Why and why shouldn’t the 3B of Red Sox play?
What arguments does Red Sox have to take Rafael Devers’s third base in favor of Alex Bregman?
“I will play wherever”
With these three words, Alex Bregman settled – at least for the moment – the controversy with which he started the Spring Training of Boston Red Sox. Last week, the Bostonian franchise put on the table an offer of 120 million dollars for three seasons, sufficiently attractive numbers to convince the third base to leave the Houston Astros … and there began the controversy.
Rafael Devers, undisputed holder of the hot corner during the recent seven years with Boston, declared Monday: “The third base is my position”, and insisted that it will not give it to the imminent 2025 season in which the team would have it considered as designated batter.
What does it say Alex Cora? Well, Boston’s manager also came up with the questions, explained that Devers is going to work at the Spring Training as third base, but seemed to suggest that the last word has not been said to add: “Then we will make decisions accordingly.”
What are the arguments that support the statements of Rafael Devers about what is the owner of the third base of the Red Sox?
We crumble, then the points for and against the 28 -year -old player, who is threatened to be removed from the position and be placed as designated batter, before the arrival of Alex Bregman.
Today, the Dominican is the Boston banner, presumes eight experiences of experience (seven as head of the 3B), all with this flannel.
The Dominican was an important part of the last title achieved by the franchise in 2018, when they were crowned in five games against the Dodgers. Devers consolidated that year in the largest with an average of .240, 21 home runs and 66 produced in 121 games. In the autumn classic, he averaged .214, with a pair of productions.
In 2019 he signed the one that has been, so far, his best season, with 5.4 of War, after leading the American league in doubles (54) with an average of .311 (the only time he has exceeded 300 thousandths), fired 32 homers and produced 115 races.
Devers boasts three calls to the star game and has been twice the best third base on batting average (two silver bats). That is, its offensive contribution as a third base, its historical passage through the team and the face label of the organization today are arguments that work in its favor so that the directive respects the ownership of the hot corner.
However, although they are all weight arguments, the threat called Bregman is very real.
Bregman has since 2017 the best offensive antealist in the postseason, an instance that Boston desperately seeks: .238 on average, with 19 home runs and 54 races produced in a total of 20 series (99 games), four of them, autumn classics.
Bregman comes from winning the first gold glove of his career, after last year he was leader in assists (242), outs consummated with elevated (103), Double Matanzas (23) and percentage of Philage (.972). That is, he lives his best moment as a Fildor in a position of great demand.
A devastating statistic is that of the Outs on average, a metric that summarizes the ability of a flyer, since in its equation it integrates the number and difficulty of consumed plays. Within the variables are the difficulty of the hit, the rank of covered land, how far is the base to which the corridor goes in forced plays, how fast is the batter-corner, among others. In 2024, Devers had -6, while Bregman presumed +6, so any manager and Manager would like to have Bregman instead of Devers in the third cushion. The difference in the quality of one and the other with the glove is abysmal.
Another overwhelming fact? Devers comes from its seventh season in a row as an error leader in the third base in the American League, with 12 pifias. In total, in the last seven years, he has made 127 errors in the hot corner, with special mention in the 2019 and 2021 (22 errors) and 2018 seasons (24 errors).
The numbers leave no doubt, in both sense. If the weight of the image of Devers as a franchise player and its history with the team is taken into account, without a doubt, its position and the defense that makes the position in which it has been the undisputed holder in the last seven seasons is very respectable .
However, in strict adherence to statistics, their permanence in the prelude could be found in regressive count. Perhaps the best for the team in search of returning to protagonists is to forget romanticism, to give way to Bregman and leave in devers the designated batter responsibilities or find another defensive position.
It is almost incredible to think that Craig Breslowhead of the Baseball Operations Office of the Red Sox, and the same CORA They did not calculate the damage and stop the controversy prior to the opening of the training field, is it possible that Devers’s statements break the Boston Clubhouse that seeks to be a ninth star again?
Strictly speaking, both the office brain and the pilot enjoy complete authority to assign the role of each player with a single objective, have the best for the benefit of the organization. It seems that today, it is best, ultimately, get juice to the Bregman glove and not miss the Bat devers.
The hot corner in Boston is burning, what will happen? We’ll see it.
