Red Sox legend leaks texts with Rafael Devers in latest attack on slugger

While Rafael Devers and the Boston Red Sox want to put the slugger’s departure behind them, a franchise legend is not letting go quite as easily.

A week ago, David Ortiz told The Athletic that he “knew it wasn’t going to end well” between Devers and the Red Sox, who traded him to the San Francisco Giants last Sunday for a four-player package. Those comments were the beginning of a barrage of slights from Ortiz, who has since taken to social media, in the days since Devers was traded.

On Saturday night, Ortiz went on Instagram Live to explain his Devers feelings. He also leaked unanswered text messages he sent to Devers in March.

“Red Sox didn’t disrespect Devers. He disrespected himself,” Ortiz said on the broadcast as translated from Spanish to English by Marino Pepén. “He comes to spring training out of shape and being the 3B with the worst defense, they sign a Gold Glove and he won’t accept another position.”

During his Live, he held up his phone to the camera with messages written in Spanish from March 25 and March 30 that went unanswered. He also made a video call to Devers on March 31, but did Devers did not pick up.

According to a translation, it seemed as if Ortiz was trying to offer Devers advice. Through March (32 games), Devers was batting .225/.354/.433 with five home runs and 19 RBIs.

“Good morning, how are you feeling?”

“And my boy, klk ? (klk is an abbreviation of Que es lo Que hay, meaning ‘What’s up?’)

“This is just starting, I was watching the game today and the only thing was that the hip was a little aggressive, nothing more, if you can slow down the hip a little, that’s all.”

“If you want and can, call me and I’ll explain what I did to deal with that.”

Ortiz alluded to this communication to reporter Héctor Gómez days before.

“You can’t imagine how many times I wrote to Devers trying to give him advice, but unfortunately, he has communication problems,” Ortiz said. ”He almost never returned my messages, but I don’t blame him. He’s a good guy, but he definitely needs to improve his communication. He should find an advisor to help him with that.”

Devers’ time with the Red Sox began to deteriorate when the team signed Gold Glove third baseman Alex Bregman during spring training. They asked Devers to move to DH, a move he eventually agreed to. Then when first baseman Triston Casas sustained a season-ending knee injury, the Red Sox approached Devers about playing the field and he declined, saying the front office “should do their jobs” and look for another player.

Now, he’s playing first base for the Giants.

Devers, a three-time All-Star, signed a 10-year, $313.5 million contract with the Red Sox for the start of 2024. He is batting .268/.394/.495 with 16 home runs and 61 RBIs; with San Francisco, he is 5 for 23 with three walks, a home run and three RBIs.

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