Boston Red Sox
“Let’s concentrate here and just leave the past in the past.”
Rafael Devers was traded to the Giants in June 2025. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Rafael Devers might be clubbing pitches into McCovey Cove instead of denting the Green Monster moving forward.
But the now-Giants slugger’s fractured relationship with the Red Sox and the drama that led to a shocking trade last June remains a key talking point entering spring training.
Speaking to The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham on Sunday, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner was upfront when asked to reflect on Devers’ final months with Boston.
“I don’t like to speak ill of any player. I’d like to say that he’s a wonderful person,” Werner told Abraham. “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,” Werner added. “Just pick up a glove.”
Devers — now set to enter his first full season with the Giants — was asked about Werner’s comments on Tuesday.
“That’s in the past. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s over,” Devers said via interpreter Erwin Higueros, according to the Mercury News’ Justice delos Santos. “I don’t have any opinions on what he said. So, let’s concentrate here and just leave the past in the past.”
Once viewed as a franchise fixture in Boston, Devers’ relationship with the Red Sox crumbled last year after he was moved off of his usual spot at third base following the offseason signing of Alex Bregman.
Moving Devers off the hot corner would seemingly benefit all parties, given that the infielder led the AL in errors at third base from 2018-24. But Devers was vocal about his opposition to moving to DH.
“Third base is my position,” Devers told reporters in Fort Myers last February. “It’s what I’ve played. I don’t know what their plans are. I know we had a conversation. I made it clear, kind of what my desires were and whatever happens from here, I don’t know.”
Even though Devers eventually made the switch to DH before the regular season commenced, things went downhill in early May after first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury.
When asked to move over to first base to account for the vacancy left by Casas’ exit, Devers once again didn’t mince words about the Red Sox’s request — along with his thoughts on Boston chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow.
“I know I’m a ballplayer but at the same time, they can’t expect me to play every single position out there,” Devers said last May. “In spring training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove — that I wasn’t going to play any other position but DH. So right now, I just feel like it’s not an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position.”
“Yeah. I don’t think they stay true to their word,” he added. “They told me I was going to be playing this position, DH. And now they are going back on that. So yeah, I don’t think they stay true to their word. … I don’t understand some of the decisions that the GM makes. Next thing you know someone in the outfield gets hurt and they want me to play in the outfield. I think I know the kind of player I am. And yeah, that’s just where I stand.”
A little over a month later, the Red Sox traded Devers to the Giants.
Devers — who eventually earned some reps at first base for the Giants last season — batted .236 with 20 home runs and 51 RBI over 90 games with San Francisco last season.
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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