The Red Sox and star third baseman Rafael Devers have settled on an $11.2MM salary to avoid arbitration, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (on Twitter). Barring an extension, the 25-year-old will go through the process once more before hitting free agency over the 2023-24 offseason.
The figure lines up almost perfectly with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s $11.1MM projection for Devers entering the offseason. It marks a rather notable jump over last season’s $4.575MM salary, as Devers earned a raise with another excellent showing. He played in 156 games and tallied 664 plate appearances in 2021, hitting .279/.352/.538 with 38 home runs.
Along the way, Devers picked up his first All-Star selection and Silver Slugger Award. He also finished 11th in AL MVP balloting — his second career season garnering down-ballot support in that regard — helping the Red Sox to a 92-win campaign and an eventual berth in the AL Championship Series.
The Red Sox’s slate of arbitration agreements have brought the payroll up to around $220MM, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. Their luxury tax ledger now sits around $236MM, setting the club up to narrowly exceed the base CBT threshold of $230MM. The Red Sox didn’t pay the tax last season, so they’d be subject to the first-time payor rate of 20% on every dollar spent between $230MM and $250MM.
Have to wonder how much Devers camp wants long term and the years. 25yo, the bat.. Get him to play 1b and DH and could be ok, if no more than 5-7y and sub 30m annually, but for his glove as a 3b? Forget about longer than 7y, same with as a 1b/dh.
Devers’ hitting keeps getting better and better. If forced to choose between extending Xander or Raffy, I’d go with Raffy … even if it means moving him to 1B.
Without his heroics last year, Sox don’t even make the postseason.
What I don’t understand is he hasn’t played at all at first. It’s like the team is scared to approach him about it. Who knows if he can handle it? My guess is the team will either move him to DH after JDM or keep him at third warts and all (assuming he stays long term).
Why do people think he’ll be better at 1B than he’s been at 3B? Most of his errant throws from 3B are caused by poor footwork and getting lined up for a good throw to 1B. Playing 1B required proper footwork to get into position to receive the throw. And a poor quality first baseman makes the entire rest of the IF worse.
deweybelongsinthehall1 hour ago
What I don’t understand is he hasn’t played at all at first. It’s like the team is scared to approach him about it.
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It probably has something to do with the fact that we don’t have a 3B. The closest we have to a 3B is Dalbec, and he still hasn’t proven himself at 1st.
Tristan Casas has played sparingly at 3B but has played there. When two of your best prospects/young players already play the same position clogging it with a third option and creating a hole elsewhere really doesn’t help anything.
Mike Piazza was one of the worst defensive Catchers in Baseball history yet he was able to stay at the position (and proved believe it or not, First Base actually is “very hard”)
If Devers moves off of 3B it should probably be for LF. Even, Manny could handle LF (sometimes)
Rsox – Devers needs to be DH. There are fundamental defensive skills that he lacks. He’s not good with ground balls due to his balance, his footwork, his arm accuracy and his reaction time. He’s not great at pop-ups so moving him to the outfield should produce something close to what we saw back when the Cubs put Schwarber in LF. It was very ugly. Moving him to 1B is risky because the key injuries happen when throws are up the line and lead the 1B into a collision with the runner. He’s not the brightest player as you can tell by his inability to decide when a ball to his left is Bogey’s ball so I could see him getting his left arm/shoulder hurt quickly at 1B.
Also, with his incredibly slow reaction time on hit balls I would think a pitcher with a good move would likely hit him in the head at some point because his glove can’t react fast enough.
Devers’ skill set is ONLY DH. Thus, if Casas turns out to be good enough to be in the majors, then he and Dalbec will need to play somewhere on defense at the same time. Both are big players so the more athletic one needs to consider 3B or LF.
We’ve seen Dalbec face MLB pitchers and he’s proven he’s a keeper so now Casas needs to do the same. A year of knocking around AAA pitchers should help get him ready for the big step up to MLB pitching. Then, once he makes the MLB, his initial struggles need to be overcome just like Dalbec did last year, Devers did in 2019 and others like Bogey and Betts did it when they got promoted to the Show.
At that point down the road, Boston will have two HUGE bookends that should bash for a decade. If Mayer and Yorke end up being all-star quality players, Boston could have a decade of one of the best infields in baseball.
