David Ortiz Sends Message About Red Sox Rafael Devers Situation

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 17, 2025, 8:36 PM

david ortiz sends message about red sox rafael devers situation

One of the biggest storylines leading up to the MLB trade deadline was the fractured relationship between the Boston Red Sox organization and Rafael Devers. The situation was messy from start to finish, largely due to Devers feeling misled by the team. “Devers, according to a person familiar with his thinking, felt 'lied to and betrayed' by the Red Sox. Cora, long one of Devers' chief supporters and advocates, supported his expulsion. Craig Breslow, the Red Sox's chief baseball officer whom Devers publicly badmouthed amid the hostility, played hatchet man,” MLB’s Jeff Passan wrote. As a result, Devers was ultimately traded before the deadline.

He landed in the Bay Area, joining the San Francisco Giants. “The Red Sox had just pulled off a three-game sweep of the rival Yankees for their seventh win in the last eight games and were getting ready for a Sunday night West Coast trip... Star slugger Rafael Devers, the lone remaining player from the team’s most recent World Series title squad of 2018, was dealt to the Giants for righty Jordan Hicks, lefty Kyle Harrison and a pair... 4 prospect at the time of the deal) and righty Jose Bello,” MLB.com’s Ian Browne wrote. During an interview on the ITM Podcast, David Ortiz shared his honest thoughts on the Devers trade. The Rafael Devers trade was the most explosive moment of the Boston Red Sox's 2025 season, and it could take many more years to digest.

Devers was meant to be the Red Sox's face of the franchise when he signed a 10-year, $313.5 million extension before the 2023 campaign. Just two and a half years later, he was playing for the San Francisco Giants against the Red Sox, clubbing a home run off former teammate Brayan Bello. A lot of people took the Devers trade hard, but Red Sox legend David Ortiz stands out among that group. Ortiz was vocal in the wake of the trade about his displeasure with the circumstances that led to the trade, particularly with how Devers handled things. If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google. Now that the dust has settled at the end of th season, Ortiz is still bothered by the fact that Devers isn't a Red Sox, but he wants it to be known that it's...

The Boston Red Sox’s 2025 campaign was hectic to say the least. Despite trading away their best hitter, Rafael Devers, midway through the season, the Sox still managed to find their way to the playoffs. Looking back at that trade months later, the legendary David Ortiz has mixed feelings on Boston’s decision to cut bait with Devers. While Ortiz and Devers never played together in the majors, the former served as a mentor to the latter during his rise through the Red Sox’s farm system. For much of his career, it seemed like Devers was set to become the heir apparent to Ortiz as the team’s superstar designated hitter. Devers wasn’t happy when he was moved to designated hitter before the start of the 2025 season, though, and with tensions boiling, the front office eventually decided to send him to the San Francisco...

Ortiz admitted that you never want to lose a hitter with Devers, but he agreed with the team deciding to do what it felt like was best for the organization “You don’t want to let go of a batter like him,” Ortiz told Joey Copponi and Scott Neville on the “ITM Podcast” on Friday. “My thing with the situation is that I would expect a guy like Raffy to be one of the faces of this organization … Raffy is a good kid. Don’t get that caught up in the confusion. And that’s what bothers me most … We’re dealing with a good kid. Unfortunately, things didn’t work for the organization … Sometimes you have to make those moves.

I don’t argue that with the owners … They are the ones who ask you how much you want on your contract. They agreed (to Devers’ contract). But remember, you are an employee. You’re not a boss. There are not two bosses. There’s just one.

John Henry.” The Boston Red Sox have one of the best sluggers in baseball in Rafael Devers. Devers was asked to move from third base to designated hitter in Spring Training and although there was some drama with that, he has arguably been the best designated hitter in the American League. Devers has appeared in a league-high 61 games and is slashing .286/.408/.515 with 12 home runs, 52 RBIs, 47 walks, 16 doubles, and 37 runs scored. His 52 RBIs and 47 walks also are both leading the American League. When Triston Casas went down with his season-ending knee injury, the question popped up about Devers making another move to first base.

The team approached him about a position change and then some more drama ensued. Team legend and Hall of Famer David Ortiz weighed in on the situation on Monday in a video shared to social media by WEEI's Rob Bradford. "Devers is doing great," Ortiz said. "As we asked him to do, you know, moving from third base. I thought he was going to have a hard time moving to DH because as simple as you look, when you're not hitting, it's like you aren't doing anything. So, he had a rough start the first couple of weeks but then, he's killing it right now.

