Breslow doesn’t rule out Devers playing 1B, but Cora wants him at DH

Red Sox

Breslow believes the Red Sox should be “open-minded” about possible solutions to replace Casas.

Triston Casas’s 2025 is likely over as he suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in his left knee on Friday, leaving the Red Sox with a hole at first base for the rest of the season.

As the Red Sox played Romy Gonzalez at first base for Saturday’s game against the Twins and called up Abraham Toro to help fill the void, there’s another name who could potentially enter the mix: Rafael Devers.

Well, that actually depends on who you ask. Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow didn’t rule out the idea of putting Devers back on the field as he became the team’s primary designated hitter this season. He was asked on a few different occasions about the possibility of playing Devers at first when he met with reporters on Saturday, keeping the door open for it to happen, as he said, “we need to be open-minded about solutions here.”

“I think we’re all still trying to figure out what the longterm solution looks like,” Breslow said in response to one question about Devers possibly playing first base. “At this point, we’re still pretty focused on Triston getting everything he needs and focused on taking care of him.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora, on the other hand, made it clear that he’d prefer not to play Devers at first base.

“From my end right now? No,” Cora told reporters Saturday. “We asked him [to become the DH] in spring training. In the beginning, he didn’t agree with it and now he’s very comfortable doing what he’s doing.”

As Cora mentioned, Devers’s move from third base to designated hitter in the wake of Alex Bregman’s signing caused some initial drama at the start of Red Sox spring training. Devers was steadfast in his belief that he was Boston’s starting third baseman.

However, Devers’s relatively poor fielding metrics at third base led him to be moved to designated hitter in favor of the reigning AL Gold Glove winner at the position. But there were rumors that Devers could move to first base when Casas was mentioned in trade rumors over the offseason.

To Cora’s point, Devers has also found his footing at designated hitter as of late after a rough opening week to the season. If you remove Devers’s five hitless games to open the year, he’s hitting .284 with a .921 OPS and five homers over 29 games. He’s also recorded an RBI in six of his previous seven games ahead of Saturday.

So, who can the Red Sox turn to at first base? Well, Cora does like the internal options they have at the moment.

“It just happened yesterday,” Cora said. “We’ll talk and we’ll see where we’re at. But I think Romy and Toro, they can do the job. I truly believe that, so we’re gonna roll with them.”

Neither player is really much of an established everyday big leaguer, though. Casas’s injury presumably could open the door for everyday big league hopefuls and top prospects Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer to get called up. But Breslow insisted that they won’t be a part of the equation at first base.

“Asking guys who haven’t played in the big leagues yet to assume new positions at the same time that they’re trying to make that transition is a difficult ask,” Breslow said.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that the Red Sox could bring in an outside face to help replace Casas. Breslow could envision the Red Sox making a quick add at first base.

“Yeah, if they’re available, we obviously started this last offseason trying to put a competitive team on the field and this is unfortunately an opportunity to explore what’s available,” Breslow said. “We’ll look both internally and externally as well.”