The Boston Red Sox inked Alex Bregman to a landmark contract last week. It was the crowning achievement of Craig Breslow's tenure as GM, and it finally felt like Boston was playing with the big kids in free agency. Bregman's three-year, $120 million contract puts him among MLB's highest annual earners. It was a real swing from a front office that has been far too reserved for far too long.
Just a few days into Bregman's tenure, however, things are starting to sour in Boston. Bregman has been a third baseman his entire career, and a damn good one. The expectation was that he would transition to second base in Boston, however, with Rafael Devers patrolling the hot corner.
That was an understandable setup. Bregman can age more gracefully at second base and Devers, Boston's marquee superstar, has earned the "premium" position of third, even if his glove pales in comparison to his bat.
On paper, though, it clearly makes more sense to either demote Devers to second, or to DH him and work out a trade for Masataka Yoshida, which has been brewing for quite some time. Bregman is far and away the superior glove at third. The only thing standing in the way of such an alignment is ego.
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Rafael Devers does not sound thrilled about Alex Bregman potentially claiming 3B
Bregman took reps at third base in his first Red Sox spring training action. That video naturally picked up steam online. It's a notable development.
Alex Bregman playing third base to start the day pic.twitter.com/vcUquzpEb8
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) February 17, 2025
It's also a logical development... assuming Rafael Devers approved it.
Well, reader, Devers did not approve it. The 28-year-old All-Star told reporters he would not DH for Boston if asked to.
Devers says he will not DH if they ask him to
— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) February 17, 2025
That led to a natural, if far more cataclysmic hypothetical: Would Devers request a trade if Boston attempts to move him off of third base, a position he was promised under the Chaim Bloom regime? The third baseman (DH?) did not exactly shut down the possibility.
Asked if he’d wanted to be traded if the team decides Bregamn is at third.
— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) February 17, 2025
“That’s a tough answer to give. I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve been here my entire career. I haven’t asked myself that question. I’m open to listening. I’m not close to those conversations.”
Yeesh. I am uncomfortable.
This is not a trade demand, but it sure sounds like a trade threat, at the very least. It's remarkable that Boston didn't work all this out before signing Bregman. If Bregman was never moving to second base — an idea Alex Cora sounded more than happy with earlier this offseason — then why was Devers so blindsided by this shift in positional assignments? You can't sign a $120 million free agent with the intention of moving your best player to a new position if your best player is categorically opposed to such a change.
This is a mess. There's plenty of time for Boston to work it out, for Devers to cool down and collect his thoughts, but the Red Sox appear to have skipped a key step in this whole process. Bregman is a tremendous talent and a great fit for Boston's lineup, but it's all moot if it ends up costing Boston a happy Devers. Trading their franchise cornerstone would be a disastrous outcome. It would undermine all the hard work Breslow and the front office put into turning this Red Sox team around.
The solution seems rather simple: just move Bregman to second and bite the bullet on defense. If Cora and the front office aren't willing to budge on Bregman's position, though, it could end up as a costly battle of wills with Devers.