Rafael Devers calls on Red Sox front office to "make an adjustment" to help team win
BOSTON -- A year ago, Rafael Devers entered spring training fresh off signing a 10-year, $313.5 million contract. It was a big-money contract, and inking a home-grown star for the long term was typical behavior for a big-market team looking to compete for a World Series.
Of course, the Red Sox haven't really operated that way in recent years, notably letting Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts walk in free agency. The front office hasn't come close to replacing the talent that's departed the organization, and the team just endured a winter of inactivity following a second consecutive last-place finish.
It doesn't paint a very pretty picture for the 2024 Red Sox. But Devers hopes that can change.
"I know what we needed last year. I know what we needed this year," Devers said Tuesday in Fort Myers, through translator Carlos Villoria Benitez. "A lot of teams need a lot of players, a lot of additions. I can't control what they do. I just can control what I do, just to go out there each day to give my 100 percent and try to be the best version of myself and trying to help my team win."
While Craig Breslow represents a change from Chaim Bloom in the chief baseball officer role, Devers made it quite clear that no matter who is running baseball operations, the organization needs to spend money on talented players.
"They need to make an adjustment to help us players to be in a better position to win," Devers said. "Everybody in this organization wants to win. And we, as players, want to win. And I think they need to make an adjustment to help us win."
Before any reporter could ask a follow-up question, Devers added, "I'm not saying that the team is not OK right now. But they need to be conscious of what is our weakness and what we need right now."
Devers was asked specifically what the team needs in order to compete this season.
"Everybody knows what we need. You know what we need, and they know what we need," he answered. "There's just some things that I can't say. Like, I'm not allowed. But everybody in the organization knows what we need."
Devers also reflected on last season, when he felt some improvements at the deadline could have helped the Red Sox make a push for the postseason.
"I think that when those opportunities come along, we need to be more aggressive and try to embrace those opportunities," Devers said. "Not frustrated at all. It's just things at the end of the year when you go home early, when you know that you had a chance to be in the race or be at least competing to make the playoff run, and they don't give you the push and the help that the team needed at the time, of course it's a little bit like you've got a sting, or something like that. But it's not like something that I can control or anything like that."
Devers tried to make a point that he believes this team could win, saying, "I can't tell you right now if we're gonna win or we're gonna lose. There is a long season ahead of us. But we'll see what happens." But he made his stance clear that ownership and the front office could and should invest more in the team in order to help deliver more wins.
"I care deeply about this organization. I love this organization so much that I want us to win. I want us to win right now, I want us to win in the future. And that's something that is on my mind," Devers said. "But like I said before, and I've said it several times: I can't control what they do. I just can control what I can do on the field that I think is pretty good, and just keep doing that and keep supporting all my teammates."