Rafael Devers Had 1st Base Ultimatum For Red Sox, New Report Shows

It's been a surreal week to follow the Boston Red Sox.

Less than 72 hours ago, Rafael Devers was hitting home runs against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. But on Tuesday, he was shaking hands in San Francisco, taking pregame ground balls at first base, and roping an RBI double into the right-center field gap.

Of course, the Red Sox asking Devers to play first base was where things went completely south. He was already upset about their poor communication about moving him from third base to designated hitter, but them asking him to try first after Triston Casas' injury in May angered him so much that he blasted chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to the media.

However, one insider's latest report shows Devers playing first base in Boston wasn't completely off the table.

According to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, who spoke with Devers' agent, the slugger would have been willing to play first base if the Red Sox had committed to using him there full-time moving forward, effectively ending Casas' time at the position.

"Agent Nelson Montes de Oca said Devers was willing to play first base for the Sox but wanted the team to commit to keeping him at that position," Abraham wrote.

Of course, there are many follow-up questions to such a statement, none of which we currently have the answers to.

Did Devers effectively communicate that stance to the Red Sox? Did Boston turn him down, perhaps because they were unwilling to commit to the plan without seeing him in action first? Did any of this get brought up in the infamous meeting in Kansas City with owner John Henry?

Or were the two sides on such poor terms by mid-May that the relationship was already unsalvageable?

No matter how things played out behind the scenes, the fact that there was a realistic possibility Devers could have been playing first base in Seattle on Tuesday night instead of DHing in San Francisco will not sit well with a swath of Red Sox Nation.