Red Sox Brass Details Meeting Between John Henry, Rafael Devers

Red Sox owner John Henry met with Rafael Devers at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on May 9, one day after the star slugger expressed an unwillingness to play first base despite the season-ending injury to Triston Casas.

It’s not common for the Red Sox owner, who was joined by president and CEO Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, to make such a trip. Now, given the Red Sox traded Devers to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday night, it’s fair to view such meeting as a last-ditch effort in hopes Devers would get on board with the ballclub.

Kennedy reflected on the meeting when he spoke to reporters on Monday night, about 24 hours after the Red Sox acquired right-handed pitcher Jordan Hicks, left-hander Kyle Harrison, outfield prospect James Tibbs III and right-handed prospect Jose Bello in exchange for Devers.

“That meeting was full of candor, openness, honestly between both John (Henry) and Raffy,” Kennedy told reporters, as seen on NESN.

Devers had many discussions with all levels of the organization, including Kennedy, Breslow and manager Alex Cora. Each of them featured candid, honest and direct communication. Those discussions with players in the clubhouse are common for Kennedy and company, he said.

“I think in the end it’s pretty clear: We couldn’t find alignment with Raffy. It’s the truth,” Kennedy said. “We all worked at it over the last several months going back to the offseason going back to Alex Cora and Craig (Breslow) and the staff, and then up to me and then all the way up to John Henry. We worked at it.”

Ultimately, however, not even a conversation with ownership was enough to get Devers to fall in line.