Red Sox need another inspirational David Ortiz pep talk, this time with Rafael Devers

FORT MYERS, Fla.

Remember that time during Game 4 of the 2013 World Series at Busch Stadium when David Ortiz pulled his teammates together in the corner of the dugout for an inspirational, between-innings meeting? The Sox went on to beat the St.

Louis Cardinals that night en route to winning the World Series in six games, thanks to Big Papi.

Not only did Ortiz hit .688 in the series, but he also hit the high notes with his Knute Rockne-esque pep talk.

Advertisement Now its 2025, and the Red Sox would be wise to bring in Ortiz to do some more talking.

Only instead of speaking to the entire team, Ortiz should carve out some one-on-one time with Rafael Devers and convince the longtime Red Sox third baseman to trade in his glove and reinvent himself as an everyday designated hitter, as Big Papi did years ago.

Ortiz was a first baseman when he signed his first professional contract with the Seattle Mariners in 1992.

But he settled in as a designated hitter once he had established himself in the big leagues, and hes the greatest DH weve seen since that April 6, 1973 afternoon when the New York Yankees Ron Blomberg inaugurated the position as he stepped up to face Luis Tiant at Fenway Park.

Devers, with a little plodding from Ortiz, could be Bostons next great DH.

And now that Hall of Fame voters have stopped clutching pearls when they see a player on the ballot who logged a ton of time as a designated hitter Ortiz is in, Edgar Martinez is in, Frank Thomas is in whos to say Devers wont join them? GO DEEPER A look at Alex Bregman's first day in Red Sox camp, where he might play and more notes We all know whats at play here.

Devers is a fine hitter, with 200 career home runs and a .511 slugging percentage, but hes a subpar defensive third baseman on a team that has vowed to improve its defense for 2025.

Now Alex Bregman is a member of the Red Sox, and hes coming off a 2024 season with the Houston Astros in which he won his first Gold Glove as a third baseman.

Heres what the Red Sox need to do: Make Bregman the everyday third baseman.

Move Devers to DH.

Take a deep breath and part ways with Masataka Yoshida, a mostly DH-type who has three years and roughly $54 million remaining on his contract.

Ramp up the competition between Vaughn Grissom and much-touted rookie Kristian Campbell for the starting job at second base.

Send it! pic.twitter.com/hPLQw3pf8F Red Sox (@RedSox) February 15, 2025 Alas, Red Sox manager Alex Cora does not live in a world of bullet points and snap decisions.

Egos, clubhouse hierarchy and old-fashioned politics need to be taken into account.

As well as dough re mi : Are the Red Sox prepared to eat the remaining money on Yoshidas contract? And even if chief baseball officer Craig Breslow decides he wants to go in that direction and has the blessings of ownership, can Cora make it work in the clubhouse? Advertisement Based on the way the manager comported himself on Saturday, hes off to a good start.

Cora was just 21 seconds into his late-morning media session at JetBlue Park when he was asked if the newly signed Bregman would be playing second base this season.

Thats when Cora fired up some kind of imaginary jukebox inside his head and proceeded to dance the day away.

So ...

second baseman Alex Bregman? Well talk about that later on, Cora danced, er, said.

Theres a lot of stuff going on in terms of where were gonna be roster-wise, and well make that decision when we have to make it.

LIVE with AC on the bench in Fort Myers.

https://t.co/JY11d8szLV Red Sox (@RedSox) February 15, 2025 Coras reluctance to announce how the Red Sox plan to deploy Bregman is easily understood.

See, it was one thing to sign Bregman, but getting Devers to sign off on being a regular DH is a tough ask.

Enter Ortiz.

Hes a regular spring training presence at JetBlue Park, his tasks ranging from working with this or that young hitter to doing the kind of promotional work at which he excels.

But the Devers situation is different.

As the last remaining member of the 2018 World Series-winning Red Sox, he has earned a seat at Bostons championship roundtable.

Hes a three-time All-Star, a two-time Silver Slugger and has earned MVP votes in five seasons.

He has been the face of the franchise and hes paid accordingly: Two years ago the Sox signed him to a 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension.

Take a walk into the home clubhouse at JetBlue Park and one of the first things you notice is that Devers occupies the double-wide corner locker that was once Big Papis joint.

GO DEEPER MLB insiders predict the players most likely to get traded in spring training For all the praise Cora was ladling out about Bregman from hitting to defense to clubhouse leadership presence the manager was ever so careful not to leave Devers on the cutting room floor.

Raffies still the guy back there in that clubhouse, Cora said.

Thats the reason hes been here for three weeks.

Thats the reason hes in the cage helping guys.

Thats the reason he was taking ground balls with Alex today.

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And thats the reason it would serve the Red Sox to get Ortiz on the case assuming they havent already done so.

None of this will be easy.

Devers might struggle at DH for a while.

Players often do.

The Sox could cut ties with Yoshida and see him put up huge numbers with another club once hes fully recovered from offseason surgery on his right shoulder.

Maybe Grissom is not an everyday big-league second baseman.

Maybe Campbells not ready.

But the Red Sox spent a lot of time this offseason talking about winning now .

With the moves they have made highlighted by signing Bregman it makes no sense to suddenly get cautious.

Paging David Ortiz.

(Photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.