Riff Raf

 

Here's how I'd describe the Red Sox' season so far. In April, the team was rather good, but Rafael Devers, who just got a major extension and was recently arguing with the front office about where he's gonna play, took ages to start hitting. And now, in May, the Sox have plummeted, with a 5-11 stretch since May 11th [heh, that's funny], and one of the few players that hasn't slowed down is none other than Rafael Devers, who now leads the league in RBIs with 50.

How does someone go from 'not hitting the first two weeks of April' to 'halfway to a fourth 100+ RBI season before we're even two months in?' Well, Devers just finds ways.

I think the comparison you'd be quick to make with Rafael Devers is someone like David Ortiz. Y'know, moves at his own pace, does what he wants, but makes up for it with the levels of production. Devers is 28, and he already has 212 home runs and 688 career RBIs. He's played his entire career with Boston, and intends to finish it off there as well. And the guy just lives to power-hit. It's become his entire job. When I saw him in his rookie season he did some power hitting but was still kinda well-rounded. No, this is his life now. Power-hitting DH. You have Bregman or somebody in to play third, find, Devers is Ortiz now, he's Edgar Martinez now. Which isn't a bad thing at all, as most teams really need someone that good at producing runs. But I think the issue is that Devers is twisting the hand of the team by continuing to play to his own strengths rather than try stuff out for the good of the team.

Miguel Cabrera moved to third for two seasons when Prince Fielder came over, that worked well for all involved parties. Bryce Harper's said he's willing to move back to right field if they get a better everyday first baseman [maybe an old friend in Milwaukee], that's very much Harper's team mentality speaking. Jose Altuve offered to move to lef-...okay bad example. The point is, there comes a point where you're in it for the good of the team rather than for yourself. And again, what Devers is doing isn't bad, and he's still helping the team after all. I just think the Sox expected him to be the 'team first' kind of leadership figure, and he's really not that. He's not David Ortiz in that respect, at least not yet. 

It's gonna be interesting to see what kind of figure Devers becomes as Anthony, Campbell and Mayer inherit the team. Mayer's already hitting .263 in 5 games, and the fans are begging the team to bring up Anthony to play second in lieu of Trevor Story's truly awful stretch. But once they're running the team, will there be a divide between Devers and the rest of the team? Or will some sort of unity develop, sort of like Ortiz in 2013, or Martinez in 2001. I guess we'll have to see.

Coming Tonight: The Guardians officially are clean out of the people they received when they traded this guy. So I guess they're taking the L.