Here’s what Rafael Devers actually said tonight

Be careful before you take a Twitter translation as gospel.

The job of translators in any media setting (and in sports especially), carries an untenable burden. A translator is trying to say everything the player said, but usually in a condensed sense because that’s what’s required in today’s day and age of media coverage.

I’m beginning this article with that disclaimer to say that, to the extent that any of the comments Rafael Devers made tonight in response to being asked to move to first base are being misconstrued or have been lost in translation, that is NOT the fault of the Red Sox’s translation staff. Rather, it’s simply an unfortunate characteristic of the job in general at this point in time.

All of that being said, one particular 20-second clip has been circulating on Twitter, with the implication from many that Rafael Devers’ translator did not correctly convey the meaning of Devers’ words. This is not necessarily the case, and this clip is often being spread without a lot of context.

Here’s exactly what Devers said in that clip (in English and Spanish).

“Le pues que paso con Casas vinieron a de mi y yo se que yo soy un pelotero, pero tampoco puedo jugar todos las posiciones no me pueda adaptar como cualquier el otro pelotero una posición. Si de juga primera, saben que no me juga de una vez.”

“So what happened with Casas came to me and I know that I am a player, but I can’t play all the positions either, I can’t adapt like any other player to a different position. If I play first, they know that I won’t play at once [that I won’t play right away].”

In the context of that clip, people were largely overreacting on Twitter and spreading some inadequately translated responses. But, the context after that clip — and in the clarifying questions asked afterward — does show that Devers is clearly annoyed.

Continuation of quote:

“Pero no hay muy buena la decisión vinieron hacia mí, fue ahora no se por qué. Si ellos mismos me quitaron de una posición me dijeron que vamos a decir que boté mi guante, que no iba a jugar más posición y es algo como sin sentido que me pida que vuelva a jugar una posición.”

“But that is not a very good decision as it came to me, I don’t know why it was [made] now. If they removed me from a position… that I was not going to play my position anymore, it is something like nonsense to ask me to play a(nother) position again.”

This shows Devers’ feelings behind the decision and his initial answer, and tells us that he is indeed annoyed. But this annoyance is not from management asking him to do different jobs; it’s from the fact that management asked him to do a new job, he came around to it, did it for two months, and now they’re asking him to consider changing things around again.

He also later clarified that Alex Cora wasn’t in on the decision (from his perspective), and his talk about the change was only with management (presumably Craig Breslow). His frustration was specific because Breslow was a baseball player and he thinks that he, of all people, would know the difficulty of moving positions and know that it’s not something that someone can necessarily do on command (baseball is much different than basketball, after all).

“Hagan su trabajo, que busquen otro pelotero, que se salgan al mercado y creo que esa va a ser la mejor decisión que aprendan a trabajar en su nuevo trabajo… Si porque ellos no tienen palabra porque ya me pusieron a cambiar de una posición y ellos mismo mi dieron la confianza de que no iba a pasar más y no tienen palabra.”

“They (need) to do their job, that they look for another player. They go to the market and I think that is going to be the best decision that they can learn to work in their new job. Yes, because they don’t keep their word, because they already made me change positions and they themselves gave me the confidence that it wasn’t going to happen anymore and they didn’t keep their word.”

Basically, the front office should do their job, and he’ll do his.

He called things ugly multiple times, but it seemed to be more in the context of it would probably look ugly if he played first, not that it would be ugly for him to take on the role or switch up again.

He ended the interview by saying he is a little stubborn and he probably won’t change his mentality on the situation, especially after already switching once this season.

So yes, he is annoyed, he does not want to move to first (as we know), but he also has said that it’s a decision the front office needs to work on and really not something that the players should be required to fix.

He did end the interview with a kind of dig at Breslow, “next thing you know someone will get hurt in the outfield and they’ll be asking me to switch to playing in the outfield,” but clarified that all of his relationships in the clubhouse and with that source of management are good and that he enjoys his role as it is now.

So this is my way of clarifying information and making sure that at least the correct things are being spread, but you all are free to interpret this interview as you may please.