Red Sox Alex Cora offers 3-word response on Rafael Devers first base move

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The Boston Red Sox were enjoying some great returns from an all-in offseason before brutal news struck the roster.

The team seems to have a new franchise ace in trade addition Garrett Crochet. And Kristian Campbell might be the best rookie in all of baseball after his early-season promotion. Plus, the roster seemed to finally be settling into its new defensive alignment after free agent signing Alex Bregman took over third base for Rafael Devers.

On Friday, though, first baseman Triston Casas suffered a knee injury that is likely to keep him out for the rest of the season. As the team looks to fill in his position, some have speculated that Devers could be a good substitute.

After the team went through some notable drama in moving Devers to the designated hitter role, manager Alex Cora addressed a potential first base move with three simple words: “He’s my DH.”

“From my end right now, no,” Cora said, according to Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. “We asked him to do something in spring training. And in the beginning, he didn’t agree with it, and now he’s very comfortable doing what he’s doing.”

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Cora added that it’s not easy for a player to shift to first base for the first time in his career and that the team is going to stick with Abraham Toro and Romy González as the immediate substitutes for Casas instead.

“People think that, ‘Oh, just play first base.’ No, it doesn’t work that way — the picks, the throws, everything that comes with it,” he added. “It’s a tough decision to play, a tough position to learn, and like I said, I’m very comfortable with these two guys playing first base.”

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Peter Chawaga

Peter Chawaga is a veteran journalist covering Major League Baseball for The Sporting News. His MLB reporting has included feature interviews with commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz, salary analysis, player rankings and more. He has covered baseball for Forbes, Yardbarker, Pitcher List, Athlon and other outlets.

With over ten years of newsroom experience, he has previously covered finance, technology, arts, and culture for newspapers, magazines, and websites nationwide. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in English and journalism.