Red Sox Veteran Rejects Noise After Rafael Devers Trade
One Boston Red Sox outfielder says the team remains locked in — even after its franchise cornerstone was dealt away.
Sunday night’s trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants sent shockwaves through the clubhouse and across Major League Baseball. But amid the surprise and scrutiny, the team’s message, at least internally, appears to be one of resilience.
Center fielder Jaren Duran shared his candid reaction to the blockbuster move with WEEI’s Rob Bradford on Monday. Duran admitted he first learned of the deal under unusual circumstances.
“I don’t have Twitter,” he said in audio posted on social media by the Red Sox Radio Network. “I just kind of saw him get off the plane and just kind of thought like, ‘Oh. No way.’ But I napped most of the plane, so I didn’t really have time to think about it. Me and Rob [Refsnyder], we’re always the best nappers on the plane. So, we were right next to each other passed out — we didn’t really have much time to think about it.”
While many fans and national media pundits have questioned how the Red Sox can remain competitive after moving their top bat, manager Alex Cora delivered a different tone behind closed doors.
“[Cora] trusts everybody that we got right now,” Duran said. “I trust everyone that we have right now, and we can’t let one little thing deter what we got going so far.”
Asked whether losing Devers feels like more than a “little thing,” Duran pushed back.
“Who’s making it a big thing, though? I mean, yeah, he’s a great player,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s how many guys? Twenty-six, right? And that’s just one guy. So we got 25 other guys that were pulling on the same line to win — not just one. So, I think we got to think about it like that. As a team.”