Red Sox Could Shut Down Superstar For Season As Early As This Week

Boston's playoff hopes are all but extinguished as September commences

Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

Entering Monday, the Boston Red Sox found themselves four and a half games out of the Wild Card race with just 25 games remaining in the regular season.

Every game from here on out is a must-win for Boston, and the Red Sox open up a pivotal series in New York versus the Mets on Monday.

An intriguing sub-plot to Boston’s current fight to stay alive is the health of superstar third baseman Rafael Devers, who has been battling shoulder issues since spring training.

If and when the Red Sox officially fall out of contention, should manager Alex Cora shut down Devers for the season to avoid risking further injury to one of Boston’s franchise centerpieces? It’s an argument that has already been floated by Katie Manganelli of FanSided.

“If the Red Sox fall further out of wild card contention, it may be worth it to shut Devers down for the season,” Manganelli wrote. “The third baseman is too important to Boston's future to be forcing him to play in games that don't matter in a postseason race.”

Manganelli’s declarations came on the heels of a Boston Globe report by Julian McWilliams that described the nature of Devers’s ongoing shoulder injury.

"He's not getting worse, but he's not getting any better," Cora said last week, per McWilliams. "So [on Aug. 26,] I talked to him before Game 2 [of the doubleheader] and told him to just let me know. If he needs two or three [days off,] we'll do it. We have to take care of him. I think it's smart to do. You've seen it throughout the season when you take care of him, he takes care of us. So, you know, hopefully it's one day. But if he needs more than that, I'm willing to (give him that).”

Cora’s comments were made in reference to the rest he gave Devers last week. Since returning to Boston’s lineup, however, the three-time All-Star still doesn’t look like himself. He’s late on fastballs and isn’t striking fear into opposing pitchers like he’s usually capable of doing.

In a world where Boston gets swept by the Mets over the next three days, does Cora throw in the towel on Devers’s season? It’s a situation worth monitoring.

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