MLB Notebook: Devers’ injury an early reminder of Red Sox’s depth concerns, Pivetta starts year on strong note & Cora backs Breslow

With Rafael Devers, the Boston Red Sox can rest assured they’ll always have at least one elite hitter who is capable of changing the course of any game with a single swing of the bat.

Without him — a reality the team was forced to embrace in only their second game of the season on Friday — we’re reminded that this is a team built with a potentially troublesome lack of offensive depth. 

Devers proved the former true in another impressive, yet unsurprising performance on Opening Day with two of his team’s 11 hits — including a satisfying two-run homer — that powered the Red Sox to a season-opening 6-4 victory on Thursday in Seattle.

But when Devers went down as a surprise scratch with left shoulder soreness prior to Friday night’s game, the team predictably struggled to generate offense in a 1-0 loss. Not only did Boston’s bats fail to push across any runs, they only managed to piece together four hits while whiffing 13 times. Devers was also held out of the lineup on Saturday. 

“It started in Fort Myers,” Devers said Friday through a team interpreter. “It was getting worse and worse. Today, in practice I felt a bit more and wanted to just be smart."

It was a rather stark contrast from a team that had just provided us with a little hope (albeit likely false hope…) that maybe, just maybe, there might be a path to being competitive this season after all… 

“(He’s) just sore. During BP he was kind of like stiff, sore. He didn’t feel great throughout the day,” Alex Cora said of Devers after the loss. “He got some treatment, he gave it a push and it didn’t work out. We have to be smart about it. He’s day to day. This is something that I don’t want to say is going on (long term). He just felt (it) during BP, facing the machine, he didn’t feel good.” 

While it’s certainly good news that Devers’ injury doesn’t appear to be all too serious (although one can't be too encouraged by Devers saying "it was getting worse and worse." If it's that bad, why is the team rushing to play Devers in late March?), it’s concerning nonetheless to see your star third baseman need an immediate day off with the season barely underway. 

Devers is only 27, firmly within the prime years of his career, but a player who swings the bat with such violence is only asking for trouble in the long run. It’s all part of the package with Raffy — for better or worse. It’s been much more of the “better” in his first seven-plus seasons, but sooner than later, the “worse" is likely coming…

Devers’ injury illustrates what most of us have long surmised — that this team isn’t likely to win many baseball games with only one great hitter in the lineup. That’s why it’s vitally important for the Red Sox to get significant offensive contributions from the likes of Triston Casas, Trevor Story, Masataka Yoshida and hopefully Tyler O’Neill too. 

All but O’Neill — who has established himself among the majors’ all-time Opening Day power kings after homering in his fifth straight season opener — are off to slow starts. Casas, Story and Yoshida had a combined four hits in their first 24 collective at-bats (.167) with six strikeouts.

It’s early — way too early to identify any real trends — but it’s a reminder that these Red Sox just don’t and won’t have much room for error…

Pivetta off to strong start

Despite not making any serious offseason investments in their rotation, starting pitching wasn’t a problem in the Red Sox’s first couple games of 2024. Brayan Bello’s solid Opening Day outing was followed by an even better one by Nick Pivetta, the team’s newly-minted No. 2 starter. 

I’ve made my feelings clear on Pivetta and his struggles with consistency, but as he showed on Friday, he can be dominant when he’s at his best. Pivetta gave up a run on three hits and struck out 10 — far and away his most in a season debut — only to be a hard-luck loser when the offense failed to pick him.