Red Sox David Ortiz Sends Clear Message To Rafael Devers After Trade

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 17, 2025, 8:36 PM

red sox david ortiz sends clear message to rafael devers after trade

In a shocking move, the Boston Red Sox traded All-Star third baseman Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants just hours after sweeping the New York Yankees at Fenway Park on Sunday. The move was especially surprising given that Devers was still under contract through 2033 and seemingly part of the Red Sox’s foreseeable future. The front office decided to part ways with the superstar slugger, however, after a dramatic offseason and first half of the 2025 campaign. Try PFSN's FREE fantasy baseball trade analyzer to help you make the best decisions for your fantasy teams! After this stunning move, Boston legend David Ortiz appeared to criticize Devers and his ego for ruining his relationship with the team. “Players need to take this as an example, nobody is indispensable,” Ortiz said via Yancen Pujols.

“You have to be available. That was the end of the relationship between Devers and the Red Sox. You need to be smart to understand the situation. Your worst enemy is your ego.” The Red Sox stunningly traded homegrown star Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants in a rare June blockbuster deal, sending the MLB world into a frenzy Sunday night. Among those who reacted to the trade was Red Sox franchise legend David Ortiz, who seemed to give a cryptic answer about his thoughts on the situation.

Ortiz wrote in journalist Yancen Pujols's comments on Instagram about the Devers deal early Monday morning. Ortiz's reply was in what appeared to be an informal form of Dominican-Spanish, which made it more difficult to translate. However, a fan ran Ortiz's comments through Chat GPT for a quick translating job, and these were the results: "In our country, there are a bunch of fans — which is fine — but they don't know anything about the business. Nobody here is operating on feelings. "They ended up owing almost all of the Dominican media when [the Devers trade] happened.

And now they're acting like it's all Boston this, Boston that. Learn how the business works, then give your opinion." David Ortiz has made it clear where he stands when it comes to Rafael Devers being traded by the Red Sox. “You can’t come here and say they’re disrespecting you when you disrespected yourself,” Ortiz said in Spanish on a recent Instagram live, translated by Translate.com. “The pride of a baseball player, especially with a contract like his, is what when he shows up to (spring) training, he arrives in physical shape so that when people see him, they say,... The rant came after the Red Sox stunningly traded Devers to the San Francisco Giants two years into a 10-year contract.

Devers was unwilling to play first base after Triston Casas’ season-ending injury, but revealed he’d play wherever the Giants needed him to — including first base. The relationship between the two sides was reported by MassLive’s Sean McAdam to be unsalvageable. Ortiz also showed several unanswered texts to Devers on his Instagram live. The unanswered texts also align with a recent report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan that revealed Devers ghosted manager Alex Cora when he wanted to fly to the Dominican Republic to discuss the team’s pursuit... Loyalty, in Boston, used to mean more than just a long contract and a couple of good Octobers. These days, it seems even legends are weighing in as cornerstones crumble and allegiances shift like Fenway winds.

So when Rafael Devers walked out the door and the Red Sox front office played innocent, David Ortiz didn’t just watch quietly—he delivered a five-word verdict that sliced deeper than any trade clause. When any of the MLB legends speak, you listen and try and follow what they say. Not just because they are legends, but because they have been where you are and know what happens if you make a wrong decision. After the Devers trade broke out, everyone was in shock, but not Big Papi because he knew at some point this would happen. In a tweet by MLB insider Yancen Pujols talked about the Devers deal and shared his conversation with Ortiz about the deal. During the conversation, Ortiz said, “Players need to take this as an example, nobody is indispensable… You need to be smart to understand the situation.

Your worst enemy is your ego.” But this isn’t just aimed at the player. From Mookie Betts to Xander Bogaerts, the Red Sox front office has been shedding stars like it’s spring cleaning. But this isn’t strategy—it’s self-sabotage dressed up as flexibility. Ortiz’s words may have been aimed at players, but the mirror swings both ways. Somewhere in all this cap-space calculus, Boston forgot what built its last banner: trust, not turnover. David Ortiz habla por primer vez sobre el cambio de Devers y aconseja que “el ego hay que dejarlo” y llama a tener “disponibilidad”.

@davidortiz está en Francia. David Ortiz “ego is the worst enemy of a player”. Contenido en YouTube. https://t.co/G0kKgeTaIT. Ya you know. pic.twitter.com/ydluZRIDDB

The Boston Red Sox traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants in a shocking move on Sunday night. The trade ends a long saga between Devers and the front office in Boston. When the Red Sox originally signed Alex Bregman, Devers pushed back, noting that he would keep playing third base. Eventually, he was made the everyday designated hitter. However, things took another turn when Devers was asked by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to play first base in the wake of Triston Casas' season-ending knee injury. "They told me that they didn't want to allow me to play any other position," Devers said in a rant to the media.

"And now I think they should do their job essentially and hit the market and look for another player (to play first base). I'm not sure why they want me to be in between, the way they have me now." "Here in the clubhouse, thankfully, the relationship that I have with my teammates is great," Devers continued. "I don't understand some of the decisions that the GM makes. Next thing you know someone in the outfield gets hurt and they want me to play in the outfield. I think I know the kind of player I am.

And yeah, that's just where I stand." His public comments against Breslow were likely the tipping point in the relationship. While the organization is not completely free of fault, Red Sox legend David Ortiz called out Devers. Send this article to your social connections. Send this article to your social connections. David Ortiz has made his stance on the Rafael Devers situation crystal clear over the last week.

Since the Red Sox traded their former star slugger on Sunday, the all-time great Ortiz has backed his former team’s decision online multiple times, primarily citing Devers’s unwillingness to put Boston before himself —... On Saturday, Ortiz took things a step further, going on a tirade against Devers on Instagram Live during the Red Sox-Giants game, in which Devers hit a home run against Boston. One of the biggest storylines early in the season was the complete disconnect between Rafael Devers and the Red Sox. The situation was messy from start to finish, largely because Devers felt misled by the organization. “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 traded to 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 why Devers’ time in Boston came to an end.

David Ortiz, the MLB Hall of Famer and Boston Red Sox legend, made an unexpected statement about Rafael Devers following the third baseman’s trade to the San Francisco Giants. Ortiz, known for his leadership and mentorship, revealed that despite his attempts to offer advice to Devers, the star player rarely responded to his messages. This revelation came after Devers was moved from the Red Sox to the Giants, marking the end of his tenure in Boston. Ortiz’s comments have added fuel to the fire regarding the issues between Devers and the Red Sox organization. While the trade itself was the most public sign of tension, Ortiz’s words shed light on a deeper issue: Devers’ reluctance to engage with key figures like Ortiz, who tried to guide him through... As a future Hall of Famer, Ortiz had certainly earned the right to mentor Devers, but the lack of communication seemed to be a problem.

The situation may have been complicated by Devers’ concerns about his position change with the team. However, it wasn’t just the Red Sox’s decision to move him around the field that caused friction. As Ortiz pointed out, it was also Devers’ communication issues that played a role. “You can’t imagine how many times I wrote to Devers trying to give him advice, but unfortunately, he has communication problems,” Ortiz admitted, via MLB insider Hector Gomez. He added: “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.” Rafael Devers, now with the San Francisco Giants, faces new challenges after his trade from the Red Sox, including addressing communication issues highlighted by David Ortiz. (Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images)

Red Sox David Ortiz Sends Clear Message To Rafael Devers After Trade

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