The reality is Casas is not a third baseman he is a first baseman and quite fine defensively. He is the first baseman of the future most likely if Dalbec can get his k rate under control then with his power he will be legitimate . That is a big if maybe he can do it I really hope so he has a quick short powerful stroke so I am hopeful that he can he can be control the K’s. He just needs to lay off the slider away and he should get his K rate down to below 30%. His power absolutely plays at that point. He is completely different then a previous Red Sox guy Chavis that simply doesn’t have the bat speed to catch up to decent high fastballs. I have a lot of hope for Dalbec hopefully as at third or left field. I would never try Devers in left and have to agree with KD that Devers is probably best suited for DH unless he shows a lot more defensively this year then he has in the past I view that as a long shot at best.
Bruin1012 – So the guy with 159 games that adjusted to MLB pitching in his rookie season is the big IF and the guy who hasn’t mastered AAA pitching is the lock? I can see why we don’t agree much anymore.
Casas had an excellent short season in the fall league against AAA competition or less. He still has lots to prove. Dalbec has been there and done it.
Devers needs to show a lot more not a little more. His gap to league average is huge compared to other players below league average. Let me put this in batting average terms … if .250 is league average Devers defense is the equivalent of someone below the Mendoza line.
Dalbec needs to be beaten out rather than Cora handing over the 1B spot to Casas like he did with Devers who wasn’t qualified for the spot. Boston needs to start having players earn their position and their spot in the batting order. .Guys who hit .250 don’t belong in the top 3 positions in the batting order on a team with the hitting the Red Sox have. I’d lead off Story, then Devers, then Bogey, then JD, then Verdugo, then Dalbec, then Vazquez, then JBJ until he gets replaced then Kiki. The team can’t expect a guy who has hit .250 for nearly a decade to suddenly be a lead-off hitter. Story steals bases so he’ll help make Devers a better hitter. Hopefully, his even year jinx doesn’t happen in 2022.
Bloom simply needs to tweak things like moving Devers to DH, getting JBJ to the bench for late inning defense and moving JD for either a young stud outfielder or starting pitcher. If he saves money on moving JD then he can use it to get a closer. Several are available as back-ups to other players closing.
Smith in Atlanta lost his job. Swapping JD for Smith saves Boston almost $10MM and gets them a legit closer. ATL’s DH is Ozuna so they could use JD and he’d go to a team in contention for a ring. So instead of signing Freeman they get Olsen, JD and Jansen. Not bad for a team who just lost their face of the franchise!
The fact that the Braves have Ozuna says that they actually don’t need JD.
KD it’s no secret I really like Casas and I believe he is the first baseman moving in the very near future but that time is not now. This is why the ball is Dalbec’s court but he is on a timer at first. I really don’t think anyone is going to hand Casas the job if Dalbec hits. I believe that Dalbec has to improve his K rate and he has to to hit. If Dalbec can cut his K rate and make more contact then his tremendous can show through. I really like his swing he has a short quick very powerful stroke. He has the Xander disease of early in Xanders he swings at a ton of sliders off the plate if he can lay off that pitch he will swing and miss far less frequently and his power will make him a lethal bat. If Casas rakes at AAA they will find a place for him to play. The ball is in Dalbec’s court he needs to show improvement on the swing and miss and I doubt they move off first or at the very least he will be in the lineup somewhere.
I really don’t think Devers was handed third it’s not as if the Red Sox had a better alternative especially when you factor in offensive production. The only real chance of any of the players to get a crack at third would of been Bobby D but remember his fielding percentage was just as bad if not worse then Devers at third in the minors. Chavis was never really a consideration once the league figured out they could get him out in high fastballs.
I’m not saying that Devers hasn’t been bad defensively at third he has been. I am just saying, in house, Boston didn’t really have any options. I also don’t think it is as easy as placing Devers at DH due to how much that could affect his future earnings in Devers and his agents mind. It’s a delicate dance with Devers.
If forced to choose between extending Xander or Raffy, I’d go with Raffy
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I don’t know that we’d have to choose. But if we did, I’d go with Xander. Over the past three years, Xander has the better OPS, and should shift over nicely to 3B at some point. Devers is looking more and more like a DH. And if Dalbec can’t migrate over to maybe LF, then he might also be DH-bound.
