ARLINGTON, Texas — One of the dominant storylines around the Red Sox this spring was whether Rafael Devers would accept ceding the starting third base job to Alex Bregman, something Devers initially said he would be unwilling to do before later softening his stance.

Now it seems that Devers won’t play third base at all this season.

“No. Raffy is going to DH,” manager Alex Cora said when asked if Devers would play third on days that Bregman isn’t in the lineup. “We had a conversation, we talked about it, he’s DHing. He’s the DH of the Boston Red Sox.”

Cora said that instead of bouncing Devers back and forth between third base and designated hitter, the club will keep him in one role while leaning on their utility players to cover the position when Bregman needs a day off.

Romy Gonzalez would likely be the primary option, though others could play third as well.

Asked what went into his thought process, Cora recounted an experience he had during the 2017 World Baseball Classic, when he served as Team Puerto Rico’s general manager.

“I still remember we asked Carlos (Correa) to play third base. There was an off day for Francisco (Lindor), and Edwin Rodriguez, the manager, he was like ‘hey do you want to tell Carlos he’s playing short?’ I’m like ‘no you do it, you’re the manager,’” Cora said. “Edwin asked Carlos ‘hey for tomorrow do you want to play short,’ and he’s like ‘no, I’m the third baseman.’”

Devers’ season did not get off to a good start, with the newly minted DH going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts on Opening Day. Cora said he’s not worried about Devers and that nobody should overreact to one bad game, especially this early in the year.

“I know people make a big deal out of yesterday but I don’t think that’s the first 0 for 4 that he’s had,” Cora said. “He’s working with (assistant hitting coach Ben Rosenthal) in the cage, and the last six years we’ve seen some DH’s with routines, one of them, he hit a lot, the other one didn’t hit, so he’ll find it. We don’t want him to overthink it, don’t get caught up with the whole thing. He’ll be ok.”