Red Sox
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Rafael Devers could be the Red Sox's highest-paid player, but he's not concerned with being the face of the franchise.
Boston's star slugger was originally scheduled to look on the team's annual fanfest, formerly often called Winter Weekend, held on the MGM Casino in Springfield. But as of Friday, Devers and a number of other other players won’t take part in Saturday's one-day Fenway Fest.
Pedro Martinez, Kutter Crawford, Justin Slaten and newcomer Walker Buehler were amongst those that were also scheduled to look on the event but were left off the list the day before.
Fred Lynn was scheduled to attend, but was unable to fly to Boston as a consequence of flight cancellations. he divided on X.
It can be expected to snow in Boston on Saturday.
As for Devers, he hasn't attended the event prior to now, so it was a bit surprising that he was even scheduled to accomplish that.
According to MassLive's Chris Cotillo: The third baseman cannot show up “due to a last-minute scheduling conflict.”
Later Friday, Cotillo offered perhaps a more legitimate reason why Devers won't be attending the event this 12 months.
“Secretly, team officials have expressed a desire to push Devers to be more forward when it comes to things like fan interaction, endorsements and marketing opportunities to distinguish him as the face of the franchise.” Cotillo wrote. “The mild-mannered Devers never saw this as a priority.”
Devers has consciously stayed out of the highlight for a very long time during his profession. He was most recently criticized for not talking to reporters after a defeat in September. According to MassLive's Christopher Smith: Devers had been informed that the media desired to speak with him, but he went anyway.
Devers surprised many before the beginning of last season when he was open concerning the moves he thought the Red Sox should make. The $300 million slugger publicly commented on the state of the team during spring training.
“Everyone knows what we need. “They know what we need and they know what we need,” Devers said through a translator at Boston’s spring training facility last February. “Some things I just can’t say out loud, but anyone who knows the organization and the game knows what we need.”
Devers' concerns concerning the quality of the roster last 12 months stemmed from an absence of transactions by the Red Sox following team chairman Tom Werner's infamous “full throttle” comments.
Since then, nonetheless, Devers seems to have reverted to his reserved self.
His lack of presence on the team's fan festival shouldn't be a cause for concern. Boston knows who Devers is they usually knew his personality once they prolonged his contract.
All Devers has to do is proceed to provide on the diamond in a Red Sox uniform.
He himself said it best a couple of years ago.
“They pay me well, I play baseball and I hit home runs,” Devers said during batting practice in 2021.
image credit : www.boston.com