The Boston Red Sox have had a weird end to the week.
Boston dropped the first game of a three-game set against the Kansas City Royals on Friday night in extra innings. That’s not the worst part of the week by any means, though.
Rafael Devers made it clear that he doesn’t want to shift over and play first base. He made specific comments about chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. Things haven’t been pretty, and they took an immediate turn with this week with Breslow, Sam Kennedy, and even John Henry flying in to meet with Devers on Friday, as shared by MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo.
“Red Sox principal owner John Henry, president/CEO Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow don’t usually appear, all together, at random May road games,” Cotillo said. “On Friday, though, they made sure they were seen.
“One day after slugger Rafael Devers expressed an unwillingness to move to first base and ripped Breslow in a media session, Henry, Kennedy and Breslow took an unplanned trip to the Midwest to try to clear the air with him. Before the Sox’ series opener against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium, the trio of Henry, Devers and manager Alex Cora met in the manager’s office. The events of the day delayed Cora’s pregame availability by more than an hour.”
Breslow talked about the meeting, also shared by Cotillo.
“There were conversations. John, Sam and I flew out earlier today,” Breslow said as shared by Cotillo. “It was actually John who spoke directly with Raffy. We felt like it was important based on the situation that unfolded yesterday to come out here and have an honest conversation about what we value as an organization and what we believe is important to the Boston Red Sox. That being great teammates for each other.”
So, what now? It’s pretty clear that there are some pretty strong feelings at work here. There isn’t an answer in sight, though.
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