Is Rafael Devers on his way to becoming the last 10-season Red Sox player? Let's hope not

Is Rafael Devers on his way to becoming the last Red Sox player to log 10 or more seasons in Boston? Heres why its worth posing the question: The Boston Red Sox have announced their top three prospects outfielder Roman Anthony , infielder/outfielder Kristian Campbell and shortstop Marcelo Mayer will be with the big-league club when spring training begins in a couple of weeks.

Though its always dangerous to pronounce cant-miss status on anybody , these three players offer a glimmer of hope the Red Sox are back in the competing-for-championships business, something management hasnt shown much interest in over the past three seasons.

The Athletic s Keith Law this week posted his rankings of the top 100 prospects in baseball, and Anthony, who turns 21 in May, is at the head of the class.

Campbell, who turns 23 in June, is No.

9.

Mayer, who turned 22 last month, came in at No.

28 in Laws rankings.

Whos excited to see Roman Anthony hit at Fenway? pic.twitter.com/ZvR4YOoS10 MLB (@MLB) January 25, 2025 But even if all three emerge as stars, recent history tells us they will move on when they reach free agency.

Or they will be traded as they are approaching free agency, and Im guessing you already know where this is going.

Yep: Mookie Betts .

The Red Sox dealt Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers during spring training in 2020, which was bad enough, but even worse was the one-step, two-step everybody in the organization did in an attempt to convince the masses that it was a pure baseball trade, that it had nothing to do with the boatloads of money that would be awaiting Betts when he signed his next contract.

So off to L.A.

went Betts, with the Red Sox receiving drumroll, please catcher Connor Wong , outfielder Alex Verdugo and infielder Jeter Downs.

Advertisement Wong has turned out to be a serviceable big-league catcher, but Verdugo and Downs are no longer with the organization.

Verdugo remains a free agent, this after one year with the New York Yankees , and Downs, who has had a couple of cups of coffee with the Red Sox and Washington Nationals , wound up playing in Japan last summer.

Betts, who will wind up in the Hall of Fame, has already played on two World Series-winning teams with the Dodgers.

GO DEEPER Top 100 MLB prospects 2025: Keith Laws rankings, with Roman Anthony at No.

1 Maybe Anthony, Campbell and Mayer will play so well so early in their careers that the Red Sox will lock them up with long-term deals.

Anyway, thats what Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy is selling.

During an appearance on NESN as part of the teams recent Fenway Fest fan event, Kennedy said, Theres a plan for a lot of our guys internally to try and extend.

Thats something that is really important for great organizations.

In our 24 years, theres been really important internal extensions that have led to World Series championships.

But Kennedy added this: Its something I think we missed on over the last five or six years if Im being honest ...

when you think about Mookie and Xander (Bogaerts) and some of these guys you would have liked to have gotten long, long-term deals done with.

Its not that we didnt try.

Its just that we didnt get there.

Which brings us back to Devers, who made his major-league debut for the Red Sox on July 25, 2017, at Seattles Safeco Field, lining out to center field off Seattle Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez in his first plate appearance.

But if you want to know when the rookie third baseman truly arrived in the majors, as in making a great, big, loud statement that he intended to be around for a long, long time, just ask any Sox fan.

It was the night Devers rocketed a 103 mph Aroldis Chapman fastball over the fence in left-center at Yankee Stadium, thats when.

The exact date Aug.

13, 2017 is forgettable.

But what Devers did that Sunday night in the Bronx is deliciously unforgettable .

In just his 15th game since being promoted to the big leagues after a nine-game dress rehearsal with Triple-A Pawtucket the lefty-swinging 20-year-old socked a top-of-the-ninth, tying home run off baseballs hardest-throwing lefty.

Advertisement Devers wound up hitting .284 in 58 games that season, with 10 home runs.

In a Division Series showdown against the Houston Astros , which Boston lost in four games, Devers went 4-for-11 (.364) with two home runs, which is pretty good especially since he didnt enjoy the benefit of having the pitch selections delivered to him via Trash Can-O-Gram, as Houston hitters did when they were in the batters box.

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Now Devers has not turned out to be the second coming of Wade Boggs, who won five batting titles during his days as Bostons third baseman, but lets not play that game.

The fact is Devers has been a solid hitter (if not much of a third baseman), which has mostly fulfilled the promise of that Sunday night in the Bronx.

Two years ago, just before spring training began, the Red Sox signed Devers to a 10-year, 313.5 million contract extension that runs through 2033.

The Red Sox held a fancy, all-the-fixings news conference on Jan.

11, 2023, to announce the extension.

Chaim Bloom, who was chief baseball officer for the Red Sox at the time, put it this way: Rafael Devers isnt a star hes our star.

If Devers remains with the Red Sox for the life of the deal, hell have played 17 seasons in Boston.

That wouldnt be as long as Carl Yastrzemski (23 seasons), Ted Williams (19) or Dwight Evans (19), but it would be longer than David Ortiz (14), Dustin Pedroia (14) or, since his name came up already, Boggs (11).

But itll only take two more seasons with the Red Sox for Devers to have played a decade in Boston.

And Ill ask again: Will he be the last? Jarren Duran could be a candidate, as hes coming off a breakout season in which he stole 34 bases and led the AL in doubles (48) and triples (14).

His WAR was 8.7.

Yaz topped that only three times in his career.

In the absence of any marketing skills or materials to make my case, I submit that no player sold more tickets at Fenway Park in 2024 than Duran.

Hes entering his fifth season with the Red Sox.

Hes 28.

His wheels are his currency.

But if he stays healthy, who knows, perhaps hell follow Devers as a 10-year Red Sox veteran.

Maybe itll be Ceddanne Rafaela , who has logged two seasons with the Red Sox and is signed through 2031.

GO DEEPER Bowden: 12 MLB breakout candidates I'm excited to scout in spring training Or maybe itll be one of those three prospects Anthony, Campbell or Mayer wholl be in big-league camp in a couple of weeks.

Look, I get it: Signing free agents and making trades are vital if you want to play baseball in October.

Try to imagine the Red Sox winning those four World Series this century without Pedro Martinez , David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, Curt Schilling, Keith Foulke, Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, J.D.

Martinez and, oh, how we could go on and on.

Advertisement But its important to grow your own players.

Its also important to keep the players you like.

And the only way to do that is to pay them.

Thatll be the challenge facing the Red Sox over the next couple of years as Anthony, Campbell and Mayer settle in as big-league ballplayers.

(Photo: Douglas P.

DeFelice / Getty Images).

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