Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox's Rafael Devers Caps Off A Wild Week In The Most Appropriate Way Possible

Who else was going to win Player of the Week?
Jackson Roberts|
May 8, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox designated hitter Rafael Devers (11) hits a home run against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
May 8, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox designated hitter Rafael Devers (11) hits a home run against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

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Throughout the course of the season, dozens of players win Player of the Week honors. But there will probably only be one who did it the same week he called out his general manager.

Maybe we shouldn't make sweeping generalizations. For all we know, Freddie Freeman could go scorched earth on Andrew Friedman, or perhaps Ben Rice will work up a vendetta against Brian Cashman. But as it stands, Rafael Devers stands alone.

The Boston Red Sox designated hitter (for now) just capped off a wild week in fitting fashion. Devers, who called out chief baseball officer Craig Breslow on Thursday in a very public forum over asking him to move to first base, showed why he's a $300 million man.

Devers spent the weekend blocking out the noise (of which there has been a whole bunch) and crushing Kansas City Royals pitchers. And he'd already been raking before the Breslow incident, so it was no surprise he took home some hardware.

On Monday, Devers was named the American League Player of the Week, after leading the junior circuit in batting average (.476), on-base percentage (.577) and OPS (1.387) for the week. Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers won the award in the National League.

Sure, the drama isn't fading away anytime soon. The Red Sox still very well may ask Devers to move to first again, because starter Triston Casas won't be back until Opening Day of 2026 at the earliest. Meanwhile, half of the internet is convinced the Red Sox will take the unprecedented action of trading a slugger in his prime with eight years left on his contract at the outset of a championship window.

No, Devers didn't handle the situation perfectly, and neither did Breslow. But not only do the Red Sox have zero incentive to trade him, but he can stay at designated hitter as long as he wants, as far as anyone should be concerned, if he's going to hit like this every week.

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Jackson Roberts
JACKSON ROBERTS

Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Boston Red Sox On SI, please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org

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