Will Clark vs. Will Flemming in the Oh Please Shutup Bowl 2025.
San Francisco Giants legend Will Clark and legendary jerkwads the Boston Red Sox have been entangled in the news this week over Boston media’s favorite punching bag: Rafael Devers. So, let’s examine how these two parties have gone about using a player for their own ends.
The Boston Red Sox
We all know the Boston Red Sox love to trash their players as they kick them out the door. It’s a venal form of CYA to make sure that fans know that they had to move a player they like. He’s fat! He’s lazy! The contract was already underwater! The legendary David Ortiz, a special assistant to the ownership group that were happy to dump Devers’ salary said that Devers “disrespected himself.” They had their talking points ready to go at the time of the deal and really emphasized how little of a team player Devers was, particularly around changing positions.
The Red Sox lost 7 out of 10 following the trade, so that talk quieted down. But now, having won 11 of their last 13 games it’s time to startup the trash machine again. This past Tuesday, Red Sox broadcaster Will Flemming (brother of David B. Flemming) went on WEEI and hit the TRASH DEVERS button with full force:
They [the Giants] think he’s gonna win them divisions and hit — he’s gonna hit home runs. Of course he is. They don’t yet know what is gonna happen with the player. I was there the second day. Will Clark was there to work on groundballs with him at first base and Rafi didn’t show up. So, that’s the person that these guys [the Red Sox] have been dealing with for a long time…
If reading the words doesn’t sound all that inflammatory, watch or listen to the clip. Flemming is a professional broadcaster who knows how and when to emphasize his point in the fewest words possible. The comment drips with disdain.
Boston wants to make sure that everybody knows Rafael Devers is not a team player and who, seemingly, has done everything shy of providing material support to our nation’s enemies. Turning his back on Will Clark?? How dare he! This is rank opportunism, and if you don’t believe me, allow me to present some evidence to try and persuade you.
July 2nd: Will Clark’s DEUCES WILD podcast episode for the No Filter Network drops. It’s about an hour and 11 minutes into the episode where the topic of coaching Devers begins:
So Matt Williams and Bob Melvin want me to go out there and work with him around first base. No problem. And we weren’t we weren’t going to like go through anything physical. We just going to walk through and say, “Hey, look. If throws coming from over there, stand this way. If throws coming from over there, stand that way.” It wasn’t going to be this big thing, right? And Friday, Saturday, Sunday, he did not come out early at all. Period. Not at all. Matter of fact, he he didn’t even hit on the field, right? And everybody’s like, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Will. I’m so sorry.” I’m like, “Hey, don’t worry about it.” I said, “I know what the f*** happened.” I said he didn’t want to go out and be at first base and be 20 feet in front of their freaking dugout with what went on in Boston, and now he’s working with me at first base. He didn’t want to have to go through all that bulls*** through the press in the media. So, I completely understand.
July 7: Will Flemming’s media appearance on WEEI.
July 8: The social breakout of that appearance with the aforementioned quote hits socials.
July 9: Flemming posts this to X, The Everything Awful App:
Since the whole of SF seems mad at me, I just want to clarify again: I was repeating a story that one of the great Giants told on his own pod. I’m not trying to push a narrative or opine about the trade. No one has any ill-will toward Rafi, it was just time for a change here
— Will Flemming (@WillFlemming) July 9, 2025
Hmm, well, is that true, Will? In the clip, you didn’t repeat Will the Thrill’s story, you said you were there, which suggested that you were witness to a slight and emphasized that experience to reinforce your preexisting beliefs or the prevailing narrative about the player.
The Red Sox and their proxies will use any and every opportunity to trash Devers to backfill their flimsy justification for trading him in the first place. Hitching their hate train to episodes like this is to be expected.
As always, when a source continues to bash a person beyond all reasonable criticism, you have to wonder if doth protests too much. And since this keeps happening with the Red Sox, it’s probably a fair question to ask why they keep handing out these massive contracts to such undeserving players. When a firm or a person keeps finding themselves in deeply unpopular situations which they claim are caused by the other party, eventually you are left with only two options to explain why this outcome persists: incompetence or malice.
