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The Boston Red Sox have traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants, FanSided’s Robert Murray was the first to report Sunday. The deal was headlined by pitchers Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison, but prospects James Tibbs and Jose Bello are also in the deal, Murray reports.
The Giants will assume the rest of Devers’ contract, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
I’m sorry, what?!? This is the closest “shock factor” for any trade in North American professional sports since … well, the Luka Doncic trade in the NBA last February.
Devers, 28, is one of, if not the best DHs in MLB outside of Shohei Ohtani. He was slashing .272/.401/.504 with 15 home runs, 58 RBIs, 18 doubles and 148 wRC+, even after a porous first two weeks of the season. He’s having one of the best offensive seasons of his career after he transitioned to DH in lieu of Alex Bregman’s signing.
The return stinks out loud–and is arguably worse than the Mookie Betts trade after 2019–considering Devers had a decade of control thereafter. Hicks, 28, signed with the Giants ahead of the 2024 season and owns a 6.47 ERA (albeit a 3.86 FIP) in 48.2 innings. Harrison, a 23-year-old southpaw, has a 4.56 ERA and a 4.58 FIP in 23.2 innings.
Harrison is the most intriguing part of this deal with his fastball/slider combination. However, he would’ve been a decent headliner for Triston Casas or Jarren Duran … not Devers.
From the moment that Boston’s 28-year-old slugger stepped foot in Boston, he did everything that was asked. Sure, he didn’t want to be a DH at first, but the organization took a poor approach. Why would that be the reason why you trade a player? Was there that much toxicity between Devers and the front office behind closed doors? How do you do it after the Red Sox swept the Yankees and are back in the hunt for a playoff spot?!?
A lot of questions need to be answered by Craig Breslow, even though none of the logic behind his answers–if there were will be any–will be taken well.
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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.
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