won’t say what position Bregman is going to play this season, here it comes in 3 … 2 … 1.
The Red Sox still won’t say what position Bregman is going to play this season.
But as the Sunday matinee media availability went on and on, including the part where Bregman called Dustin Pedroia “my favorite player,” adding that the former Sox second baseman reached out to him “a few times this offseason and talked about how special it was to be a part of the Boston Red Sox,” it occurred to me that we have this what’s-not-being-said thing backward.
Alex Bregman, Boston Red Sox. pic.twitter.com/YLsxChe88g
— Red Sox (@RedSox) February 16, 2025
Forget for a moment that nobody’s saying where Bregman will play this season. Instead, consider this: No longer are the Sox saying Devers is Boston’s third baseman.
Sure, it’s a different way of saying the same thing. Bregman is a Gold Glove-winning third baseman whose signing by the Red Sox automatically makes him a candidate to play the position this season. But look at it from Devers’ perspective: He’s been playing third base pretty much every day since he arrived in the big leagues in 2017. Of the 980 regular-season games he has played, 942 of them have been starts at third base. On the Red Sox, it’s his position.
Throughout the offseason, Red Sox manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow spoke of Devers as being their third baseman.
As recently as last Tuesday, Cora said of Devers, “Right now, he’s our third baseman. He’s the third baseman for the Boston Red Sox.”
And now? Cora talks about how there are still moves to be made, and about “roster construction.”
Devers, 28, is no great shakes as a third baseman. And he’s not going to magically get better as he ages. True, Wade Boggs didn’t win his first Gold Glove until he was 36, by which time he was playing for the Yankees. But Boggs absolutely worked to make himself into a stellar defensive third baseman, and he should have won a couple of Gold Gloves during his Boston years. I don’t see Devers making that leap.
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Still, it’s strange that a player with Devers’ resume has arrived in camp with his role on the team in question. This is somewhat unavoidable because the Red Sox must choose their words carefully as they sort things out, but that doesn’t make it any easier for Devers. He may not own a Gold Glove, but he’s a two-time Silver Slugger at the position.
Bregman, too, chooses his words wisely.
“I just want to play wherever it helps the team win,” he said. “I’ll leave that decision to (Cora). I’ll just do whatever he tells me to do and try to be there every single day and work hard and be ready to win.”
Rah-rah!
The newest member of the Red Sox also talked about the trash barrel-bangin’, sign-stealing 2017 World Series champion Astros. Sort of. Bregman has a knack for dancing past all that, having already done an apology tour, and he was on his game Sunday when asked about having been booed aplenty at Fenway Park, his new home. “Yeah, but it’s all good,” Bregman said, and he’s probably right about that. Given that his presence greatly increases Boston’s chances of qualifying for the postseason tourney, Red Sox fans aren’t likely to have much interest in rehashing 2017.
So that’s over. What’s ongoing is The Devers Situation. Bregman has already batted it away with his scripted I’ll-play-anywhere bit. But until we find out what’s going on inside Devers’ head, it’s hard to say what’s going on with the Red Sox infield.
(Photo of Alex Bregman speaking to the media: Maddie Malhotra / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)
