Oops

According to all those armchair general managers out there, the Red Sox shook baseball to its core, all by signing one free agent. “In Alex Bregman, Red Sox get swagger they desperately need,” reads the USA Today headline. “The Red Sox are serious players in the AL East,” if you believe Will Leitch on mlb.com. Only the geniuses forgot to ask Rafael Devers what he thought. Devers could be the reincarnation of long-ago Red Sox thumper Dick Stuart, who was nicknamed “Dr. Strangeglove” for a reason. Boston’s starting third baseman since 2018, Devers has a .944 career fielding average, with 141 errors over 951 games. In comparison, Bregman has a .968 career fielding average with 81 errors over 995 games at the hot corner. So, Bregman would be a bigtime defensive upgrade. Only Devers doesn’t want to play another position, and Bregman volunteering to switch to second base hardly resolves the matter. The Red Sox don’t get better playing him out of position (Bregman last played second back in 2018) to satisfy Devers. And no matter how this gets resolved, Bregman’s contract allows him to walk after one season, if he wants. Then what, Dever’s back at third? It seems to me somebody’s front office didn’t do their homework. In fact, the Red Sox look to have created a problem where there was none (outside of a bad-fielding third baseman who may have to be traded). I can’t wait to read what the armchair GMs have to say about things.