Cora’s response to Casas’ comments about Devers won’t quell drama originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
There’s a buzz surrounding the Boston Red Sox at spring training in Fort Myers after they signed two-time All-Star Alex Bregman in free agency.
That’s the good news. The bad news? Not all of that buzz is positive.
The drama began Monday, when Rafael Devers was asked on the first day of full-squad workouts if he’d consider moving off third base to accommodate Bregman, who won a Gold Glove at the position in 2024.
“No. Third base is my position,” Devers replied curtly.
The following day, first baseman Triston Casas came to Devers’ defense by telling reporters that Devers should remain at third base and that Bregman should play second.
On Wednesday, manager Alex Cora was asked how he felt about Casas essentially playing GM and taking a side in the Red Sox infield debate.
“People sit here and we don’t put limits on them,” Cora told reporters in Fort Myers. “He said what he said, but at the end of the day, we’re in the winning business, and from my end, we’re gonna make decisions based on competition and roster flexibility and versatility, and we’re gonna take our best 26 guys to Texas (for Opening Day).”
The 25-year-old Casas is very outspoken for a player with just two-plus years of MLB experience. But when asked if Casas’ candor is unprecedented, Cora responded by evoking a rather interesting name: Curt Schilling, who was Cora’s Red Sox teammate for three seasons from 2005 to 2007.
“I played with guys that were very thoughtful on what they wanted to say and their opinions. I don’t know,” Cora said. “I played with Curt. He was very thoughtful and very — he’d say his thing, right? I don’t know.
“People will express what they feel. Some people are gonna agree; some other people are not gonna agree. Some people are gonna like it, others are not gonna like it. At the end, we like the first baseman. He’s gonna play and he’s gonna hit.”
Cora putting Casas in the same sentence as Schilling is quite the choice; while Schilling indeed spoke his mind as a player, he’s received plenty of backlash in recent years for sharing racist and hateful memes on social media.
Casas certainly doesn’t fall in that category, as his quirks are of the much more harmless variety (such as sunbathing shirtless in the Red Sox outfield.) And for now, Cora seems OK with Casas speaking his mind so long as he delivers on the field.
But if that indeed is Cora’s policy, the storyline of who will play where in Boston’s infield — and whether Cora would go against Devers’ wishes to put the better defender in Bregman at third base — likely won’t subside anytime soon.
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