So let’s hope this gets resolved soon.
Does anyone else think it’s possible that John Henry just really had a hankerin’ for some Kansas City burnt ends? I mean, look at this thing!
Lunch at Arthur Bryant’s, an afternoon at the Negro Leagues Museum, and an evening stroll around the Plaza — that’s a pretty good day in the City of Fountains if you ask me.
But in this case it looks like the well-known charms of Kanasas City had to wait while the Red Sox owner attended to some business. Henry sat down with Rafael Devers and Alex Cora for a private chat in the manager’s office in Kaufman Stadium before the game yesterday, after Henry, Craig Breslow, and Sam Kennedy all flew out to address the spiraling Rafael Devers situation.
Was anything resolved? We don’t know for sure, but it doesn’t really seem like it.
Breslow, who was not a part of the meeting — which is, uhh, maybe something he should worry about? — says that Henry had “an honest conversation about what we value as an organization, what we believe is important to the Boston Red Sox, that being great teammates for each other.” While Cora — who seems to wield more power inside the organization than ever right now — acknowledged that they are “talking about a possible change of position.”
Devers did not address the media and was once again in the lineup as the team’s DH. Here’s how the beats covered things:
Red Sox owner John Henry meets with Rafael Devers in Kansas City – Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic
Top Red Sox bosses flew to Kansas City to meet with Rafael Devers – Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald
Red Sox front-office members meet with Devers following 1B comments – Jackson Stone, MLB.com
Meanwhile, Devers’ teammates are trying “not to breath life into it.” Trevor Story is taking a measured response to the mess. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
Though apparently one unnamed player told Devers to “just stop talking,” during his now-infamous Thursday media scrum. (Kayley Brown, Boston.com)
The rest of us are still trying to figure out how things got so bad. The main culprit at this point seems to be a terrible lack of communication. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
But whatever the cause, it’s clear that blueprint of the 2025 season now needs to be re-written. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
And, oh yeah, there’s actual baseball stuff to discuss! Like the fact that Hunter Dobbins is making a case to retain a spot in the Sox rotation. (Tim Crowley, NESN)
And, unfortunately, the Sox have some new injuries. Romy Gonzalez and Rob Refsnyder are both dealing with back issues that could land them on the IL. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)