Apologies if this has been discussed up thread.
But as the Sox continue to get limited production out of third, I remain a little confused about not "rushing" Devers.
The argument seems to be that he needs more seasoning, his defense is still not major league adequate and bringing him up early would retard his development in some way. It also might be tied to starting his service time clock. And perhaps on some level they don't want to reduce Devers' trade value.
But reasons to try him now include:
- he just might be better than every other option they have;
- he's already theirs; they don't have to give up assets to acquire him;
- if he is not ready, they can just send him back down; I don't see this being some psychological trauma for him; and even if he goes back down, having experienced a taste of the bigs might help him on the farm as it should incentivize him and, in turn, reduce the adjustment period the next time he comes up.
Fundamentally, I don't buy the "don't rush him, you'll damage him," argument, as if he's some delicate Carl Crawford type who will wet his pants at a negative crowd reaction (whether real or imagined). Now, yeah, if his D is inadequate and he needs to spend time learning how to play third (which seems bizarre to me but Wade Boggs got better with time, so it's not as if we don't have an easy example of that), I would get that. And again, it's not as if it's irrevocable. They can pull the plug any time they like.
But there is probably something I'm missing because giving Devers a shot in July, before the trade deadline, seems like the best move, and it seems clear that they are dead set against it.
So no need to reply with "not happening." I know.
The questions in my view are: Why not? And does that answer make sense?