San Francisco Giants legend Will Clark
Now, Will Clark was my favorite baseball player in childhood. I was obsessed with him. Learned how to hit left-handed just to copy his swing. His jersey number had a deep personal connection. One of my first memories was of him driving his Porsche right by fans hoping to get an autograph (he was still wearing his eye black as he sped past). In adulthood, I’m eager to avoid his public comments and not at all interested in his opinions.
At the same time, this bruhaha is not entirely his fault. Like, 20% tops, and it’s for no reason other than ego. Devers, essentially, catches a stray. Will Clark is not a member of the coaching staff. He’s a special assistant to the Executive Office (Larry Baer). Both he and Barry Bonds are it. This is pretty close to an honorary position, more about PR than baseball ops. He made the Rafael Devers trade and position switch about him and that’s all the opening those snakes in Boston needed to make something out of nothing.
Mass Live, running cover for Flemming’s comment and the Red Sox’s game plan regarding Devers post-trade (their headline: “Rafael Devers no-showed 3 times when Giants icon came early to mentor him at 1B”), made sure to include this quote from the Deuces Wild podcast episode:
“But Rafael Devers, the next time I’m in San Francisco, your ass will be on the field at first base, just letting you know that,” Clark said. “Even if I gotta go grab you by the (expletive) back of the neck and drag your ass out there, you will be at first base.”
Okay, but if you watch or listen to the clip and if you have any sense of who Will Clark is in the 21st century — Boston media doesn’t, as evidenced by this line in the post: “Clark, labeled a ‘longtime Giants icon’ on the team website,” — then you know that he is a blustery figurehead. Indisputably a franchise icon, but someone who’s more likely to deliver a hot take than a chat that leads to a 3-homer game.
Will Clark is like a drunk uncle at the family gathering. The kind of guy you can check in on every few years for just a couple of minutes to confirm that he hasn’t changed a bit. He’s never really matured beyond a certain point, but why would he need to? His frozen in amber personality is a big reason why Giants fans love the guy to this day.
We can all empathize with trying to stay relevant. It’s a path to immortality. Same as actors becoming movie stars or billionaires becoming vampires. It’s that clinging to relevance that compels Clark to make blustery comments in the public sphere which sometimes gets him into trouble. At this point, though, he’s starting to become more famous for red-faced rants than that sweet Count Dracula swing.
His latest one is about Will Flemming’s comments.
Wil Clark goes on rant against announcer for sparking Rafael Devers controversy
“I just gotta tell you right now, this is a bunch of bulls–t,” Clark added. “That’s first off. Second off … me and Raffy are fine, I’m gonna work with him whenever I get around to first base and all that. And Will Flemming? You can go f–k off, mother f—ker. You wanna go take a conversation that we’re having and then blow it out of proportion because you’re a f–king East Coast piece of s–t reporter? F–k off. And so other than that, I’m cool!”
Will Clark wanted to be a part of the story, but certainly not like this. He didn’t mean to call Devers’ character or effort into question; he just wanted to make sure he looked good. Making Devers look bad was maybe an accident. He had no idea the can of worms he was opening. Susan Slusser appeared on KNBR’s Murph & Markus yesterday and said as much as she described the whole affair (as she understood it):
I think there was some miscommunication in there somewhere. I think Will had said he wanted to work him and it just didn’t work out. When I talked to Devers he said, ‘Yeah, Will had other stuff going on,’ basically — which he did [dealing with the Autism Awareness programming].” […] He’s there almost every day working out. This is — I’m guessing — Will talking about early work. Um, which isn’t always a given when guys are getting treatment.
[…]
We were all literally standing in the Red Sox dugout watching Devers workout at first base, so everyone in Boston knew that he was working out at first base that weekend. So, I’m a little confused by how this has turned into such big news.
[…]
I love Will [Clark], but I think Will made this a little bit more out of it than it was.
