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Boston Globe
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Red Sox are trying to sell that Devers trade was in ‘best interest' of team. Sorry, not buying, and other thoughts.
Devers had to go. That's what the Red Sox want you to believe. Advertisement So he's gone. To the Giants. For a bag of baseballs. And payroll flexibility (I'm eager to hear when fans are getting their dividend checks from Fenway Sports Group). According to Spotrac, the once, top-spending Boston Red Sox have dropped to 19th in active player payroll. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Sox ownership just pulled off an amazing magic trick. With a lot of help from Devers (in all seriousness, Devers behaved like a baby and was a lousy teammate at the end), folks who run the Red Sox managed to get out from under a contract they hated, move a top talent to the other league, got virtually zero help for 2025, yet generate applause from a lot of you who just wanted to get rid of Devers. Advertisement Maybe the Sox should have done this with Manny Ramirez when he was causing all those problems before the Sox won those World Series in 2004 and 2007. Here's a sample from my inbox after the deal went down Sunday night: My take is he was wholly unlikable as a whining $32 million player who refused to play the infield when needed. He's unlikable so nobody cares . . . A bad apple like him needs to go . . . This is addition by subtraction. Hear Devers created bad vibes in the dugout/clubhouse . . . All my sports fanatic friends and family are celebrating Devers's exit. We're so happy to see him go, along with the $250 million he's owed . . . Do you really want Anthony and Mayer to be in the locker room, listening to Devers sounding off? . . . Most of the times he hits when it doesn't count that much . . . The franchise established the principle that no one is above the team . . . The Sox have rid themselves of a daily toxic anchor . . . The team is better today . . . Devers is a fat, out-of-shape, cheeks-bulging-with-tobacco, lackadaisical, uncaring slob . . . I never liked this guy, constantly spitting . . . I'm glad he's gone. His manners were disgusting . . . The Sox unloaded a cancer on the team. There were dozens more just like these. At times, I felt like I was reading the comments under my own columns. John Henry (who also owns the Globe), Tom Werner, Sam Kennedy, Craig Breslow, and Co. have to be ecstatic with this fan reaction. They didn't get this kind of support when they wouldn't pay Jon Lester, Mookie Betts, or Xander Bogaerts. Advertisement Devers delivered for FSG. Bigly. After the deal went down, we heard from David Ortiz (listed as team 'special assistant' at the top of the Red Sox front office directory), who suddenly recalled that Devers never answers his calls and texts, adding, 'You employees, go against the check-signer. See if you are going to last two days. I did everything they told me to, and today I'm earning a lifetime salary from the Red Sox . . . ' Wow. Could these be the words of the same guy who asked to be traded by the Sox in 2003, who took his bat to a water cooler when Terry Francona pinch hit for him in Toronto in 2010, who disrupted a Francona press conference to complain about official scoring, who almost harmed his teammates destroying a dugout phone in Baltimore, who just about annually complained about his contract? The Sox also leaked 'new' information that Devers was in Campbell's ear, telling the kid not to take grounders at first — a report that Alex Cora snuffed out quickly Tuesday in Seattle. Unlike Papi, Pedro Martinez (also a special assistant on the Red Sox masthead), supported Devers, telling MLB Network, 'If you try to sell to me . . . that Raffy is a bad teammate or he is not a team player, you're lying. You're going to tell me he's a bad influence in the clubhouse? He's not . . . This should have been in the hands of baseball people, not front office people. Not leaking it to the media.' Advertisement The Papi and Pedro remarks came after Remembering that Henry and Werner Kennedy: 'It was a baseball trade because we did what we felt was in the best interest of the Red Sox, on and off the field to win championships and to continue to ferociously and relentlessly pursue a culture that we want everyone in that clubhouse to embody . . . so yeah, it was a baseball trade without question.' Breslow: 'I would echo that. With the quality of the return, we're going to see how that plays out over the next several years . . . I do think that at the end of the season we're looking back and we've won more games than we otherwise would have won.' I also asked if the Giants' willingness to assume the entire balance of Devers's contract was a condition of making the deal. 'No,' said Breslow. 'We were trying to improve the long- and short-term outlooks. We were trying to provide some additional roster flexibility. And we were trying to make the best baseball trade that we could.' Sorry, guys. Not buying. I'm not convinced that this was anything other than a salary dump made palatable to Red Sox Nation only because Devers turned the fan base against him. This was a bad baseball deal, and it may motivate Alex Bregman and Scott Boras to opt out. But it's great for FSG's bottom line. 