Red Sox Reportedly Just Made Rafael Devers 'Substantially Improved Offer'

Devers' impending free agency has been a season-long headache for Boston

Scott Neville | Oct 25, 2022

Red Sox Reportedly Just Made Rafael Devers 'Substantially Improved Offer' /

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Boston Red Sox

For the Boston Red Sox to appease their fanbase, they'll have to ink long-term deals with two members of their core this offseason.

Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts will opt out of his contract in a couple of weeks and third baseman Rafael Devers' contract expires after the 2023 season.

Boston reportedly is starting to work on the latter of the two issues.

"As we reported yesterday, our sources confirm Boston began the negotiation process with Rafael Devers," MLB reporter Yancen Pujols tweeted Tuesday. "The senior executive did not go to Samaná to share a birthday cake or sing happy birthday.

"A substantially improved offer was made versus the previous one in spring training. That said, an agreement is not yet certain. These are early stages of the negotiation, but Boston’s leadership is determined to avoid the start of spring training or the season without having the Dominican under a long-term contract."

It's been heavily reported that assistant general manager Eddie Romero visited Devers in the Dominican Republic, but the subject of the meeting has been surrounded by conflicting reports.

While Pujols stands firm that the Red Sox are in fact negotiating with Devers for a long-term deal, MassLive's Chris Cotillo has been adamant that the meeting was purely a "regular check-in/birthday visit."

As far as who to believe, DraftKings' Jared Carrabis might have put it best.

"In regards to the Rafael Devers rumors and the conflicting reports, one side is directly connected to Devers saying the extension talks have started. The other side is not connected to Devers and said that the Red Sox flew to the Dominican to sing happy birthday to him."

We'll see who wins the source-off, but fans should be rooting heavily for Pujols in his clash with Cotillo.

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Published Oct 25, 2022

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu