Devers didn't even pretend. He flat-out refused when the Sox asked him to move off his position.

Cue the outrage. There were immediate calls to trade Devers, along with the usual insults. In a sign of the times, some people were even angry that he used a translator while taking questions from reporters.

Devers speaks English pretty well. He likes to use a translator for interviews to make sure his thoughts are presented correctly.

Oh, they were.

The first thing to know is that this will be taken care of by Opening Day, probably before. Alex Cora will negotiate peace in our time by selling Devers on the virtues of being a DH.

He'll also promise to find a way to get Devers on the field from time to time. That Devers spent the winter rehabbing a sore left shoulder and is still not working out with the main group of infielders gives all sides plenty of cover to say that DH is what's best for him and team.

If that doesn't work, the Sox will remind Devers that he's an employee who is due to make $29.5 million this season and would risk suspension by refusing to play. He's upset but he's not stupid.

Cora has said several times that this is a baseball decision and he'll do what's best for the team. That means Bregman plays third base and Devers is the DH.

But Devers has a valid point. The Sox signed him to a 10-year contract extension in 2023 that included a promise he would play third base well into the deal. Unenforceable as that promise may be, they made it.

He put his trust in the team, it went back on its word, and he's upset. You'd feel the same way if your employer did that to you.

Sorry, you're not being assigned an office. Share a table with the interns.

There's a fine line between standing up for yourself and being selfish that Devers crossed. He could have been much more diplomatic in his comments.

But he's a three-time All-Star with a World Series ring who has played in 90 percent of the games over the last seven years.

You don't come out of the Dominican Republic at 16 and make it to the major leagues at 20 without a tremendous amount of self-assurance and determination.

In only his 15th major league game, Devers hit a 103-mile-per-hour fastball from Aroldis Chapman out to left-center at Yankee Stadium to tie the game in the ninth inning.

Chapman, who is now a member of the Red Sox, said last week that he still can't believe Devers hit that pitch as well as he did.

That's the guy you expected to back down?

Devers has pride in what he has accomplished. It's naïve to think he would just shrug his shoulders and cede his position to a newcomer. Why would you even want that?

Devers has only 87 plate appearances as a designated hitter over eight years. He enjoys playing the field and the idea of helping the team even if he goes 0 for 4.

Devers has been one of the most productive third basemen in the league and done what the Sox have asked. He's not a good defensive third baseman, but they knew that when they agreed to the extension and decided to live with it.

"One of the reasons that we signed Raffy is that even at the end of his deal he's 36. I think he's got his best years ahead of him," team chairman Tom Werner said the day the deal was announced.

Now they've ticked him off. But it won't last. There is no scowl on that baby face as he walks around the clubhouse, and Devers has welcomed Bregman to the team.