Red Sox Aren't 'Afraid' Of Rafael Devers, Craig Breslow Insists

You can practically see the Boston Red Sox spinning their yarn day by day on the Rafael Devers situation.

Triston Casas tore his patellar tendon on Friday, and the Red Sox's first base position has been in flux ever since. The platoon of Romy González and Abraham Toro are holding down the spot for now, but the entire world agrees a more effective long-term solution is needed.

Many have pointed out that moving Rafael Devers to first base, just three months after he was moved from third base to designated hitter, seems like a logical maneuver. But the Red Sox expressed initial reluctance to make such a move, because they've already moved Devers once against his desires.

Manager Alex Cora said earlier this week that didn't plan on having the conversation with Devers, then changed his tune slightly on Wednesday, saying that all options were on the table. But the Red Sox are clearly somewhat reluctant to mess with Devers' routine for a second time.

On Thursday, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was asked by WEEI's Chris Curtis on the "Greg Hill Show" why the Red Sox were "afraid" of Devers, in reference to telling him to do what's best for the team once again.

“I don’t think anybody is afraid of Rafael Devers,” Breslow said. “Obviously we had a difficult conversation with him in spring training, moving him off of third base and into the DH spot because we felt like that was best for the team. We’ll continue to operate with what is best for the team front of mind.”

As for eventually moving Devers to first base, Breslow seemingly left the door a lot more open than Cora or anyone else in the organization had before Thursday.

“We’ve had that conversation internally and just batted around ideas as we’re trying to surface every possible solution. I think what Alex is pointing out, rightfully, is we want to make sure we’re not creating one problem by solving another,” Breslow said.

“Raffy’s greatest impact is going to be what he can do in the batter’s box. So if and when the time comes to have that conversation we want to make sure that we’re mindful of all things."

Maybe we're being overly opportunistic, but it feels like that conversation is eventually coming if Devers doesn't approach the team first. This Red Sox team has goals too lofty to be dragged down by a lack of offense at an offense-first position.