Bastards Roundtable: Do You Want Rafael Devers Back in a Red Sox Uniform?

Would he return to his former glory and stow the petulant child behavior?

Doug Aitchison aka Dougie Sunshine ☀️

As crazy as it sounds, I say yes. I wouldn’t be jumping for joy bringing him back, but I’d like it. Things have been rocky for him the last year since the whole first base debacle. But before that he was with the team what, 7, 8 years? During that time, we never heard a bad word about Devers come from the front office or the locker room.

Then this clown Breslow shows up, lies to him a ton about the roster and where he’ll be playing, lands on DH. Devers started to thrive in the designated hitter role and then boom, that loser Breslow traded him. There was a smear campaign throughout Boston papers and radio about how bad of a teammate Devers was, but we never heard that before. The only player left from the all-time 2018 team saw what a thriving organization looks like. Then Breslow took over and he saw what a nightmares scenario organization looks like. And he was clearly unhappy with it.

And then what has our team sucked at now for two years? Certainly, it can’t be the thing that Raffy Devers does best, right? Wrong! It’s exactly that. The team can’t hit! Oh, and what’s the biggest hole on the roster? DH? Make it make sense!

Would bringing back Raffy make us a contender? No, God no. Would it strengthen our lineup? My answer is yes; it would and for that reason alone I’d like to see Raffy come back to Fenway where he thrived as a hitter for years.

Terry Cushman

Devers will be traded.

Let’s start with the two worst case scenarios: he gets traded to the Yankees. Or he gets traded to the Blue Jays and hits behind Vladamir Guerrero Jr. for the rest of his career.

Half of Red Sox nation would rather not have a reunion in Boston. Until those two thoughts pop into their heads.

Since 2018 we were always better with Devers on the roster. 2027 and beyond would be no different.

I would prefer to right a major wrong in Red Sox history. Bring back your most clutch hitter, and the one guy who never backs down from the moment.

Mat Holmes

“Hard No,” and it’s really not even close. I wasn’t on the show last year when they pulled the trade off but pull up the screenshots: I was pumped. I liked the flexibility it gave the roster. I loved the idea of getting arms back, and a year later I still love it. Not because Devers can’t hit. He can. The bat was never the problem. It was everything around the bat, and everything that came with it.

Start with the eye test, because he never passed it. He showed up a little heavier every spring. He led the league in errors damn near every year while the broadcast kept telling us nobody worked harder on his defense. Year after year he was the worst third baseman in the league, and it wasn’t close on the error count. At some point the glove stops being a slump and starts being who you are.

Yeah, Craig botched the Bregman piece of it, fine. But that part should have been a no-brainer for Raffy. If you’re a team player, you look at Bregman, you admit he’s the better third baseman, and you slide to first without making it a thing. Instead, we got a standoff. And here’s what nobody wants to say out loud: you never really saw Devers lead. He was a good player when we had real leaders in that room and a good hitter after they left, but the leadership was never there, and it still isn’t.

A year later the receipts keep stacking up. He’s waving off pinch runners in San Francisco, which is the right baseball call, by the way. He no-showed three straight days of first-base work the Giants set up for him with their own franchise legend, Will Clark. And now the rumors are the Giants are shopping him. The team that gave up a haul to get him wants out after one year. That tells you everything you need to know. Leave him in the Bay.

John Russillo

I was a big Devers fan. He wasn’t a clubhouse leader but that was OK. They had Mookie, JD, and Xander. All they needed was a guy to show up and mash, and that’s what Raffy did. He played an OK third base at first but got worse and the years wore on, but he could still hit and did damage in the division, especially against the Yankees. The 2025 fiasco was so strange. It was completely mismanaged by Breslow, a GM who we now know is disliked by just about everyone in the organization. Once Devers finally settled in at DH, they asked him to play first base. Breslow should have read the room and understood that Devers doesn’t react well to change.

Having said all that, I don’t think there’s any way to put the genie back in the bottle. Even with Breslow and Cora gone, I think Devers would still harbor ill will against the team. He hasn’t hit very well since leaving Boston and he’s now a couple years older. Given the propensity of players from the DR to lie about their age, he may even be a few years older. Match that up with a $30M+ salary through 2033 and I’m out. The Red Sox need a complete rebuild and that should not include an aging player with a bloated contract. Sorry, Raffy, love you but no thanks.

Chris Felico

I wouldn’t want Rafael Devers back because I’m ready for the Red Sox to move on from that era of the franchise. This team needs a new direction, a new culture, and a new core to build around. Looking backward instead of forward is exactly how organizations get stuck, and I’d rather see Boston fully commit to what’s next than try to recreate what ultimately didn’t work post Mookie Betts.

I also think Devers became part of the personality issues that surrounded the club. Whether that perception is entirely fair or not, the Red Sox spent more time losing than winning during his tenure. He wasn’t solely responsible for that, but he was one of the defining faces of that era. For me, it’s less about assigning blame and more about turning the page. I’d rather invest in the next chapter than revisit the last one.

Jeremy Schilling

I don’t see the upside in bringing back a player like Rafael Devers. I loved him when he was here and I don’t (entirely) blame him for the way the front office and Cora handled Bregman’s addition. However, he has been a problem for San Francisco with the most recent example the failure to leave the game for a pinch runner. In my opinion, it was egregious display of showing up your manager and teammates. What was most telling for me was the complete lack of response by his teammates as he entered the dugout.

It’s a huge contract and I have questions with regards to his production as he gets a few years older. This organization needs to move forward with new front office and dugout personnel from outside of the organization and will then need to turn over the roster. When they do, they need to start with a true leader and Rafael Devers is not it.