Over a year after breaking up, Rafael Devers and the Boston Red Sox are about to sit through an uncomfortable dinner — three of them, in fact.
Devers, now with the San Francisco Giants, returns to Fenway Park this weekend for the first time since last June’s blockbuster trade. The three-time All-Star left Boston after feuding with management, most notably lead baseball executive Craig Breslow, about moving from third base to designated hitter.
Those who will be in attendance have likely already made up their minds on whether they’ll boo, but we have a more fascinating question: How will the Red Sox as an organization handle hosting Devers as an opponent?
Will the Boston Red Sox honor Rafael Devers in his first game back at Fenway Park?
In theory, this shouldn’t even be a question. Devers is easily the best player the Red Sox have had in the 2020s, and he’s alongside Mookie Betts as the faces of the post-David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia era. And don’t forget that Devers loved Boston enough that he signed a 10-year, $313.5 million extension ahead of the 2023 season.
But given how things ended, is it really so far-fetched to think the Red Sox might not want to properly celebrate Devers and all that he did for the franchise? We already saw how Breslow and owner John Henry botched communicating with players following Alex Cora’s firing earlier this year, and it’s clear that Breslow — a longtime MLB pitcher who had played alongside Cora in Boston — plays by his own rules.
You might be wondering what we mean when discussing “honor,” which in this case typically refers to a video package that’ll air before a player’s first at-bat. Fenway Park shared one for Betts, who was traded to the Dodgers before the 2020 season, when he returned to Boston in 2023. We’re not expecting Breslow, Henry and Pedroia to show up with a giant bouquet of flowers and a framed jersey.
As of publication, it remained unclear whether the Red Sox intended to share such a video on Friday night. We must also note that teams do not always share that kind of announcement prior to first pitch.
There is no reason the Red Sox shouldn’t honor Devers, and booing him doesn’t make much sense, either. It’s not like Devers left in free agency and signed a massive deal with the Yankees. He made peace with changing positions and, after an ugly first week, was performing well when the Red Sox stunningly traded him last summer.
Things have the potential to get extremely awkward, though you’d have to objectively hope that Breslow and the Red Sox are mature enough to do right by Devers. Otherwise, Breslow might be the one showered with boos the next time he shows up at Fenway.
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