Devers is four years younger, which is a nice advantage, but that’s offset by the fact that Bogaerts is morphing into the face of our franchise, which I think is important.
One of the biggest parts of every discussion going forward, is the fact that we don’t really have a 3B right now, anywhere.
Whether you prefer Devers vs Bogaerts is a nice discussion, but as was with Mookie Betts……which one is willing to sign a fair contract. Mookie’s ask price of 12 years for $420,000,000 was outrageous enough that he might as well stated “I do not want to play in Boston any more”!
I think Bogaerts wants to stay as he took a “discount” already and helped recruit Story, but what dollar figure is he looking for.
The Red Sox need to decide if paying Devers his ask price is worth the money for a DH. The Red Sox do not win 2004, 2007, 2013 without Ortiz, so if Devers doesn’t do a Mookie, I would say extend him. They may both be worth keeping, but imo it will come down to the number of year and not the per year amount.
Give him 185 millions 7 years
Why would he accept that?
Because it’s $185 MILLION dollars.
Id say bare minimum it has to be at least 210-220 over 7.
The whine and jeez party starts in 3, 2, 1 …
I can see the Red Sox extending Devers at 7Yrs/ 160-180M
Sox getting best years of his career on the cheap. Be nice if they paid him after next year, but that’s not how it always goes.
Even if the Sox payroll hits $250 million they only pay a $4 million tax. Big deal. They then have a reset in 2023 with $70 million coming off of the books.
They have $70 million coming off but a ton of gaps to fill. If Casas, Duran, and Dalbec can secure spots that would go a long way towards resetting the tax next season, but that still won’t make up for losing Xander, JD, Eovaldi, and Kike
If Devers puts up better numbers there is no way he takes less than $200 million. With 1 more arbitration year +QO he can look at $35+ (possibly more) million over the next 2 seasons anyways.
Devers might hit 50hrs this year.Pay up Sox.
Let’s see him hit the 50 HR’s first and then they’ll pay
Mrbarky – Do you have inside information on the amount of juice that will be in the ball in 2022? Without the juice, Devers is lucky to hit 35. It’s an even year. Check his stats in 2018 and 2020.
Also, if Boston is more competitive with Story then you have to look back at the last time Devers played in pressure games and that was 2018 when he hit .240. Either way, Devers’ predictions need to be reeled in. The only thing he does consistently is make errors. So far after 5 season he’s had 3 up years during odd years and two down hitting years during even years. Like I said, his defense is incredibly consistent with his .935 fielding percentage. Book two dozen errors right now even with a shorter season. That’s why he must move to DH now.
About the new math you used. If he gets $10.2MM in 2022 you think in 2023 he’s going to get more than $25MM to take him over $35MM? That’s crazy talk. He’s a DH. Mookie doubled his ARB1 pay in ARB2 because he won a MVP award. Devers will be lucky to make the all-star team. His pay won’t go up by two and half times in 2023. He’s one dimensional. His defense hurts the team and he’s incredibly selfish not moving to DH. It would be disappointing if they give him $20MM in his final arb year.
Mrbarky – Ownership will make the same money, so your post should say….
“Devers might hit 50hrs this year. Pay up FANS”….
Devers is half a player.. no defense…and is a 270s hitter… typical boston over hype .. u dont win world series with over paid under play team.. time he goes after contract and get a real 3rd baseman who hits 270..at a reasonable price… maybe a rookie.
Jesus2 – agree, disagree, and disagree
1) Devers defense is so bad that he should be a DH. (Agree)
2) Devers offense is so good it can help bring World Series championships as the Red Sox do not win in 2004, 2007, and especially 2013 without David Ortiz!!!! Ortiz is now in the HOF, so DH is not half a player, and the entire MLB now uses the DH. (Disagree)
3) No team wants to over pay for a player. Mookie Betts ask for $420,000,000 for 12 years from the Red Sox, so they traded him. How much is Devers offensive worth? It depends on how replaceable he is, and Devers may be so good that he is very, very hard to replace. (Disagree)
IF the Red Sox are able to extend Devers it will to DH in 2023 and beyond as JD Martinez will be gone and part of his $19,350,000 can be used on Devers (with Dalbec at 3B and Casas at 1B both making rookie, “cheap” pay).