The Red Sox week in review dives into the Rafael Devers drama, Ceddanne Rafaela, and the road ahead.
The conventional line of thinking when it comes to truly evaluating a baseball season at large is to give it until Memorial Day before doing so.
With 162 of these things we have to sit through, it can be easy to get in a tizzy over one or two matchups early on in the year; Friday night’s 12-inning Red Sox loss at the hands of the Kansas City Royals, perhaps the dumbest game in the sport’s history, is a prime example of that. It’s understandable to get worked up at this juncture, but an important three-word refrain is key to keep in mind for the first few weeks of a baseball campaign: “It’s still early.”
While that phrase can grace us with peace of mind for the time being, time’s arrow continues to point forward. Memorial Day is just two weeks away, and by then it’ll be tough to justify any Red Sox-related hiccups as a result of the season’s early nature.
Translation: it’s gut check time.
This past week in Boston baseball seemed like a microcosm of what we’ve seen throughout 2025 to date: the offense carrying the load one night and fumbling in big moments the next, one day of encouraging pitching performances and another of…well, non-encouraging moments, defensive hiccups and highlights, all that jazz. Mix that all together with some off-the-field drama and you’ve got yourself some interesting topics for this edition of the MMBB.
And so, the club that hasn’t quite been good enough to establish themselves as true American League contenders but not quite bad enough to vanish from the conversation entirely enters a pivotal stretch—the one right before it’s widely understood to be the first evaluation mark of the season (more on that later). Buckle up.
It’s Monday Morning Brushback time, y’all.
First Things First
Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images
I know, I’m sorry for bringing this topic back up. We’re a few days removed from it and it’s been covered extensively on OTM. No shade to my fellow writers, but I’m sure you’re not exactly thrilled to cover this ground again.
But it is the Red Sox week in review article, so I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t discuss the biggest story of the week: Rafael Devers’ quotes from Thursday regarding his potential move from the designated hitter slot to first base in the wake of Triston Casas’ season-ending injury.
TL;DR: He’s not on board with the idea.
There’s no shortage of social posts and clips of the post game interview that Raf took part in, but here are the full comments for your convenience. Jump to the 2:48 mark in the video.
Before I jump into some scattered thoughts on the scenario, let me say this: the “picking sides” shite that you see from some within Red Sox Nation in regards to this scenario is lame, if you ask me. We all want what’s best for the club. We’re not primarily Rafael Devers fans, or Craig Breslow fans, or Alex Cora fans, or however you want to slice it up—we’re primarily Red Sox fans. I don’t fault anyone for how they feel about this predicament. We all just want what’s best for the team at the end of the day.
With that in mind, I understand why some folks would find Devers’ comments annoying. A guy that signed a nine-figure deal adamantly speaking out against a move over to a position of need—when other stars in the league have shifted spots on the diamond to plug holes in their respective lineups—could ruffle some feathers. To borrow from a different local team, a lot of us are spoiled by The Patriot Way: players doing whatever it takes to win. Perhaps Devers’ teammates feel that way too and aren’t too hot about what’s transpired this past week.
At the same time: I think Devers is totally justified in being annoyed or confused (or whatever emotion you want to call it) by this request, which he says came from Breslow. He’s already made a big shift within this calendar year. Say what you want about designated hitters, but plenty of respected baseball minds have said that it’s not as easy as “see ball, hit ball” when you’re moved off the field and into that role. When your only job is to hit, and you don’t come through, you don’t have a natural method within a game to have a short memory. DHs have to sit on that strikeout or that weak grounder or that pop up for lengthy spells, until their next turn at the plate.
That’s not anything to sneeze at, and Devers has had to get used to that reality. After that big change and after he was told that his defensive services would no longer be required, he’s now being poised with making another big change by grabbing his glove again. I get why he’s cool to that proposal. Regardless of his contract, he wants to be treated with respect; I totally understand that.
For the record: I also think that shifting Devers to first base at this moment in time is not the wisest idea—not because of Devers’ apprehension to the idea, but because I think it could end in disaster this season. Playing first is difficult! Moneyball said so!
Maybe in the future, after a full offseason of preparing for the transition, Devers could become a first baseman. To throw him into that spot on the fly, after the club moved him off of a more vital spot when it comes to defense, seems counter-intuitive. The club would actively be giving him more chances to field the ball—to literally come in contact with the ball with his glove—after they deemed his glove at the hot corner not worthy.
Yet, I honestly get why Breslow asked Devers about it. I don’t see the inquiry as a sign of dishonesty from the front office; Casas’ unforeseen injury drastically changed the picture, and the organization has to drastically respond to the new reality. I do think it’s fair to call the lack of organizational depth at the position a bit of incompetence, though. Devers should not have been the fail-safe here, but I understand why the topic was brought up. Regardless, I’d expect Breslow to respond by hitting the free agent or trade market for a proper guy to hold down first for the time being. Who will that person be? Fuck if I know.
