What Alex Cora, Crimson Sox gamers stated of Devers’ commerce to Giants

Red Sox

“He’s a great player, but at the end of the day, it’s how many guys? Twenty-six, right?”

Alex Cora was candid on Monday evening when asked how the Red Sox can replicate Rafael Devers’ production at the plate moving forward.

In all likelihood, it’s a fool’s errand. 

“Raffy Devers is Raffy Devers,” Cora said ahead of Boston’s matchup against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. “He’s a special hitter, and we all know that. “But there’s an opportunity for other guys to get at-bats and contribute.”

For the first time this season, the Red Sox will have another player slot in at the DH spot on Monday (Kristian Campbell), with Boston’s de-facto DH and face of the franchise in Devers now playing for the San Francisco Giants.

A little over 24 hours after the Red Sox shocked baseball by sending their superstar slugger out to the West Coast, Cora and Boston’s roster all struck the same tone when it came to staying focused on the task at hand, even with a talented hitter like Devers no longer in the equation. 

“Our job is to show up today and play the Mariners,” Cora said. “And you talk to players, you just want to make sure everybody is in the same page. And we’re in a good spot. 

“Obviously the guy means so much to that group. Means so much for the organization, to the city of Boston. I’m not going to hide it. But at the same time, we gotta show up. We’re playing good baseball. They’re one of the teams that are ahead of us. So, you know, try to win the series.”

While Red Sox executives Craig Breslow and Sam Kennedy fielded questions via Zoom regarding the factors that played into Boston’s decision to part ways with their best player, Cora opted to not harp on the missteps and potential second-guesses that now has Devers set to call the NL West home for at least the next eight years. 

“There’s some reasons it didn’t work out, right? I don’t want to pinpoint stuff, whatever,” Cora said. “But the last few months hasn’t been easy. We made decisions in the offseason. Circumstances have changed the last month. 

“And that’s the business decision we made as an organization. Raffy is going to be with the Giants. We have to turn the page and get ready for this team.”

The Red Sox’s decision to move on from Devers comes at a critical stretch for Boston. Less than two hours after the Devers trade was reported on Sunday, Boston completed a three-game sweep at home against the Yankees — giving Boston a five-game winning streak and victories in seven of its last eight games. 

“Probably just as shocked as everyone else. That’s the best way to describe it. Didn’t really see it coming,” Trevor Story said Monday afternoon to The Boston Globe’s Tim Healey. “The timing of it comes at a weird time. We thought we were playing really good. It’s a brutal reminder that this game is a business. It showed its face.”

Devers’ departure should conceivably clear up more at-bats for Boston’s crop of young hitters like Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kristian Campbell — especially if it allows Cora to cycle players through a now-vacant DH spot. 

But, the Red Sox have their work cut out for them when it comes to accounting for the loss of Devers’ bat in their lineup for both 2025 and in the years ahead. 

“Obviously has a big presence in the lineup, and we’ll miss that,” Garrett Crochet said on NESN of Devers. “But we can’t really just sit here and harp on that. I don’t think that that does anybody in this room any good. I don’t think that’s what the fan base wants to hear us say either. 

“Quite frankly, for us, let’s just keep stacking wins. Like I just said, we’re coming off of a really good week. But you know, all that did was get us back to 500. We obviously have to keep pushing forward, and we still have a lot of ground to make up to be the team that we want to be.”

Devers’ future will involve plenty of breaking pitches now launched into McCovey Cove. 

But the Red Sox are also not dwelling on the loss of one player, especially with the team now seemingly playing its best baseball of the season. 

“He’s a great player, but at the end of the day, it’s how many guys? Twenty-six, right?” Duran told Healey. “It’s just one guy. So we got 25 other guys who were pulling on the same line to win those series, not just one. So I think we gotta think about it like that, as a team.”

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.