BOSTON -- Ten days ago, at a time when runs were in shorter supply than water in a desert, the Red Sox called up Rafael Devers from Triple-A, where he had been playing for less than two weeks. To many observers, it seemed like a panic move, as though the 20-year-old top prospect was being rushed to save a slumping contender.
But Carlos Febles wondered only what took so long.
Febles, a former major league infielder with the Kansas City Royals, managed Devers for the first 3 1/2 months of the season at Double-A Portland.