Rafael Devers left no doubt how he feels about playing first base for the Boston Red Sox after Thursday's win. He blasted the organization's handling of his position switch from third base to designated hitter only to then ask him to pick the glove back up after Triston Casas' injury. And the one person who received the blunt of the $300+ million star's criticism was general manager Craig Breslow.
Make no mistake, there is part of this where Devers is at fault. He's the highest-paid player on the team and, whether he wants to be the vocal leader in Boston or not, he's the face of the Red Sox. At a certain point, he has to understand that airing dirty laundry like this while also actively being unwilling to do what the team desperately needs isn't a good look. That's not lost on me or just about anyone.
At the same time, Devers has every reason in the world to be livid with Breslow. And at the end of the day, when Red Sox fans want to know who to blame for this, it's the same person that Devers is. Breslow has botched this situation and led the charge to this point with his decision-making as the top guy in the front office.
Red Sox GM Craig Breslow is most to blame for Rafael Devers drama
For starters, the reason that the Casas injury has felt so devastating for the Red Sox is because Breslow left the roster completely unprepared to withstand it. The organizational depth is nowhere near adequate, which is baffling considering the facts of the situation. Casas missed most of last season, leading to a similar scramble at first base. Was there not a thought for Breslow to be prepared for that should it happen again?
To make that worse for the Red Sox GM, the first base market was remarkably tepid this offseason. Even guys like Pete Alonso were begging to be signed and teams weren't all that interested before he took a discount to return to the Mets.
It wouldn't have broken the bank to explore a free agent acquisition at the position. Nor would it have been out of the realm of possibility to talk to someone like Devers about potentially being the backup first baseman and getting him reps there in spring training. That also extends to getting prospects like Vaughn Grissom looks at first earlier than the organization has.
In regard to Devers, specifically, Breslow has mismanaged the entire situation dating back to the pursuit of Alex Bregman. I was and remain in support of moving Devers off of third base for Bregman, especially since he's been Boston's best player this season. However, the fact that Devers felt blindsided by that decision speaks to the irresponsible handling of the transition from Breslow. He should've prepared his star player for the move rather than just seemingly assuming it'd all be okay.
Also in that vein, it's felt like Breslow and manager Alex Cora have rarely been aligned with any of this as well. Part of Devers being dumbfounded in spring training about moving to DH seemed to be that Cora had talked much of the offseason about having Bregman play second base. Whether those were empty words or not, it seems like the front office and manager weren't in lockstep with the plan if they did sign Bregman.
Obviously, that's now extended to the first base debacle. In the immediate aftermath of the Casas injury, Cora was adamant he wanted Devers to remain at DH. Breslow, on the other hand, left the door open for moving him from DH to first base when he was asked. From Cora's perspective, he has a far better relationship with the player and, almost surely, was trying to ease into those conversations if they were going to be had. Breslow elected to ham-fistedly approach it, and here we are.
Breslow has done a lot of good for the Red Sox. Signing Bregman, trading for and extending Garrett Crochet, extending Kristian Campbell and even landing Aroldis Chapman have all lived up to the "Let Craig Cook" sentiment. At the same time, the drama boiling over to the point that Devers is publicly going scorched earth on the Red Sox is something Breslow must also wear.
If he'd handled so many things differently this offseason and even this season, perhaps we wouldn't be dealing with a headache of this magnitude when the club is still trying to hit its stride.