We can all agree that if Rafael Devers had been willing to play first base, there's a good chance he'd still play for the Boston Red Sox. Rehashing the issue may not fix anything, but many still consider it worth rehashing.
Devers was traded to the San Francisco Giants on June 15, about six weeks after first baseman Triston Casas tore the patellar tendon in his left knee. Because Devers was still miffed about moving to designated hitter in the wake of the Alex Bregman signing, he flat-out refused to move again to accommodate the team's sudden needs at first base.
One person in particular who recently saw fit to revisit the topic of Devers' refusal was Red Sox chairman Tom Werner, who tossed a sharp dig at the player he and the rest of the ownership group once saw fit to extend for 11 years and $331 million.
“I don’t like to speak ill of any player. I’d like to say that he’s a wonderful person,” Werner told The Boston Globe on Sunday. “But, of course, when we had an injury at first base his unwillingness to play that position was extremely discouraging.”
“It was a discouraging episode. Just pick up a glove.”
Devers was asked about Werner's comments on Tuesday, over 2,500 miles away from Boston in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“That’s in the past," Devers said through an interpreter, per Justice delos Santos of the San Jose Mercury News. "I don’t want to talk about it. It’s over. I don’t have any opinions on what he said. So, let’s concentrate here and just leave the past in the past.”
Something tells us that for many in Red Sox Nation, this saga will never truly be in the past. But as the Red Sox look to find power from other sources this season, Devers will happily wear a first baseman's mitt in orange and black.