The Giants held a press conference today to introduce Rafael Devers and one key question about his future in San Francisco was answered. The Giants plan to have him serve as the designated hitter but also as a first baseman going forward. He’ll start taking grounders in preparation for the position change in the next few days. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to relay the news.
“They’re the men in charge,” Devers said today, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “I’m here to play wherever they want me to play.”
It’s obviously a notable shift from where things stood with the Red Sox. Devers had been almost exclusively a third baseman coming into this year, though he has been considered a poor defender. Over the winter, the Sox were connected in rumors to third basemen like Nolan Arenado and Alex Bregman. Members of the Red Sox such as chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Álex Cora downplayed the possibility of Devers being moved off the hot corner.
The Sox eventually signed Bregman, but even in the initial wake of that deal, the club didn’t firmly declare that Devers was done as a third baseman. “He’s a Gold Glove third baseman,” Cora said of Bregman in February. “He hasn’t played second base in the big leagues. I do believe he can be a Gold Glove second baseman, too.”
A few days later, Devers spoke to the media and was adamant about not moving. “It’s my decision,” he said at the time. “My position is third base. Whatever it is they want to do is what they want to do. But my position is third base.” He had apparently been promised he could be a long-term third baseman when signing his ten-year extension in 2023, though Cora dismissed that promise. “That was under Chaim,” Cora said, referring to previous CBO Chaim Bloom. The Sox fired Bloom late in 2023 and later hired Breslow to replace him.
As spring training went on, it became clear that the Sox intended to have Bregman at third, with Devers moved to a DH role. While Devers was clearly frustrated and reportedly considered asking for a trade, he eventually relented and accepted his fate. Whatever emotions he was feeling were not impacting his performance, as Devers has hit .272/.401/.504 for a 148 wRC+ this year.
The situation with the Red Sox grew even more complicated in early May when first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury. Devers taking up that spot seemed like a logical next step, as many subpar third…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at San Francisco Giants – MLB Trade Rumors…