Do you agree with Casas' comments on the Devers situation? #MLB Casas: "Best third baseman in the league." Do you like that he addressed the 3B issue?
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00:00First of all, I guess it's possible that he's trolling the entire world with his comments,
00:08or it is possible that he is a Gen Z-er who has absolutely no understanding of the way
00:19in which a hierarchy might work, and the answer that I might have given if I had been asked,
00:27if I had been Tristan Kassas, were that, maybe with a little chuckle, that decision
00:33is above my pay grade.
00:36That's made by the guy in charge of our ball club, Alex Cora, and I have full faith in
00:43whatever decision he makes.
00:44That might have been the answer that I would have given.
00:47He's a ride or die, though.
00:48In my opinion, he's probably boys with Devers.
00:52They go back a long way, and I think that he's going to stick up for whatever he wants.
00:56Clearly, Devers, and I've seen some reports or people just thinking that there was a language
01:01issue, and that's why Devers, it didn't land the way that he thought it would, and maybe
01:06he was joking.
01:08I didn't take it that way.
01:09I think Devers has been clear that he doesn't want to move, and I think that Kassas is backing
01:13his friend.
01:14There's a way to go about doing it, but then again, I think today's players are completely
01:22different.
01:23They say things, and they look at it from a completely different angle than you might
01:27look at it because of your time on this earth and all the things that you've been through.
01:33You might look at it in a different way, but I think younger players look at things differently.
01:37I know.
01:38I get what you're getting at, which is I am near boomers.
01:45My parents did not convince me over 20 years that I had a right to have a say in everything
01:54that goes on at every place that I work at, so yes, you're correct about that.
01:58I would ask this question, though, guys.
02:02Tristan Kassas says this, and I highly doubt he and Devers are going bowling at Kings,
02:08but maybe I'm wrong.
02:11Where is there the Alex Cora role in all of this, where to me, Bregman is like Rodney
02:19Harrison joining the Patriots.
02:22He rubbed a lot of people the wrong way when he arrived, but he was brought in for a reason
02:27because he was a disciplined guy that was going to get under your skin and get the most
02:30out of you.
02:32I feel like a part of the reason this organization has failed in the second half so often is
02:37because they have guys like Kassas that are more worried about their fingernails than
02:40they are about winning in the playoffs, and you have a guy like this who enters the clubhouse
02:46who is going to be a leader that is a champion twice, that Alex Cora specifically singled
02:52out to bring in more than any player, and the guys on this team that are pissed about
02:57it, maybe that's why he's here.
02:59Does that make sense?
03:01That Kassas and others could use a kick in the ass by a guy like Bregman, and that's
03:05why they're so defensive right now.
03:07Well yeah.
03:08I mean, it's one of the reasons that I was excited when there started to be talk about
03:15getting him because he brings, you know, like the, we've met, we've now overused the phrase
03:23the adult in the room, but he brings the, the, the veteran presence that you need when
03:30you have a bunch of young guys and you have a bunch of guys who are not necessarily used
03:36to winning.
03:38Right, but these guys have been playing baseball long enough to know, like, this is the basics.
03:41This is like the common sense thing.
03:43This is the thing you learn in Little League, the competition and competing for spots.
03:49So Tristan Kassas hasn't learned yet that it's Alex Cora who writes the lineup card?
03:56Like he hasn't figured out yet that, I mean, he's going to stand there with a straight
04:02face and tell you that Raphael Devers is the best third baseman in Major League Baseball.
04:09Well, I think it's like to Courtney's point, he's kind of defending his boy a little bit
04:14by it's the thing that Devers and I think Kassas know you've been around the game long
04:21enough.
04:22You've been involved in it long enough that you should be competing for your spot when
04:26there's somebody that is equally as talented than you, or maybe even better.
04:30Doesn't it worry you a bit though, because Alex Bregman is Cora's guy, that you could
04:35look at Kassas and you could look at Devers and say, maybe they're pissed at Cora.
04:40Like to Curtis's point, I'm worried that there could end up being a divide with the introduction
04:45of Alex Bregman and what decision that Alex Cora makes with him.
04:49Like there could be guys that are now frustrated with it because it is a different player.
04:53It's not guys that understand the hierarchy.
04:55I think all of the players think that they're more important than Alex Cora and that they
04:58know better.
05:00That's the issue that I see happening.
05:02I think that that could happen, Courtney.
05:04I think that's, I think Cora is okay with that, that he knows this team needs to change
05:09to be on a different level.
05:11And just on a personal level, my guess is Kassas has had negotiations of varying degrees
05:17of intensity the last couple of years about an extension.
05:20He's at that stage where you're going to buy out some years now to get a bargain in the
05:24free agency.
05:25So both sides get guaranteed money and maybe the organization was balking saying, we don't
05:29have the money.
05:31And then poof, here comes the Cohiba and $40 million for Bregman and Kassas is butthurt.
05:36He didn't have it either.
05:37Yeah.
05:38Well, and probably in the back of his mind, if you start moving guys around in the infield,
05:44there's one less spot that's available maybe on, uh, over on first base.
05:49So I don't know.
05:50I, for some who did not hear it chime, cause I'm, I'm looking at the Subaru of New England
05:55tax line.
05:56Do you want to share the entirety of what Tristan Kassas said yesterday, please?
06:00I think, uh, I think it's, I think it's Rafi Devers position.
06:04I think he's, he's the third baseman.
06:07And at that point, that's where it stands and he's done it for, you know, a really long
06:12time now.
06:14And I think, uh, he's only getting better at that position.
06:16I think his defense is, um, getting better every single year.
06:21We don't know what the future holds, but we know it holds Rafi Devers.
06:24So I think he's got to play defense.
06:26It's going to keep him athletic and he's going to hit because of, you know, him being
06:31at third base.
06:32Uh, he doesn't know any other position.
06:34He doesn't, uh, want to play any other position and he's going to fight for it.
06:38Even if it's with any of the younger, younger guys, any new guy.
06:43Um, I, I mean, I think he's the best third baseman in the league.
06:46I wouldn't take him.
06:47I wouldn't take anybody over him.
06:49So, uh, I think he should play third base.
06:51Yeah.
06:52I think Bregman should play second.
06:53I think Bregman should play second base.
06:55Yeah.
06:56I think, uh, he's going to make the transition.
06:58Well, I think he's athletic enough too.
07:01And I think Trevor, you know, is going to play an awesome shortstop.
07:04Oh, who cares what you think?
07:06Right.
07:07It's not your decision.
07:08Wait, wasn't this guy who basically built a house in Worcester and had to be begged
07:13to come to the big league club as they were fighting for a playoff spot?
07:17Yes.