It sure looks like the Orioles can benefit from disarray in the Red Sox clubhouse

During a press conference on Monday morning, Red Sox All Star Rafael Devers was asked if he was willing to move from third base to DH in order to create space in the infield for the newly signed Alex Bregman, as the latter is a significantly better defender at the hot corner. Devers' answer? "No".

A few years back, former Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom openly committed to Devers as the long-term third baseman in Boston. But Bloom was subsequently fired, and manager Alex Cora noted that fact in a press conference of his own. Cora's comments made it clear that any prior conversations between Devers and the front office were a thing of the past, stating "There’s a different leader here. Chaim is in St Louis now".

It's not clear whether the Red Sox front office had any conversations with Devers about potentially bringing in his replacement this winter, but given the facts and these recent statements it doesn't look like they did.

Bregman's comments were more in line with what you'd expect. He told reporters that he was willing to play whatever position was required of him in order to help the team win. And as a new face in that locker room, it makes a lot of sense that he'd have that attitude coming in. But all the data points to Bregman being a better defensive asset than Devers.

In fact, Devers has been worth a combined -61 DRS dating back to his major league debut in 2017. The only player in the league, at any position, who has been worse over that collective time frame is Nick Castellanos. Bregman debuted a year earlier than Devers but the former has put up 27 DRS in his 9 professional seasons, good for 5th among all third basemen in that time.

Orioles could benefit from the Red Sox stubbornness regarding Rafael Devers playing third base

Despite all the evidence, Devers is adamant about remaining at third. And he's got at least one teammate on his side. First baseman Triston Casas told reporters yesterday that "I think third base is Raffy Devers position...that's where it stands and he's done it for a really long time now".

'Because we've always done it that way' isn't typically a viable path for an organization that wants to make improvements, but in this case it's something that could benefit the Orioles. So go ahead and let them try.

For one, the Red Sox letting Devers stick at third will make that team worse in the short term. He's already 28 and he's extremely unlikely to take any significant steps forward on the defensive side. But this type of thing could also eat away at some of their locker room chemistry if Devers continues to be a terrible third baseman, and the rest of the team knows they have a viable solution sitting across the diamond.

There have even been whispers of a trade, which feels unlikely but is still technically possible. The best thing the Sox could do would be to move Devers to DH where he can get on with the rest of his career and let Bregman handle third base duties until one of their stud infield prospects makes their way to the majors.

But assuming they abide by Devers' stubbornness and make concessions to their star player in order to keep him happy, the on-field product will suffer. That's great news for the Orioles, who'll be stuck in what looks to be a tight race for the AL East title later this year.