Red Sox’s Rafael Devers Has Strong Stance On Trade Deadline Needs

Every fan of the Red Sox has their own take on what Boston should do as it approaches the Aug. 1 Major League Baseball trade deadline.

You know who else does?

The face of the franchise: Rafael Devers.

"Everybody knows what we need," Devers told Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe on Sunday. "Hopefully we can get that in the next few days. We can't control that as players. All we can do is give 100 percent on the field. But we need pitching."

"... I don't need to talk to (the front office). Everybody knows what we need. There's no reason to talk to them about it. This year is a much different story than last year. We weren't in a position to compete last year but this year we are. We have shown we can compete with the best teams. That's why this year is different. We have shown we can succeed."

There are few who would argue with Devers, who has led the No. 6 offense in all of baseball throughout 2023. In helping fuel that high-powered unit, Devers has seen Red Sox pitchers fail to pick them up on a number of occasions.

"I don't need to talk to (the front office). Everybody knows what we need. There's no reason to talk to them about it."

Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers

Despite that, the 26-year-old still believes Boston has done enough to warrant a "buyers" mentality entering the deadline.

"I think we've played good baseball and we've tried very hard. We've been killing ourselves to be in the position we are in now," Devers said. "We would like them to reward us with a few good players coming in before the deadline. I think that's something we're looking forward to."

The Red Sox do have reinforcements coming on the hill, with Chris Sale, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck all expected back for Boston's eventual playoff push. Will those players, who combined for a 4.92 before collectively landing on the injured list, be enough? We don't even know what their roles will be, as all three have given their own perspective on that as they build back up.

That doesn't exactly inspire confidence, even for Devers.

"We're getting good players back," Devers said. "I think we need a little help beyond that."

The Red Sox have one more game before they cross that deadline. How different will they look beyond that? We'll have to wait and see.