'This in no way signifies a waving of the white flag in 2025,' said Breslow. Advertisement Swell. One night after those remarks, the Red Sox were shut out on two hits by the Mariners, while Devers went 2 for 5 with an RBI double Even though they're having trouble scoring runs, the Red Sox go into this weekend in San Francisco ('Hello, there, Raffy.') having won four consecutive series, two games over .500, and very much in the hunt for a phony wild-card spot. The illusion of contention is alive and well in Boston. But if Devers homers against the Sox, look for WBZ-TV to bring back Bob Lobel, then have him cut to the highlights and ask, 'Why can't we get players like that?' ⋅ Quiz: 1. Name one championship-round MVP (and his team) that came from the losing side in the NBA, the NFL, and MLB; 2. Name five NBA players to lead the postseason in total assists four or more times (answers below). ⋅ Memo to Joe Mazzulla: The Oklahoma City Thunder took only 16 3-pointers and made only three in their 111-104 Game 4 victory over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals. ⋅ Maybe folks who run the WNBA think it's good for business to allow jealous Advertisement Fever star Caitlin Clark continues to absorb rough treatment in the WNBA. Michael Conroy/Associated Press ⋅ Poor Canada. Another year. Another no Stanley Cup. The last team from Trump's 51st state to win the Cup was the Canadiens in 1993. The Edmonton Oilers were unable to end the Stanley Cup drought of Canadian teams. Nathan Denette/Associated Press ⋅ It saddens me that we won't get to see Garrett Crochet pitch to Aaron Judge again until August. The duel reminded one of my readers of 21-year-old Dodgers righthander Bob Welch's dramatic, nine-pitch matchup vs. Reggie Jackson in the 1978 World Series. It was strength against strength, with Welch ultimately fanning Reggie, as Mr. October corkscrewed himself into the batter's box missing strike three. A few days later, Jackson hit a 900-foot home run off Welch when the Yankees won the Series in Game 6. ⋅ With Devers gone, Tanner Houck — who first pitched for Boston during the no-fans pandemic season of 2020 — becomes the longest-tenured member of the Red Sox. Devers was the last remaining member of the 2018 world champs. Pitcher Tanner Houck is now the longest-tenured member of the Red Sox. Jim Davis/Associated Press ⋅ This space has roughed up Kiké Hernández for his hot doggery through the years, but kudos to the Dodger utilityman for being one of the few professional athletes to publicly speak out against the present administration's immigration/deportation playbook.' . . . ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity, and human rights,' Hernandez wrote last weekend on X. ⋅ Had a nice visit with Bob Cousy at his Worcester home earlier this month. The Cooz will be 97 in August, and like the rest of you was surprised that the Celtics bowed out early in the playoffs. Cousy is one of 14 living members of the Holy Cross Class of 1950. ⋅ Friends of ESPN legend Chris Berman celebrated his 70th birthday this past week at The Greatest Bar on Friend Street near the Garden. Those in attendance included Tedy Bruschi, Jim Kelly, Bob Lobel, Adam Schefter, Field Yates, Andrea Kremer, Kenny Mayne, Gary Miller, Max Lane, Alan Miller, and Butch Stearns. ⋅ RIP James Vinick, a Springfield native who died June 10. A passionate supporter of The Jimmy Fund, Vinick dedicated more than 60 years of service to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He commissioned a statue of Dr. Sidney Farber and 'Jimmy' that stands outside the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. ⋅ Quiz answers: 1. NBA — Jerry West (1969 Lakers, Finals loss to Celtics), NFL — Chuck Howley (1971 Cowboys, Super Bowl loss to Colts), MLB — Bobby Richardson (1960 Yankees, World Series loss to Pirates); 2. Magic Johnson (9), Bob Cousy (7), LeBron James (6), John Stockton (5), Rajon Rondo (4). Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Boston legend uses Judge to highlight Red Sox failure with Devers
Boston legend uses Judge to highlight Red Sox failure with Devers originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Manny Ramirez isn't just tossing shade at the Boston Red Sox. The former Red Sox slugger is dragging the New York Yankees and Aaron Judge into the mix too. Speaking to MLB insider Héctor Gómez, Ramirez ripped the Red Sox. Advertisement 'Devers was humiliated by the Red Sox,' Ramirez said. 'It's not about pride or ego. I think the team didn't respect him or communicate with him properly.' Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez warms up before the start of the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Butler II-Imagn Images Then Ramirez dropped the kicker punch: 'I'm sure they didn't do that to Clemens. I can't imagine the Yankees telling Judge, 'Now we're moving you to catcher.'' Devers signed a mammoth 10‑year, $313.5 million deal before the 2024 season. Early MAD drama erupted when Boston signed Alex Bregman and asked Devers to move from third base to DH — a position he publicly pushed back on. Later, with Triston Casas injured, priorities shifted again, and Devers refused a move to first base. That tension culminated this weekend with his blockbuster trade to San Francisco. Advertisement Ramirez didn't hold back: 'The Red Sox handled this… very poorly." This wasn't just about reshuffling defensive alignment; it was what Ramirez called a lack of respect. And then — bam — he brings in the Yankees. Ramirez, who grew up just across the McCombs Dam bridge from Yankee Stadium, told reporters this winter that he "is always a Yankees fan." So, he knows that comment will grate on every Red Sox fan's last nerve. Obviously, the Yankees wouldn't dream of that. Not to their franchise icon. Basically he's saying Boston treated its superstar like a secondary cog. For Yankees fans, who are watching a dreadful offense as their team drops four straight, the Red Sox drama is at least a little fun distraction. Advertisement He killed the Yankees. He owned Yankees' ace Gerrit Cole. And now he's the Los Angeles Dodgers' and San Diego Padres' problem. Grab the popcorn and pour the wine. Devers is in San Francisco and could add some fuel to the fire tonight. Related: Baseball's Only $300 Million Trades Just Keep Working Out For Yankees Fans . Related: Yankees Bullpen Headed for a Shakeup With Veteran Arm Back This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
What Red Sox Legend Manny Ramirez Said About Rafael Devers Trade
What Red Sox Legend Manny Ramirez Said About Rafael Devers Trade originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The fallout from the Rafael Devers trade has been ugly. The media is on a non-stop crusade to rip the Boston Red Sox for presumably selling low on the three-time All-Star. Advertisement Meanwhile, owner John W. Henry and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow are trying to save face. At the same time, MLB Hall of Famer and fan-favorite David Ortiz outwardly criticized Devers, calling out his damaged ego and tainting the third baseman's legacy in the process. Ortiz's former teammate and franchise legend Manny Ramirez shared his thoughts on Devers' departure, directly contrasting the former's sentiment. Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez (24) warms up before the start of the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Butler II-Imagn Images "Devers was humiliated [by the Red Sox],' Ramirez said via MLB insider Hector Gomez. 'It's not about pride or ego. I think the team didn't respect him or communicate with him properly. I'm sure they didn't do that to Clemens. I can't imagine the Yankees telling Judge, 'Now we're moving you to catcher.'" Advertisement Unlike Ortiz, who spent the final 14 years of his career with Boston, Ramirez is coming from a unique perspective. Despite endearing himself to the fans during two World Series victories, Ramirez's erratic behavior led to an unceremonious and bitter departure from Boston at the 2008 trade deadline. He knows how quickly a lack of communication can derail an otherwise remarkable tenure. While many details led to Devers being traded, miscommunication seems to be the prevailing issue. Whether it be the inciting incident of Boston signing Alex Bregman to Devers' chagrin, or his refusal to play first base after starter Triston Casas suffered a season-ending injury, neither party was on the same wavelength. Now living in the aftermath of the deal, Ortiz and Ramirez represent the dueling sides of the fanbase. Ortiz, a Red Sox through and through, is taking the organization's side, while Ramirez, experiencing Devers' frustration in his stint with the Red Sox, empathizes with the player. Whenever a star player is traded, the instant response is to place blame. Is it a merciless front office trying to save a penny, or a disgruntled player who forced his way out? In this case, it may be a bit of both. Related: Red Sox Stars Break Silence After Rafael Devers Trade This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ken Rosenthal Shreds Red Sox for Rafael Devers Trade
Ken Rosenthal Shreds Red Sox for Rafael Devers Trade originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Boston Red Sox shocked the world when they traded away disgruntled superstar Rafael Devers. The timing was alarming, with the team just wrapping up a three-game sweep against the New York Yankees. The finger-pointing is even more polarizing. Whether the team or Devers is to blame is all anyone can talk about. Advertisement MLB Hall of Famer and fan-favorite David Ortiz blamed Devers' ego, in a roundabout way, for the failed relationship. Meanwhile, team legend Manny Ramirez defended Devers, contradicting Ortiz in the process. On Tuesday, MLB insider Ken Rosenthal shared his opinion on the Devers trade, admitting the three-time All-Star could have acted more appropriately. Boston Red Sox