Inside the Red Sox’ Courtship of Rafael Devers, From the Santo Domingo Dinner to the Final Deal

Eleven days before Christmas, all the fancy restaurants in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, must be well booked, because red socks Called over twenty and no one could accommodate such a large private party at such late notice. When someone finally contacted the InterContinental Real Santo Domingo, the staff agreed to close part of the hotel to the public for a secret meeting so the Red Sox could quietly present. Rafael Devers The biggest contract in franchise history.

Although the club had been in negotiations with Devers since the spring of 2021, the urgency to strike a long-term deal had come to a head the week before when Xander Bogaerts She agreed to an 11-year deal with Padres. At that point, Devers had become the team’s top priority, and members of the baseball operations department suggested to owner John Henry that having him in person with Devers would go a long way in the third baseman’s eyes.

Not only did Henry show his presence, but his private jet as well.

And his checkbook.

On the morning of December 14 – the day after a press conference presenting a new closer Kenley Jansenand the day before another player introduced a new player Masataka Yoshida – Henry traveled to Santo Domingo with Red Sox President Sam Kennedy, Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Blum, General Manager Brian O’Halloran, and Assistant General Manager Eddie Romero. The group was joined by manager Alex Cora, who had flown in separately from Puerto Rico. At 3 p.m., the group met with Devers and his agent, Nelson Montes de Oca, as well as three other senior executives at baseball agency REP 1. In their enclosed section of the Intercontinental, the staff served their guests unexpected hors d’oeuvres and President beer, as Henry spoke directly to a young third baseman who signed as a 16-year-old phenom and became one of the best hitters in the sport. For the first time, Henry offered Devers a contract worth $300 million.

“His eyes got big as if he saw a fastball in the middle,” said Cora. And I was right next to him. I was like, ‘Chill, bro.'”

Devers rejected it.

The Red Sox had scheduled the flight and booked the hotel in hopes of a quick resolution. They returned to Boston believing the deal was not particularly close, but the negotiations had reached a crucial turning point. According to several people in the room and in the organization, the Red Sox walked away from their face-to-face meeting believing that Devers wanted to make a deal, and that there would never have been a better opportunity to make it happen. It was, in a sense, now or never.

Within three weeks, the Red Sox had a 10-year, $313.5 million extension framework that became official on Wednesday. It is the tenth largest contract in baseball history.

“We always felt he was a $300 million player,” said Montes de Oca. “And that was our goal. Once we got the approval to go over that $300 million mark, we felt like we had something.”

The Red Sox first spoke to Devers about a long-term deal in the spring of 2021. Those talks ultimately went nowhere and floated into the 2021 season. They resumed in the spring of 2022 when the Red Sox made an offer based on Matt OlsonFor eight years, $168 million with Atlanta.

It wasn’t even enough to start negotiations.

Olson had previously been used as an umpire for Devers, so there was a certain logic to hiring him as an playoff reference, but the Red Sox knew they would eventually have to field more. As it turned out, their opening offer was so far off from what Devers was asking that the two parties didn’t bother negotiating. All that back and forth was more conversation than negotiation.

“We talk, but no movement at all,” Montes de Oca said of the early discussions.

Cora called Devers into the manager’s office at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day last season to make sure he wasn’t overwhelmed by the offer and didn’t move toward a trade.

“It’s like, Alex, I’m making ($11.2 million). If I can’t live with that, what am I going to do?” “I had a very good idea when we had that conversation that at some point, before the start of 2023, we were going to get something done. “

The truth was that Devers did not want to become a free agent. He signed with the Red Sox as a teenager in 2013 and grew up with the organization. The club was filled with coaches and executives whom he thought of as friends and mentors. He didn’t want to be short, but he didn’t want to leave either.

“This is an organization that has given me everything,” Devers said. “So that was a factor, but free agency also isn’t easy. It’s a tough process. I just didn’t want to go through that.”

When the Red Sox failed to make the playoffs last season, assistant general manager Romero traveled to the Dominican Republic to celebrate Devers’ 26th birthday on Oct. 24. Devers was hosting a party at his ranch, and Romero took a helicopter ride from Santo Domingo. From the airport to Devers’ complex, landing on his property near the pool. With him were Dominican Academy Director Javier Hernandez and Assistant Director of Latin American Operations Alberto Mejia. Romero brought a birthday cake, and Devers showed off his prized peacock, goat, and chicken. Romero said no formal offers were discussed that day, but Devers asked specific questions about the team’s direction and the club’s willingness to spend.

“We knew Ravi’s point No. 1, which he wanted to say here,” Romero said. “But he (was) also serious that he got a fair deal.”

The Red Sox fielded a new pitch during the postseason. Brave III baseman Austin Riley She signed a 10-year, $212 million deal in August, and the Red Sox offered a similar but larger deal. It was still at the $300 million threshold and not nearly enough to get us to a deal, but it was starting to shift the conversation toward real negotiations. The ownership gave the baseball operations some financial leeway to increase their bid as needed, and team president Kennedy estimated that the two sides put forward seven or eight counterproposals after the October bid.

