The biggest storyline for the Red Sox this year was their whole saga with Rafael Devers. If you remember, ever since Alex Bregman arrived in Boston, things at third base got tense. And it eventually led to Devers heading to the Giants. What made it even messier was Devers publicly voicing his frustration with the Red Sox at the time. “I know I’m a ballplayer, but they can’t expect me to play every position out there,” he said back then.

Even so, the Red Sox front office felt comfortable moving on from their steady third baseman, and the team still managed to reach the postseason. But you get the sense that manager Alex Cora hasn’t fully made peace with how everything went down with Devers.

“Early in the offseason, probably, we could have talked to Raffy and let him know that, Hey, there are a lot of guys out there, you know, and you never know what can happen,” Cora opened up about his regret via Underdog’s “Section 10” podcast.

Well, Devers spent eight seasons in the majors with the Red Sox. He scored a .279 average with 215 HRs, 696 RBIs, and 663 runs over 1,053 games. That’s the kind of resume that makes him a franchise cornerstone. So when Bregman showed up in Boston for his first year, it was only normal to expect the team to keep their longtime third baseman in the loop about pursuing another player at his position.

But that didn’t happen…

Instead, Devers learned later that the Red Sox were pursuing Bregman, which completely blindsided him. What started as a front-office decision quickly spiraled into frustration, public comments. Result? Devers is being shipped off to the Giants. The lack of communication also played into his reluctance to move off third base.

Remember when he didn’t want to be a full-time DH, and he later refused to play first even after Triston Casas went down for the season in May?

But what’s now? Was the trade decision a botched move? “There are no regrets, to be honest with you. I think we did a good job trying to make everything work… I think at the end, we needed to make that move for the benefit of everybody,” Cora added.

Now, although Cora still insists the split was the right move for both sides, the communication missteps definitely left a mark on his reputation as a manager who prides himself on strong relationships with players. And there’s an ironic twist…

Cora admits the Devers situation was mishandled. Yet Bregman, the player Boston essentially chose over him, left in free agency after just one season. Not exactly the outcome the Red Sox were aiming for.

Rafael Devers can still play a role Bregman sweepstakes

“Raffy’s a great guy… He’s gonna have a great career in San Francisco, and we, as an organization, move on, and we moved on really quickly because we had to… There’s a lot of learning experiences throughout, but from that one, I think I probably would be more proactive early in the offseason.” Cora added that they learned from this Devers saga and would put them in this offseason.

However, Cora’s proactiveness with Bregman is again attributed to Devers! Well, while Rafael Devers has settled in with the Giants, the Red Sox are now pushing hard to bring Alex Bregman back, and Devers might end up helping Boston land him!!!

As surprising as it sounds, ESPN’s Jorge Castillo laid out how the June trade that sent Devers to San Francisco actually opened the door for the Red Sox to pursue both Bregman and Pete Alonso in 2026.

“Trading Devers moved $29.1 million off the competitive balance tax payroll for each of the next eight years. The Red Sox had about $98 million from their $201 million CBT payroll come off the books after the season,” Castillo noted. In other words, moving Devers gave Boston significant financial flexibility, which they could use to pursue Bregman.

However, the question now is whether they’ll actually follow through. Bregman is expected to command something around a five-year, $140 million deal, and it’s unclear if the Red Sox are ready to commit that much term to a 31-year-old.