Ex-Red Sox Star Xander Bogaerts Speaks on Rafael Devers Trade

Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts had a well-documented close relationship when they were on the Red Sox together. When Bogaerts heard the news of his friend being traded, he quickly texted him.

The San Diego Padres infielder found out after USA Today’s Bob Nightengale showed him the news on his phone.

“He shows me on his phone: ‘Rafael Devers traded.’ I was like, ‘Nah.’ … Then I hit Devers up and he got back at me right away,” Bogaerts told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford. “The moment he told me is when I knew it was for real. I had texted him, “Is this true?” And he replied before everybody started (reporting it) … We didn’t know if it was true or not.”

Bogaerts and Devers remained connected even when they were across the country from each other.

When Devers was going through the position change from third base to designated hitter, he mentioned it to Bogaerts. With the infielder knowing about the situation, he looked at everyone’s takes on the situation on social media.

“Listen, man, he’s a grown man,” Bogaerts said. “I saw Pedro (Martinez). I saw David (Ortiz). Those are legends of the game, legends of the Red Sox. Those guys mean so much to me and so much to the organization. I saw their input and take on it. I don’t know what I would have done, but he’s a grown man. If he has some tough questions, we talked about.”

Bogaerts related a little to Devers’ situation after he went through a position change in his second year with the Padres. He was a shortstop for the bulk of his tenure with the Red Sox but was asked to change to second base in San Diego.

“Similar, but I stayed on the field, though,” Bogaerts said about his situation. “He went from going on the field to not being on the field at all, which was something I had never done. I stayed on the field. That’s a whole different thing.”

When the trade was officially a done deal, Bogaerts said it was a weird time. He played 10 seasons with the Red Sox, coming up through the organization. With knowing so many people who were involved in the Devers trade, it was surprising to see how everything unfolded.

“I know them because I have been around them for a long time,” Bogaerts said. “I was surprised how it all unfolded. Life continues and baseball continues and they made the decision they wanted to make. He’s over there and they are over there and hopefully they’re both happy. But it was tough to see for sure.”