When Henry agreed to make the first $300 million bid in person in December, it was Dominican Academy director Hernandez and Dominican Academy coordinator Martin Rodriguez who tried to book a restaurant for the secret meeting. It was essential that they find a place as private as possible to avoid leaks or disturbances in the negotiations. Rodriguez found the hotel and secured the site. Once Henry arrived, he delivered his letter.

“This was an opportunity for John to speak directly to Ravi, to speak directly to his representatives and encourage all of us to find a way back home,” said Kennedy. “That was a big moment, probably the biggest moment in the negotiations.”

Montes de Oca is joined by REP 1 President Peter Greenberg, REP 1 CEO Chris Coras, and REP 1 Executive Vice President Scott Nelson.

“My thought process was that (the Red Sox) wouldn’t get to the Dominican Republic for no reason,” Devers said. “So, I had a lot of confidence that it was going to happen, and Nelson also reassured me that it was a work in progress. … I always had the feeling that everyone here understood the amount of passion and work that was put towards the game. I felt like that alone was enough to give me confidence that something was going to happen.” It will be done.”

Cora said he traveled to the meeting rigorously “to be at that table when someone tells somebody else you’re going to make $300 million.”

The Red Sox thought the offer might be enough to seal the deal right then and there.

“We hoped that would lead to a solution very quickly,” Blum said. “She didn’t. There was just too much back and forth that needed to happen.”

A few days after the meeting, which had been kept secret for weeks, ESPN reported that the Red Sox and Devers were “galaxies apart” in their negotiations.

Internally, the Red Sox felt they were closer.

Devers did not accept their offer, but the conversation in Santo Domingo appeared to be a turning point for both sides. Neither clung to the best-case scenario. Both of them were expressing a genuine desire to find a middle ground. Devers made it clear that he did not want the negotiations to extend into spring training, and certainly not after Opening Day.

“He understood that maybe he needed to compromise a little bit on his value,” Montes de Oca said. “But for him to compromise a bit to be where he wants to be, it was worth it.”

Believing they would never have a better chance of reaching a deal, the Red Sox set themselves a simple year-end deadline to get it done, with until early January. Negotiations were suspended over the Christmas break, but when they resumed the following week, the Red Sox approached them with a now-or-not sense of urgency.

“We kind of got together and said, ‘Look, if we’re going to do this, this is probably the week that should happen,'” Bloom said. New Year’s Eve.”

Devers’ deal would do much in defining Chaim Bloom’s tenure directing baseball operations for the Red Sox. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

On the morning of December 31, the two sides met on Zoom. Devers’ clients were on the call with Bloom, Kennedy, and O’Halloran. Bloom and O’Halloran were also in near-constant contact via slack, text, and phone with two money experts in the Red Sox front office: Chief Financial Officer Tim Zoe and Major League Operations Director Alex Jimenez. The Zoom meeting wasn’t particularly productive — it was nowhere near a resolution — but the conversation identified what Bloom later called the different “levers” that can be pushed and pulled to find common ground. Years and dollars were leverage, of course, but so was the amount to be paid in a signing bonus, and the amount to be paid as deferred money after the contract expired. This was not a time for a group of voices. It’s time for a series of small talk. Zue and Gimenez exchanged endless messages with each other, and then with Bloom and O’Halloran, working through the fallout from luxury taxes, how deferrals would affect contract and other minutiae that were necessary for the fix.

For the rest of the afternoon and into New Year’s Eve, Bloom and Montes de Oca talked several times face-to-face about the various issues each side cared about. They find that some levers can be pulled slightly in one direction or the other.

“Sometime that evening, just before midnight, we got off the phone,” Bloom said, “and I was like, ‘Well, I can see this coming together in a way that works for everyone. ‘” “

Montes de Oca closed feeling the same.

“My kids weren’t happy about me being on the phone until at least 11 p.m., but it was for a good reason,” he said. “We love Ravi, and that’s where he wants to be.”

By New Year’s Day, each side can feel the momentum building toward a deal. They stopped haggling over the final details of an arbitration agreement and, on January 2, settled on a salary of $17.5 million for next season. The extension wasn’t complete at that point, but the wide whacks of the recent $313.5 million 10-year deal were gathering. Bloom spent the remainder of the week of January 2 leading the final stages of negotiations. Later in the week, he sent a message to the Red Sox employees to tell them the deal was done. The agreement was in place. Devers was signing the largest contract in franchise history.

Romero, who 10 years ago helped lead the international effort to bring Devers into the organization, immediately texted Devers using the “Baby Face” moniker that followed Devers from the Dominican Republic to Boston.

“Carita,” Romero told him, “You’re rich!”

Devers had his stretch, and the Red Sox had their franchise pivot.

“I think the strongest expression I can say once this is done is relief,” Romero said. “You’re obviously excited about all the people involved, but it’s a relief we can get this out of the way now. We know we have a key player to build around.”

(Top photo: Billy Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)