Red Sox, Rafael Devers Reportedly 'Galaxies Apart' In Negotiations

Boston seemingly has not learned from previous mistakes

Scott Neville | Dec 20, 2022

Red Sox, Rafael Devers Reportedly 'Galaxies Apart' In Negotiations /

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Boston Red Sox

Are the Boston Red Sox already botching negotiations with superstar third baseman Rafael Devers just weeks removed from losing their previous face of the franchise?

That appears to be the case in the latest of many head-scratching moves coming from Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and company.

"According to multiple league sources, the Red Sox and Devers are 'galaxies apart' in their contract negotiations," ESPN's Joon Lee wrote Monday. "The current expectation from Devers and his camp is that the third baseman will be a free agent at the end of 2023, given the current state of contract talks."

After the article, Lee jumped on the ITM Podcast to further break down the contract disparity between the Red Sox and Devers.

Listen to the full conversation with Joon Lee. Click the share button to listen on Apple or Spotify, and don't forget to follow the new feed to get notified when the latest episodes drop.

"From what I've heard, the negotiations haven't changed at all, there's still an enormous gap," Lee told ITM Podcast's Steve Perrault and Joey Copponi Monday. "And so it makes me feel like Raffy is prepared at this point to head into free agency unless something drastic changes and that's a big caveat here.

"Something drastic could change, and I always want to give that benefit of the doubt to the team. They could suddenly come in and back up the brinks truck, but at this point, if you're Rafael Devers, you understand that you have all of the leverage in this situation."

Yes, it's bad. It's all bad. If you are looking for a sliver of hope, Bloom did make a rather aggressive statement regarding his pursuit of a long-term deal with Devers.

"We will probably, I think, go beyond reason to try to get this done," Bloom told Lee.

Even this comment was dampened by his usual "we'll do our best" approach -- which has yet to get a single thing done.

The fact is, Bloom just went on a year-long campaign to prove that his word means absolutely nothing.

Bloom told reporters all year that he was doing everything he can to get Bogey, but noted that until something got done, he knew his words didn't hold much weight.

Well, he didn't get anything done, and he appears to be on the precipice of failing again in even greater proportions.

Published Dec 20, 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