The Rafael Devers trade came out of nowhere, and it's going to sting for a while, particularly now, while the Boston Red Sox try to hang in the AL Wild Card race. Their first lineup without their star DH shows how much his presence in their lineup will be missed, and made it clear that manager Alex Cora will have to do what he said he didn't want to with rookies.
Tonight's starters. pic.twitter.com/d2GcFtfw8R
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 16, 2025
Most notably, Boston's lineup has two rookies, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer, hitting in the heart of the order. It might be exciting for Red Sox fans to know that those players will be asked to play an integral role in Monday's game, but rookies being asked to do a lot is something that Cora is not a fan of.
“One thing for sure and throughout the history of this organization is rookies come here to contribute, rookies don’t come here to carry teams," Cora said in January, via the Boston Herald.
Cora believes rookies should be seen as contributors, not saviors. Without Devers, they might have to be saviors.
Alex Cora has gone out of his way to try and ease rookies in
Cora believes rookies should be seen as contributors, not saviors, and for the most part, he's backed those words up. The Red Sox waited far too long in the eyes of many to promote Mayer and especially Anthony to the majors, mostly because they wanted to make sure they were fully ready for the challenge. Since they've both been recalled, Cora has been reluctant to use them against left-handed pitching, knowing how tough that can be for left-handed hitters.
We can argue whether Mayer and Anthony should be playing all the time against left-handed pitching, but we can't argue that Cora is being cautious with his lineup because he doesn't want the transition to the majors to be too challenging for these former top prospects.
This Devers trade, though, will ultimately force Cora to lean harder than ever on his rookies.
Red Sox need rookies to be saviors to survive Rafael Devers trade
The simple reality is that this Red Sox lineup lacks firepower without Devers. Say what you want about Devers as a defender or as a teammate, but his bat is among the best in the game. Even this season, he's slashed .272/.401/.504 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI in 73 games despite an atrocious start to his year. He's been, without a doubt, the best hitter in Boston's lineup.
Without him, they need others to step up. In an ideal world, the Red Sox would hope that guys like Alex Bregman and Tristan Casas would be those guys, but Bregman is on the IL and Casas is out for the season. The same even be said for Wilyer Abreu. As a result, Roman Anthony is hitting third in just his seventh career game, and Marcelo Mayer is two spots behind him in his 19th career game.
Can Anthony and Mayer step up? Absolutely. We've seen rookies blossom immediately at the MLB level many times. Still, it can't be ignored that Cora has said repeatedly that he doesn't want to put pressure on rookies. The Devers trade combined with the injuries forces Cora's hand, though. How they perform might end up dictating how the Red Sox finish the season.