designated hitter Rafael DeversPeter Aiken-Imagn Images 'Yes, Devers made mistakes here, and yes, he perhaps should have acted in a different way,' Rosenthal said on the latest episode of Foul Territory. However, Rosenthal quickly shifted the blame on the Red Sox for sparking issues with Devers, which he believes led to the slugger's demoralized mindset. Advertisement 'This all started when they failed to include him in communication when they were going after [Alex] Bregman. That's how it all started. And they turned a player, who they've known since he was 16 and has always had a reputation as kind of a sweet guy, into somewhat of a sourpuss. That is on them.' Rosenthal then scoffed at the idea that Devers was a bad influence on Boston's young prospects and is holding the organization accountable for the trade. 'This whole situation that they determined they had to rectify because, of course, he was going to pollute the minds of their young players. That's on them too. They initiated with their actions and lack of communication. To me, this is as much, if not more, on the Red Sox than it is on Rafael Devers." Advertisement Devers has yet to speak about his departure from Boston. But with the latter scheduled to visit the San Francisco Giants this Friday, he will have an opportunity for some on-the-field revenge sooner rather than later. Related: What Red Sox Legend Manny Ramirez Said About Rafael Devers Trade This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 18, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Are Tarrant's proposed redistricting maps racial gerrymanders? We asked experts
In Reality Check stories, Star-Telegram journalists dig deeper into questions over facts, consequences and accountability. More. A proposal to redraw Tarrant County voting precincts has become the latest controversy to roil the commissioners court in recent weeks. While redistricting is generally done every 10 years following the release of census data, the commissioner court's three Republicans say new precinct maps are necessary after Tarrant County has seen rapid growth in recent years. They're scheduled to vote on it June 3. (On Friday, 10 mayors including Fort Worth and Arlington's urged the commissioners to delay the vote.) The court's two Democrats, and roughly two-thirds of people who spoke at Tuesday's commissioners meeting, oppose the plan. They called it an attempt to racially gerrymander to oust Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons, a Democrat who is Black, and get a Republican voted back into the seat in the 2026 elections. Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez, a Republican, did not attend a May 13 public feedback hearing on the plan in Azle, but he did say in a recent op-ed published by the Star-Telegram that redistricting will 'help preserve the kind of leadership that has served Tarrant County well.' The plan is politically, not racially, motivated, he said. Fellow Republican Matt Krause, commissioner of Precinct 3, concurred at Tuesday's session, saying the Supreme Court 'has said partisan gerrymandering is fine.' So which is it? Is Tarrant County's proposal a high court-sanctioned case of politically motivated redistricting? Or is this a case of racial gerrymandering? We asked several experts this week to get their analyses. The Star-Telegram also reached out to the Public Interest Legal Foundation, the Virginia-based 'election integrity' law firm that the commissioners voted to hire along party lines for the redistricting, and to Adam Kincaid of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, who drew the maps. Neither has responded. Ramirez, Krause and Republican County Judge Tim O'Hare did not respond to requests for comment. Racial gerrymandering is the act of redrawing the boundaries of a voting district in a way that dilutes the voting power of a minority language or racial group. Protections against this dilution are found in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law, and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965: 'No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.' The Supreme Court's landmark 1986 decision in Thornburg v. Gingles created a three-part test to determine if a redistricting plan violates the Voting Rights Act. The test requires that a minority group: Prove that it is large and geographically compact enough to comprise a majority in a single-member district; Show that the it is politically cohesive; and Demonstrate that a majority group, such as white people, votes sufficiently as a bloc for their candidate to defeat the preferred candidate of a minority, such as Black people, under normal circumstances. In lieu of proof of intent to racially gerrymander, the Thornburg v. Gingles test has been used for decades to determine if redrawn electoral districts in effect dilute a minority group's voting power. Recent Supreme Court decisions have found that overtly political motives for redistricting do not violate the Constitution or federal law. However, it would be incorrect to say partisan gerrymandering is 'fine,' according to Kareem Crayton, a voting and redistricting specialist at the Brennan Center for Justice. 