Some Redsox fans want Devers to move off third. Cite errors.

[Gurgi]

https://www.overthemonster.com/2023/8/23/23840932/when-does-rafael-devers-become-a-full-time-dh-boston-red-sox-third-baseman-red-sox-analysis

It’s his 16th total error this season, leading all third basemen by four. His fielding percentage is the worst of all full-time third basemen this season as well. His -8 outs above average is second-worst in the league, only ahead of the Tigers’ Nick Maton. He also has a -6 total runs saved in 2023, which is certainly closer to the bottom of the barrel than the top.

Errors aren’t an anomaly for Devers’ career so far. He had 14 last season, tied for second-most amongst all third basemen. His 22 errors in 2021 by FAR led the majors. Rinse and repeat for 2019. And 2018. Well, he actually had 24 errors that season, but I digress.

This is more than just an issue at this point in his career. It’s a problem. Having a steady enough shortstop in Xander Bogaerts next to him for most of his playing time until this season could only cover up so much. These mistakes come in multitudes, too. He misjudges a hop. He overthrows first base. He whiffs on a line drive.

At this point, it can’t come soon enough. Again, it’s not like this is an anomaly for Devers. In his career, he is not a good fielder. Period. The sooner that gets rectified, the sooner the team gets better immediately. We know how good Devers is with the bat. Let’s not force him or ourselves to keep watching something that just isn’t working.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Gurgi

[Hallas]

Where is he going to go?  Corner OF?  1B?  He's going to need to be a +10 run defensive 1B or a +5 run COF to make it a wash.

[Sports Guy]

Those same fans were probably screaming that the team had to give him 300+ million too.

[Gurgi]

10 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Those same fans were probably screaming that the team had to give him 300+ million too.

LOL...your probably right.   What is your opinion of what to do with Devers?  Leave him at third and enjoy his massive bat?  Or try to push him to first or DH?   You think the moaning over defense is overblown?

[Sports Guy]

34 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

LOL...your probably right.   What is your opinion of what to do with Devers?  Leave him at third and enjoy his massive bat?  Or try to push him to first or DH?   You think the moaning over defense is overblown?

He’s awful over there and basically always has been his whole career.

I wouldn’t have touched him for that contract. He can hit but where will he be in 3 years, once he is out of his prime years? 
 

For right now, I would probably leave him there but I don’t think I would that for too many more years. He’s going to have to go to first within a few seasons.

[Sports Guy]

It’s like the Yankee fans now screaming For Cashman to be fired. 

I saw Stephen A Smith(a Yankee fan) the other day complaining about the farm system, etc…this is what Yankee fans do. They ask the team to spend money and they want the “big name” FA and then it blows up in their faces and they act all surprised.

They want their team is trade for everyone but then they complain they have no system.

The Red Sox fan is the same way.  They still complain about Betts and maybe that is valid but the decision to let Betts go led to the Devers contract imo and that will be a regrettable contract very soon…but yet if they hadn’t done it, the Red Sox fan would be crying about it.

[Moose Milligan]

I think that's any uniformed fan, it's not just relegated to the Red Sox and Yankees...but since those two teams are so high profile in the media, they're easy to point to and laugh at.  These people don't spend hours on a site like this...they just listen to talk radio, they watch some games, they don't know much past that.

So they make those trades, their system is bare and the prospect they trade away goes on to play well somewhere else...they'll cry about that guy having success somewhere else, too.

Anyway, not surprised about Devers being bad at 3rd, all you had to do was look at that guys body type to know what his future would look like.  Some bad-body athletes (Kirby Puckett comes to mind immediately) can still play despite carrying some extra weight around the middle...but those guys are usually exceptions, not the rules.  Devers is barely 6 feet tall, I don't know if they'd want him at first base in the next few years.  

[Just Regular]

I say Yandy more often as a for instance, but Devers is another MLB example where when I look at Coby Mayo and think he might be able to hold it for a little while.

It is nice he got paid as a 3B when he isn't sustainable there, and of course why Players want to stay as far up the defensive spectrum as they can plausibly fake.