I don’t think it’s worth getting into what was or wasn’t said to Devers in the off-season while the team was working on acquiring new talent and shifting where players do and don’t fit in the lineup. I wasn’t in those conversations, so I don’t want to assume anything. All I know is that I want this to blow over, similar to the third-to-DH drama that went down in Fort Myers. Maybe it will, because Devers and Breslow and Cora and everyone else—much like us—want what’s best for the Boston Red Sox baseball club. We all should be rowing in the same direction.
If it doesn’t blow over, though………yikes.
Ceddy’s Cituation
Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
We’ve seen the best and the blurst of Ceddanne Rafaela thus far in 2025. The defense in center field is as dazzling as ever, as evidenced by his stellar grab in the triangle this past week against Texas.
Meanwhile, he’s certainly had his moments—both good and bad—at the dish. We sorta knew that going in, and an OPS of around .660 seems to track with that expectation.
In spite of Rafaela’s all-world defense, you’d be fair in considering his .242/.296/.371 triple slash and his 86 OPS+ uninspiring, especially when other members of the lineup aren’t picking up the slack. Again: offense isn’t Ceddy’s calling card, but the team is need of more of a jolt to deepen the line up.
To no one’s surprise, the popular idea to resolve that issue is to call up Roman Anthony and/or Marcelo Mayer from Worcester. I think the debuts of these über prospects are coming soon, and their pedigree could absolutely provide the Red Sox offense with that needed juice.
With those looming promotions come with some musical chairs in the lineup. As Roman Anthony is slated to be put into a corner outfield spot, it makes sense that Rafaela’s understood to be the guy who will miss out on every day action as Jarren Duran is moved over from left to center.
While that ultimately might make the most sense, I wanted to give Rafaela a bit of credit for what he’s done at the plate—even if the surface numbers don’t reflect those developments. One look at his Savant page shows that Ceddy’s expected batting average is considerably higher than his actual mark, while he’s been expected to slug over 100 points more than what he’s actually slugged.
Of course, every day would be Christmas if if’s and but’s were candy and nuts, but Rafaela’s quality of contact and his general approach in the box have both improved in 2025: he’s hitting the ball harder on average and hitting it on the screws more consistently, while he’s significantly cut down on the strikeouts while seeing a lil’ bump in walk rate (easier to do so when he was literally in the very first percentile in walk rate last year, but hey—gotta hand it to him!).
I think Rafaela’s move to a super-utility role will be coming sooner rather than later, but any good team should have a guy like him to deploy. If his positive strides can stick, Ceddy will have his moments on offense while acting as a defensive anchor on days off for the starters or late in tight games.
And hey: if he does stay in a full-time role, maybe we’ll see some of those expected metrics come to fruition more often.
The Road Ahead
Photo by Jaiden Tripi/Getty Images
Going back to the gut check theme: the Red Sox have some staunch competition coming down the pipe: they travel to Detroit to take on the red-hot Motor City Kitties for a trio of games before heading back to Fenway to host the Atlanta Braves, who have seemed to shake off their horrendous start. The New York Mets, one of the best teams in the league to date, then come into town for three.
Gut check time, indeed.
This upcoming stretch is especially notable when you consider that Boston has actually faced the weakest strength of schedule across MLB, according to ESPN. On top of that, Tankathon puts their remaining schedule within the top 10 hardest in baseball.
Two ways to look at it, folks. I’ve come up with a completely unique way of doing so and I think you’re gonna find it very creative. I call it “Glass Half Empty, Glass Half Full.” Cool, right?
The half empty way of looking at these facts is obvious: the Red Sox have only put together a mediocre win-loss record against the league’s weakest slate of games thus far, and now they’re going to be facing some of the top teams in the majors. Not ideal.
The hall full way, you ask? What a great opportunity to shut some critics up, no? You take sets against the liked of the Tigers and the Mets and all of a sudden you’re feeling a lot better about the team, warts and all. Remember how good we were feeling after we took those serieseseseseses against Philly and the Yankees last June after sleepwalking for a bit? That was great! Don’t ask me what happened after that, but it was quite the time to be alive!
Regardless of what’s happened so far this season, the Red Sox have a golden opportunity to carpe the hell out of some diems starting today.
Song of the Week: “I’ll Always Love My Mama” by The Intruders
A day late, I know, but a happy belated Mother’s Day to you and yours. My mom loves this song—big Motown fan, Mama Fitz is—so I had to give this the nod.
Same time and same place next week, folks! Go Sox.