'What the Supreme Court said was, as far as federal law is concerned, the federal Constitution is concerned, there is no bar that they can see in the Constitution for preventing a district map from pursuing an overtly partisan agenda,' Crayton said. The court did not say that Congress or local governments cannot bar partisan gerrymandering or that an assertion of partisan gerrymandering protects from racial discrimination claims like those brought under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Organizations like the Public Interest Legal Foundation and the National Republican Redistricting Trust, both of which Crayton described as 'no fans of the Voting Rights Act,' try to cite partisanship as justification that protects them from any other claim. This is incorrect, he said, adding that map data should be analyzed to determine that partisanship is not used as a 'smoke screen' for racial gerrymandering. The partisanship defense only stands if those who redrew the maps, 'regardless of their intention,' can show that the new districts do not dilute minority groups' voting power, Crayton said. Each of the five proposed maps for new precincts in Tarrant County appears to track the boundaries of areas with the highest shares of minority voters, per the latest census data. This is one of the 'telltale signs of racial gerrymandering,' said Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a professor of constitutional and election law at Harvard. Census data appear to show that minority groups in Precincts 1 and 2, whose boundaries would change most significantly, are geographically compact enough to create 'at least a couple of districts,' said David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University and law professor at the University of Minnesota. The map drawers appear to be 'carving the lines up in a way to prevent what looks like a racially and geographically cohesive community from being able to elect what looks like at least two members,' Schultz said. 'Under the Gingles test, and subsequent court cases after that, we can make the argument that this is a racial gerrymander.' Stephanopoulos said the maps look like a 'potentially unconstitutional racial gerrymander,' meaning it appears that 'race improperly predominated' in their design. To successfully argue a Voting Rights Act claim, Stephanopoulos said, a plaintiff would need to compare precinct-specific demographic data with the results of an ecological inference study, which estimates voting behaviors based on aggregate-level election data. Ecological inference estimates from Harvard Law School's Election Law Clinic show that voting is dramatically polarized along racial lines in Tarrant County, which Stephanopoulos said would support a Voting Rights Act violation claim. 'The most important issue would be whether it's possible to draw additional majority-minority districts' per the first prong of the Gingles test, he said. Redistricting experts at the voting rights organization Common Cause Texas found that in all of the maps, the non-white population of the new Precinct 1 would be around 80%. People of color currently make up 69.7% of the current precinct. In the Republicans' preferred map, Precinct 2 would drop from around 64% non-white residents to 49%. That map would raise the number of Democratic voters in Precinct 1 from 60% to 70%, and reduce the number of registered Democrats in Precinct 2 from 52% to 42%. 'Under each of these proposed plans, undeniably communities of color will be the ones who lose out of proper representation,' said Anthony Gutierrez, Common Cause Texas' executive director. The maps appear to show packing of minority groups, which in Tarrant County largely translates to Democratic voters, into Precinct 1 in order to make Precinct 2 — currently represented by Simmons — more advantageous for Republicans, he said. The organization entered the current precinct map and all five proposed maps into Dave's Redistricting App, a census and elections data mapping tool. The app marks Tarrant County's current map as having two precincts that lean Republican: Precincts 3 and 4, with 61.76% and 54.16% of voters, respectively. Precinct 1 is marked as leaning heavily Democratic, with 60% of voters going blue at the ballot box. Precinct 2, where demographics would change most drastically under the proposed maps, is listed as being 'in the 45-55% competitive range.' You can check out the interactive maps and data sets for each of the proposed maps at the following links. Proposal 1 (Republicans' preferred map) Proposal 2 Proposal 3 Proposal 4 Proposal 5 'The entire point of redrawing political boundaries is to ensure all residents have proper representation, not to advantage a political party,' Gutierrez said. 'If (Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare) is doing this for purely political reasons, there is no way this process is going to end with Tarrant County citizens getting districts that are fair for all.'
