“Guys were just shocked,” Story said. “Everybody was trying to wrap their minds around it. That was my first question, what does this mean for our season?”
It was no secret in the organization that Devers was at odds with Breslow. But he also was the most productive designated hitter in the American League and on pace to drive in 130 runs.
Going back to Ted Williams through to David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, the Sox have tolerated headstrong players who produced at the plate.
But Devers was traded away the same day he homered off Yankees ace Max Fried.
Once the team got to Seattle, the players started to get some answers.
“The game continues. The message was they believe in us,” Story said. “We’re not punting on this year. This is a team that we believe in.
“Obviously it’s hard to see how it makes us better right now in the moment, sure. But those are decisions that we don’t make.”
Story is waiting to see what form that spoken commitment takes. It’s easy for Breslow to say he’s not giving up on the season. But will he back that up with actions?
“It’s been a tough time,” Story said. “It hard to lose a guy like Raffy. I enjoyed playing with him. He was a teammate.
“But those [front office] guys are smart and they have their way of doing things. I’m curious to see what they do.”
Some of the improvements will come internally. Alex Bregman has advanced to running as he returns from a strained right quad. He’ll have to run the bases before the Sox consider a rehab assignment.
Masataka Yoshida — remember him? — also is a viable option. The Sox have warehoused him all season, saying Yoshida’s arm strength had to improve before he could come off the injured list.
Now he’s likely a few days away from a rehab assignment. Yoshida has a .775 OPS over 248 major league games. At worst, he’s a good choice to DH against righthanders.
But a real commitment has to be more than activating players off the injured list and hoping David Hamilton can handle second base.
“I feel like we’ve cleaned up some things defensively and are playing at a pretty decent level in all aspects of the game,” Story said. “We’ve been winning series even when we haven’t scored a lot of runs.”
The Sox scored eight runs against the Yankees over three games and swept that series. They scored five runs in Seattle and took two of three. That can work in the short term but not over time.
Abraham Toro has hit second in place of Devers in four of the five games since the trade. Toro is a 28-year-old utility player now in his sixth organization who is a career .226 hitter.
Toro has given the Sox a lift this season. But he’s not a No. 2 hitter on a contending team.
“There’s a lot of young guys playing now,” Story said. “They bring a lot of energy and it’s fun. But we have to find ways to score and it’s not easy.”
Story said the players are over the Devers drama. They’ve moved on.
“Decisions were made and we moved forward,” he said. “The game goes on. I can see how it could be a big distraction but we’re not letting that narrative come in our clubhouse.”
“We feel like we have a good team. We know we do. We’ll see what happens.”
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him @PeteAbe.
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