Clark appeared after Slusser and told the hosts, “I said some stuff that I should not have said” and he also mentioned that AI might’ve had something to do with it. I don’t think that’s farfetched, by the way! Here’s an example of the “practice”
He also mentioned reaching out to Will Flemming and the two squashed it and that he and Devers are good, too. I’m not sure Will Flemming out to be let off the hook so easily, of course, as both Will Clark and Susan Slusser’s statements poke holes in Flemming’s version of events, suggesting (or confirming) some nasty motivations on his (or the Red Sox) part during that WEEI hit. I suppose Murph or Markus could’ve asked if Slusser saw Flemming in the dugout watching Devers workout, too, but it seems pretty clear that the Boston crowd was looking to agitate.
The problem
This whole affair has been very silly and a waste of time except for its impact on Rafael Devers. He’s managed to keep his powder dry through all this, but he has the most to lose. Everyone around the league and any casual fan has been put on high alert that Rafael Devers is a diseased person when he’s not a clubhouse cancer. All these two dumb-dumbs arguing at each other from across the country does is reinforce those accusations.
Some fans might argue that pro players with massive contracts deserve unfair treatment and comically stupid scrutiny, but this isn’t the same situation as expecting a slugger to hit 40 home runs a year because of his salary. This is a couple of entities sullying one specific person’s reputation — intentionally or accidentally — to elevate their own.
Devers has been besmirched by a world-historic sports franchise, a Hall of Famer, a Giants legend, and the brother of a local broadcaster, and he’s handled it with 99th percentile grace. A couple of days ago, Slusser reported on Devers’ adjustment to San Francisco:
Devers largely has demurred when asked about his departure from Boston, and when asked about Ortiz’s comments, he said this week, “I have nothing to say about him. I respect him. I love him. He’s one that likes to express his opinions, and I respect that, but I have nothing to say.”
[…] Devers has been working with the Giants coaches and talking to teammates Wilmer Flores and Dominic Smith, and is eager to spend time with former Giants Gold Glove-winning first basemen Will Clark and J.T. Snow whenever possible.
“Whoever wants to help me, I’m willing to listen,” Devers said.
There’s literally nothing Rafael Devers could ever say or do to remove all doubts about his hustle and desire from those inclined to believe whatever a team or team legend tells them. Even though this all began with poor communication from Craig Breslow and Boston’s Baseball Operations team, it’s the kind of smear that sticks with a player, and he’s the type (high paid 1B/DH from another country) that most fans love to rake over the coals. That so many people who have experienced similar slings and arrows in the baseball industry are keen to add fuel to the fire is a little depressing. Then again, everyone has a job to do.
People are entitled to their petty grievances, but let’s not forget that the Red Sox organization is absolutely rancid and has done nothing to deserve the benefit of the doubt. It’s a shame that only Devers is accountable in this situation. He’s caught between a vindicative Boston media machine backed by the anti-labor league and its media partners keen to maintain that relationship by parroting anti-labor talking points and “Aww, that’s just Will Clark being Will Clark. He’ll say whatever.”
A fun little wrinkle in all this
After the Devers trade, Buster Posey appeared in the KNBR booth with Jon Miller and Dave Flemming. This was the top of the 3rd inning of Devers’ first game in uniform (Tuesday, June 17th versus the Guardians).
Miller and Flemming had Posey walk them through the trade and then Flemming steered it into asking Posey if he got as excited about the trade as some things on the field to the extent that he was now really into making trades. This prompted Buster Posey to joke about the broadcasters’ view of the field compared to the baseball ops’ box. The trio joked about making a box swap.
DAVE FLEMMING: We’re tough negotiators, by the way. We drive a real hard bargain. So, you’re gonna have to throw some extra stuff in.
BUSTER POSEY: Okay, alright. We’ll see what we can do.
JON MILLER: Can you get the Red Sox radio broadcaster over here? Will Flemming.
BUSTER POSEY: Well, hey — there you go. That’s an interesting thought. You know, that’s where it starts. It’s just ideas, Jon. I like the idea.
DAVE FLEMMING: It allll started with an idea.
Now, they were obviously joking, but it’s interesting that Jon Miller mentioned it at all. I’m sure there’s been some talk behind the scenes about a succession plan, and Dave Flemming is almost certainly going to be the lead once Miller retires. Bringing Dave’s brother in makes sense. This is years down the line, of course, but probably not so long that Devers is gone.