The Face of The Franchise
Feed Him His Ben & Jerry's
Orrin Woodward once said, “The greatest leaders are reluctant ones who lead because they realize that no one else seems willing to step up.” This could not be more true than when it comes to Rafael Devers being the leader of the Red Sox franchise.
He has been reluctant to take on the “face of the franchise” role since signing his deal last year. Alex Cora said in the fall, “He is going to hate me for saying this, but he’s the face of the franchise.” As recently as yesterday, Cora said, “I know he hates to be called the face of the franchise. Just call him the carita (baby face) of the franchise.”
Well, this baby face who has been reluctant to take on his role finally dropped his balls on the table in his first Spring Training interview yesterday. Rather than give my take, I will bullet off the significant quotes I found below.
“They need to make an adjustment to help us players be in a better position to win,”
“Everybody in this organization wants to win. We, as players, want to win. I think they need to make adjustments to help us win.”
“I’m not saying the team is not OK right now, but they need to be conscious of the weaknesses and what we need right now.”
“Everybody knows what we need. You know what we need. They know what we need. There are some things I can’t say out loud. Everybody who knows the organization and the game knows what we need.”
“Last year, when we had an opportunity to do something and to be in the race, nothing happened. I thought back then, of course, they were thinking in the future. When those opportunities come along, we need to be more aggressive and try to embrace those opportunities.”
“When you go home early knowing you had a chance to be in the race or at least competing to make a playoff run, and they don’t give you the push or the help that the team needed at the time, of course.”
“I care deeply about this organization. I love this organization so much, and I want us to win,” he said. “I want us to win right now. I want us to win in the future, and that’s something that’s on my mind... but I can’t control what they do. I own what I can do on the field, which is pretty good.”
“I’m here for the long haul, and I’m here to win. We’ll see what happens.”
I love the fact that the team is coming out and going after the Front Office. I do feel bad that Craig Breslow is seemingly taking the brunt of it right now, but I have to imagine players understand the position he was thrown into. Devers, Casas, Jansen, Pedroia, and more have come out and spoken poorly about the way this off-season has been handled. It is important for John Henry to hear this.
Now, I am going to get a little negative here. The last time the players and the fans united and went after the Front Office like this, we ended up with the Trevor Story contract. I hope Trevor Story becomes an All-Star again. But he hasn’t. So, I hope that Breslow stays the course of his plan while keeping dialogue with free agents open in search of a deal.
Right now, these are the priorities, in my opinion.
Extend Casas
Extend Bello
Extend Anthony, Mayer, Teel, Yorke, screw it give them all money.
Trade Jansen
Wait till next year and go after Fried, Bieber, Buehler, or Burnes.
I am also now falling for the hype of Spring Training and the season as a whole. If you asked me two weeks ago if the Red Sox were going to make the playoffs, I would laugh.
Now it’s World Series or bust.
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