The Red Sox finalized their three-year deal with over the weekend. While its generally expected that Bregman will move to second base in his new home, skipper Alex Cora was about their infield on Saturday. camp has made clear all offseason that the Soxs longtime third baseman has no interest in a position change. Devers forcefully stated as much when speaking to the Boston beat this morning. No. I play third, he said through an interpreter when asked about his willingne s to move off the position ( ). Its my decision My position is third base. Whatever it is they want to do is what they want to do. But my position is third base. Cora again reiterated that the Red Sox havent made any decisions. Hes going to work out as the third baseman. And were going to make decisions accordingly. Here, its not about Bregman or Devers or Cora , the manager said. Its for the Boston Red Sox. Whatever decision we make is going to be for the benefit of the team. Interestingly, Cora acknowledged that the Red Sox promised Devers that hed be their long-term third baseman at the time the sides agreed on a Fred Mcgriff Jersey in January 2023. That agreement came under a previous front office regime, as then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom was fired eight months later. Craig Breslow is now running baseball operations. Cora downplayed the significance of that promise as a result, saying it was under different leadership. That was under Chaim ( ). Of course, Cora was the manager at the time of the extension, so there hasnt been a leadership change in the clubhouse. Devers was asked whether hed seek a trade if the Red Sox forced him to move off third base. He didnt rule that out but said it hasnt been a focus. Thats a tough answer to give. I havent given it much thought. Ive been here my entire career , he said ( ). I havent asked myself that question. Im open to listening. Im not close to those conversations. The most straightforward solution is still to keep Devers at third base and move Bregman to second. Thatd block the clearest path to playing time for top prospect , who combined for a .330/.439/.558 slash in an incredible first full minor league season. Campbell had a roughly even share of playing time at each of second base, shortstop and in center field. He also picked up a few starts at third base. While Boston could have Campbell open the season in Triple-A Worcester, they should be able to find ways to get him into the lineup if they feel hes ready for an MLB call. If the Sox preferred to keep him at one position as a rookie, second base was the obvious choice before the Bregman signing. Unle s they force Devers hand by pushing him to DH, theyd need to use Campbell in more of a utility role (at least until someone gets injured). Campbell is versatile enough to bounce around while still playing regularly. He could spell at shortstop while rotating through the outfield. Hes unlikely to be as good a defensive center fielder as , but hed bring a higher offensive ceiling. Campbells right-handed bat could complement the lefty-swinging corner outfield tandem of and , as well as lefty-hitting DH . Duran will play almost every day regardle s of the opposing pitchers handedne s. The Sox could use Abreu and/or Yoshida in more of a platoon capacity. Thered be a defensive tradeoff. Devers has graded as a below-average defender in e sentially every season of his career. Defensive Runs Saved had him nine runs below par last year, while Statcast graded him at five runs below average. Bregman rated 5-6 runs above average by those metrics and is coming off his first Gold Glove win. Bregman shouldnt have much i sue moving to second base. Hes a good athlete who likely would have spent most of his career in the middle infield had he not broken into an Astros team that had and . Still, thered be a stronger defensive alignment with Bregman at third and one of Campbell or at second base. For the Sox, the question is whether thats worth alienating a player theyve viewed as one of the faces of the franchise. Devers is signed through age 36. His defensive grades arent likely to improve as he approaches his 30s. At some point, the Sox are likely to push him off the position. Story and Bregman are each signed for three more seasons. They can both opt out after this year, though that seems unlikely for Story and at least debatable for Bregman (whod be leaving a $40MM average annual value on the table). Even if theyre comfortable using Campbell in a utility role for a season, theyll probably want an everyday infield position available for him and top shortstop prospect by next year. This should be workable in the short term but could pose some interesting questions before long. Bruce Bochy Jersey