Red Sox’s Craig Breslow Reveals How Alex Cora Reacted To Rafael Devers Trade

The Boston Red Sox’s trade of designated hitter Rafael Devers on Sunday night took many by surprise. And on Monday, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow addressed reporters, explaining why the Red Sox ultimately made this big decision.

One of the questions Breslow was asked was how manager Alex Cora reacted.

“Alex understood all of the dynamics here and what we are trying to build in the short term, and long term, and understood the direction,” Breslow told reporters during a video conference Monday night, as seen on NESN. “He is behind it (the decision) and supporting it.”

On Sunday, Cora also posted a photo of him with Devers on his Instagram after news of the trade broke. He captioned it, “Gracias @rafael.devers.”

Cora was then asked by reporters before Boston’s game against the Seattle Mariners on Monday about the trade and why things didn’t work out with Devers.

“There’s some reasons it didn’t work out, right? I don’t want to pinpoint stuff. But the last few months haven’t been easy,” Cora said per MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “We made decisions in the offseason. Circumstances have changed the last month. And that’s the business decision we made as an organization.

“Raffy is going to be with the (San Francisco) Giants. We have to turn the page and get ready for this team.”

The poor circumstances Cora referred to began when the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman, making Devers the designated hitter instead of a third baseman. He was very unhappy over the decision, and things didn’t get any better when they asked him to take over first base after Tristan Casas’ season-ending injury, which Devers ultimately refused.

Smith added that Cora said Devers “shook our hands and he took off” when he learned about the trade.