NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 17: Rafael Devers #11 of the Boston Red Sox sits in the dugout in the first inning after teammate Chris Sale left the game injured against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on July 17, 2022 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Red Sox fans have been clamoring for months that the team needs to pony up to keep Rafael Devers but a reported offseason offer inspires little confidence.
If the Boston Red Sox were, you know, winning more games this season, there’s a chance that Rafael Devers could be the leading AL MVP candidate, or at least one of them. He’s certainly still in the conversation despite that, which speaks to how phenomenal the still-25-year-old is.
And yet, he and shortstop Xander Bogaerts remain looking for a long-term contract extension to stay with the Red Sox, a fact that infuriates the majority of the fanbase. Devers is a young, homegrown superstar who is seemingly only getting better with each passing year.
But as much as the Boston front office wants to pretend that they’re making big efforts to get Devers paid like he should be, the fact of the matter is that the reports around the situation don’t reflect that. And the latest murmurs about what the team offered him this past winter only further indicate as much.
Red Sox: Rafael Devers offer from offseason is absurdly low
According to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (h/t Tyler Milliken), the Red Sox used Matt Olson’s 8-year, $168 million framework with the Braves as a starting point for negotiations with Devers.
OIson is a great player, make no mistake. But making that offer to a 25-year-old who is already one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball and has improved every year he’s been in the league is just ridiculous. That’s substantially below actual market value for a player in Devers’ position and, frankly, it’s a wonder the third-baseman isn’t more insulted than he’s seemed because of it this year.
The optimism that Boston will hold onto Devers and Bogaerts is rooted in the fact that the Red Sox would have to be outside their minds to let two young stalwarts go because they’re too cheap. But the more that comes out about the situation, the more troubling things start to seem.