Rafael Devers, the face of the Boston Red Sox franchise in just the second season of his 10-year, $313.5 million contract, was shockingly traded to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. But Devers did not demand the trade, according to one insider journalist’s report.
“Devers did not demand a trade, a source with knowledge of the discussions says,” wrote reporter Chris Cotillo of MassLive.
But Cotillo also said that the simple fact that Devers did not demand the trade doesn’t mean that he was opposed to being traded.
“This does not mean (Devers) was against it,” Cotillo continued. “(Chief Baseball Officer Craig) Breslow felt it was in the best interest of the team to move on and Devers, who had clearly been unhappy for months, may very well have, too. The anger he felt about the way the (front office) treated him was real.”
Another longtime Red Sox insider, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, said that sources told him the team’s reasoning behind the trade.
Those reasons came down to the fact that the team’s management was fed up with what they perceived as Devers’ refusal to be a team player.
When the Red Sox signed free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, Devers initially refused to move to the designated hitter role, to allow the Gold Glover Bregman to take over the hot corner.
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