Rafael Devers gutted it out for as long as he could, and he nearly made it to the finish line.
But the star slugger’s body finally tapped out on him Friday night in the Red Sox’s ninth-to-last game of the season.
After going 1 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts and some noticeably off-target throws from third, Alex Cora decided it was time to pull the plug and pulled him from the lineup in the 11th inning.
“No, he's not,” Cora told reporters when asked postgame about Devers’ status. "You saw him throwing today, (his shoulder) was bothering him. Actually, when he hit inside, he felt it. So he's gonna get an MRI tomorrow, see where we're at and probably, this is it for him.”
And so it was. On Saturday, the Red Sox placed Devers on the 10-day injured list with the left shoulder inflammation he’s been battling all season long. Just like that, Devers’ season was over.
It was a year of ups and downs for the 27-year-old Devers.
The offensive production was right around where you’d expect it to be — in the 30-homer (he hit 28), 100-RBI (he had 83) range with a respectable .272 batting average — and earned him his third career All-Star selection.
In the second half of the season, though, Devers hit just .244 with five homers and 22 RBIs in 54 games. In fairness, some of that can certainly be blamed on the shoulder injury he’s been battling since the spring.
In his 130 games played at third base, Devers posted a fielding percentage of .960 with 12 errors. That marked his second-highest percentage in a full season, and his fewest errors committed in any season.
Despite lingering concerns about his durability, Devers’ 138 games played in 2024 are his fewest since 2021. In his last five full seasons, he’s averaged 148.8 games played per season. For a player who swings with a violence matched by few around the game, missing fewer than 14 games per season is not only just impressive — it’s the definition of durability.
Yet in the mental space of the game, Devers faced his challenges. He overcame some, and failed others. When pressed by his manager early in the season to be more consistent in his approach at the plate, Devers answered the call. When looked upon to provide vocal leadership as the $331-million-dollar man in the clubhouse he is, he passed the buck.
Upon reflection, perhaps Devers might consider his 2024 season as a bit of a gut check. His perseverance in fighting through injury to be there for his team is, of course, a form of leadership in itself — and admirable, at that.
Sox pressing
When your back is against the wall, it’s only natural to want to come out swinging.
That’s been the case for most of the month of September for these Red Sox, and it bubbled over in historic fashion on Friday night.
Boston’s batters, mired in another offensive slog, struck out a franchise-record-tying 20 times — the game ending on Story’s history-making whiff to end a miserable night that saw the Sox fall 4-2 to the Twins in 12 innings.
The Red Sox struck out 20 times today, which ties a franchise record.
— Boston Sports Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) September 21, 2024
They’re averaging 11.46 strikeouts per game in their last 13 games. That’s unfathomably bad. pic.twitter.com/M6oW2R4FzW
"Frustrating, man. As simple as that," Trevor Story told reporters after being one of seven Boston batters to record a multi-strikeout game. "Just kind of hard to believe at this point that this is the way we're playing offensively. … But we're just in a funk right now that we can't shake right now.”
It took until the 12th for Boston to push across a second run, and by that point it didn’t matter thanks to a three-run Minnesota outburst in the top of the frame. All told, the Sox have scored two or fewer runs in four of their last five — and their 88 runs in the past 30 days ranks second-worst in baseball behind only the White Sox.
"I think everybody's frustrated," Alex Cora said.
You and the entirety of Red Sox Nation too, Alex.
Story in the making
I have to hand it to Trevor Story, who I wasn’t expecting much from in his return this month from a shoulder injury of his own.
Story hasn’t exactly put the team on his back to drag them into the postseason, and who short of Shohei Ohtani really could with this Red Sox roster? Still, he’s hit the ground running faster than I’ve thought, and his .286 average, a solid .800 OPS, two homers and five RBIs in September are encouraging nonetheless.
On the whole, Story is sporting a .260 batting average through 20 games played at the bookends of this season. No, that’s not stellar — and ultimately not worth what the Sox paid him in 2022 — but it’s frankly a lot better than I expected.
Story hit .238 in 94 games in 2022 and .203 over 43 games in 2023. If he can hit about that with 20-some homers and in the neighborhood of 70 RBIs next season, I would definely take that as a win and call it a day…
As I’ve said, I would be looking to move on from Story in the offseason. His salary isn’t backbreaking, so it’s not as if he’s un-tradable. But given the injury history, I realize it might be easier said than done to move him.
If that doesn’t happen, it would certainly be nice to see him bounce back with a relatively productive season…
The future Fitts
Will Richard Fitts ever give up a run?
Fitts and his 0.00 career ERA are still standing after three starts and 15 2/3 innings in the big leagues following another scoreless outing in Friday’s series opener against Minnesota.
The promising 24-year-old right-hander turned in his third consecutive outing of at least five innings, allowing five hits and one walk while recording three punchouts to preserve a 1-0 lead at the time of his departure.
Richard Fitts (@RedSox) becomes the 2nd pitcher in MLB history to deliver 5+ innings without allowing an earned run in each of his first 3 big league starts! pic.twitter.com/fK7SmOsaDo
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 21, 2024
Fitts’ first career outing came against the White Sox, but his next two have come against a definite playoff team in the Yankees and a likely one in the Twins. Considering the time of year and with teams desperately jockeying for playoff positioning, it’s been an incredibly encouraging opening act.
It’s been so encouraging, in fact, that I think the Sox should strongly consider him for a spot in next year’s rotation — and Fitts isn’t giving them much of a choice right now.
What spots will be open remains to be seen based on how aggressive the front office is in pursuing free-agent starting pitching. Say they sign two starters (which, admittedly, feels ambitious), that leaves you with Brayan Bello and Tanner Houck as definite rotation members and leaves just one spot.
Given what we’ve seen from Kutter Crawford this season, and given Garrett Whitlock’s injury and consistency issues as a start, I’d be more inclined to go with Fitts to round out next year’s rotation at this point…
O’Neill reunion?
Tyler O’Neill wants back in.
If the Red Sox want him back in too, that is…
O’Neill is leaving the door open to the idea of re-signing with the Red Sox after the season, saying that his first season in Boston has been an enjoyable one for him.
"I really hope Boston (takes) an interest in me,” O’Neill told NESN during this week’s series at Tampa Bay. “It’s been an awesome year and I’ve made a lot of good relationships and a lot of good friendships here. I really enjoy the city and the weather, even at this time of year. It’s been great.”
O’Neill’s home run numbers have certainly been “awesome,” at least. His total of 31 will officially wind up leading the Red Sox for the season now that Devers’ campaign is done. His offensive consistency has left much to be desired, though. He’s only hitting .244, and for all of those homers, he’s only driven in 61 runs — granted he’s missed some time, too.
Much like Story, I’ve been ready to move on from O’Neill after this season for a while now. Yet for a team so lefty-heavy, a reunion for next season would seem to make a lot of sense on paper, right? Well, maybe not…
“We obviously have Tyler right now,” Craig Breslow said in an interview this week with WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show. “But he’s earned the right to explore free agency, and the right-handed power that plays so well at Fenway is going to be a massive hole that we’re going to need to figure out how to fix.”
Seems more like Breslow was verbally showing O’Neill the door with those comments…
It’s possible that a team will see O’Neill’s shiny 30-homer season and overreact with a big money deal. If that’s the case, then it certainly makes more sense for Breslow and Co. to move on.
It all comes down to how aggressive the Red Sox truly plan to be this offseason. If they’re going to push their chips in to attempt to finally get back in the race, there are probably better options out there than O’Neill.
But if it’s still a long-term, wait-and-see approach, it would probably make more sense than not to bring O’Neill back for another year…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.