David Ortiz Weighs In On Red Sox Third Base Situation

Headlines were made early in Red Sox spring training over who the starting third baseman would be, but those close to the organization aren’t sweating it.

Alex Bregman established himself as one of the best third baseman in baseball in his nine-year career with the Houston Astros. The veteran is versatile enough to play second base, which seemed to be his best fit in Boston. Rafael Devers followed up that speculation by proclaiming he only wanted to play third base and didn’t prefer to DH.

Manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow didn’t sound concerned about Devers’ blunt remarks. His Red Sox teammates also didn’t make much of the supposed drama and neither did Bregman. Franchise legend David Ortiz also weighed in on the situation.

“Well, we’ll see how the organization deals with it because, as you know, we have Rafael Devers over there who has been our third baseman for a long time. And then you have another great third baseman like Bregman, and you need to have both of them in the lineup,” Ortiz told NESN’s Tom Caron. “We have a long spring training ahead. Hopefully, the organization and the players get to be on the same page, and the problem gets solved by Opening Day. And the most important thing is that everybody is happy with whatever we’re going to have to deal with moving forward.”

Bregman mostly started at third base in Boston’s Grapefruit League action, but that’s primarily due to Rafael Devers working his way into the lineup. Cora noted nothing was definitive with the Opening Day lineup and those questions likely will be answered until then.