You don't want to mess that up. Casas went down. If I was him, I would've put myself available for anything, but that was me. The Boston Red Sox shocked the world when they traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants midway through the 2025 campaign. While the Sox ended up finding their way to the playoffs without Devers, it’s a move that has still left a mark on franchise legend David Ortiz. While this duo never played together in the majors, Ortiz served as a mentor of sorts for Devers during his rise in Boston’s farm system.

In the eyes of many evaluators, Devers was the heir apparent to Ortiz for the Red Sox at designated hitter. Things didn’t end up working out that way, as months of tension eventually resulted in Devers getting sent west to San Francisco. When discussing the trade, Ortiz said that while he is rooting for Devers to succeed and is open to helping him out if needed in the future, he hasn’t talked to him since the... “No, we haven’t. We haven’t talked,” Ortiz told Joey Copponi and Scott Neville on the “ITM Podcast” on Friday. “I’m always busy with my own thing.

And he got to continue doing his job, which I congratulate him on because he finished the season really good. That’s the Raffy that we all know. If he ever needs advice from me or anything he needs from me, I’m open. He’s a good kid. But like I say, business is business. As a player, you have to do what you’re told.

Those were the issues at the moment, and that happens.” A lot of Boston Red Sox fans had strong reactions to Rafael Devers being traded to the San Francisco Giants in June, and legendary designated hitter David Ortiz could aptly be included in that... Ortiz went on something of a media blitz when Devers was traded, saying the ex-Red Sox third baseman "disrespected himself" and showing a string of unanswered texts from Devers during an Instagram Live video. Devers, for his part, said Ortiz could "say whatever he wants" as the fallout was still active. But that was June, and Ortiz has now had plenty of time to reflect on the whole ordeal. On Friday, Ortiz provided an update on where his relationship with Devers stands now, saying the two haven't spoken since the trade went down".

"To who? To Raffy? No, we haven't. We haven't talked," Ortiz told Joey Copponi and Scott Neville on the "ITM Podcast" on Friday. I mean, I'm always busy with my own thing. And he got to continue doing his job, which I congratulate him on because he finished the season really good.

I mean, that's the Raffy that we all know. Someone is finally on Rafael Devers’ side after his refusal to play first base for the Red Sox. Boston legend David Ortiz has come to Devers’ defense after a season-ending injury to first baseman Triston Casas had the team and fans expecting the designated hitter Devers to step in and fill the... “He’s doing great as the DH. They asked for it, and he’s doing great as the DH,” Ortiz told The Associated Press on Monday. “Once [the] Casas situation goes down … In people’s minds, it was: ‘Devers goes to first and [Masataka] Yoshida goes to DH and we are a better team’.

Yeah, that’s what you put in your mind. But guess what? The kid was asked in spring training to just hit and now all of a sudden you want to switch him over. It takes time.” Devers is in his ninth season with the Red Sox and signed a gargantuan 11-year, $331 million extension in early 2023. He played third base for much of his career but was asked to focus on hitting at the DH position after the team signed infielder Alex Bregman this offseason, stirring up some preseason melodrama.

Ortiz spent 14 of his 20 MLB seasons with the Red Sox, won three World Series and made a Hall of Fame career playing DH while also playing first base over the years. From the start of the 2025 season to just weeks ago, Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz defended Rafael Devers' reluctance to make position changes. He echoed Devers' feelings that position changes don't come easily and would take time. The Hall of Famer has previously acknowledged Devers' shy personality and his pubic reluctance to be the "face" of the Red Sox franchise. He also defended Devers for not wanting to change positions again and potentially mess up his hot streak as the DH. But after the star was traded on June 15, Ortiz changed his tune.

"You can't imagine how many times I wrote to Devers trying to give him advice, but unfortunately, he has communication problems. He almost never returned my messages, but I don't blame him. He's a good guy, but he definitely needs to improve his communication. He should find an advisor to help him with that," Ortiz said, via Héctor Gómez, sports editor of Dominican news site Z101 Digital. These comments are particularly interesting, as Ortiz has always seemed like something of a mentor or advisor to Devers. The two are often pictured together during Ortiz's visits to the club, in spring training, or during the regular season.

David Ortiz Sends Message About Red Sox Rafael Devers Situation

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