Just hours after completing a sweep of the rival New York Yankees and winning their fifth game in a row and eighth of their last 10 contests, the Boston Red Sox stunned the baseball world by announcing they’d traded longtime star third baseman-turned designated hitter Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants.
Aside from the team’s recent hot stretch, the move was also surprising because of the perception that the season-long drama between Devers and the Red Sox had seemed to cool down. Devers himself was asked about the situation following Boston’s 2-0 win against New York on Sunday (in which he hit a home run) and his final response during the postgame media session only appeared to confirm that things were calm between the two sides.
“Rafael Devers spoke postgame and the last question he was asked was if he and the club had moved past all the drama? ‘Yes, it’s past us,'” Mac Cerullo of the Boston Herald posted on Bluesky. “Hours later, he was gone.”
When the Red Sox acquired star third baseman Alex Bregman late in the offseason, there were rampant rumors regarding where Devers would play in 2025. With promising youngster Triston Casas manning first base, Devers moved from the hot corner to full-time designated hitter at the start of the season.
Casas suffered a knee injury in early May, however, which is likely to cost him the rest of the season.
Casas’ injury briefly reopened the possibility of Devers moving to first base, but Red Sox management wanted the three-time All-Star to remain a full-time hitter. When Bregman landed on the injured list with a quadriceps issue in late May, Devers’ role became a popular topic again.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said following Bregman’s injury (and countless times since) that Devers wouldn’t play third base and would remain as the DH.
Sunday’s trade comes just two years after the team gave him the largest contract in franchise history — an 11-year extension with a total value of $313.5 million.
After an ice-cold start to this spring, the 28-year-old turned things around with a monster May. He finished the month with seven home runs, 33 RBI, 14 runs scored and a .356/.468/.606 triple slash across 126 plate appearances and leaves Boston with 15 home runs, 58 RBI, an AL-leading 56 walks and a .272/.401/.504 slash line. Devers’ .401 on-base percentage would be a career-high.
Red Sox Were Playing Arguably Best Baseball of Season Ahead of Trade
With its five-game winning streak, Boston is back above .500 at 37-36 and back in playoff contention. The Red Sox enter Monday 6.5 games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East, but just 0.5 games back of the final wild-card spot.
MLB.com’s Mike Petriello was especially thrown by the Devers trade given how well Boston has been playing lately.
“Next-day Devers thought: the thing that I just can’t get past is the timing of it all. It seemed like the situation had calmed. The team has won 8 of 10 and just swept the Yankees. He reportedly wasn’t shopped and the return is unimpressive. The 2025 Sox are worse. Bregman may opt out. Why *now*?” Petriello wrote on Bluesky. “You could have absolutely gotten this return over the winter. You’d know if Bregman was gone and 3B was a huge gaping hole or not. If the team plays badly over the next month, you could have done this at the Deadline in July, too. Why *now*?”
The Giants are getting not only a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, but a World Series champion as well.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, receive 28-year-old Jordan Hicks, who’s divided his career between starting and relieving, has gone 16-33 with a 4.23 ERA over six-plus seasons and is currently on the injured list. They also get 23-year-old starter Kyle Harrison (9-9 with a 4.48 ERA over 39 career games, including 35 starts), who was optioned to Triple-A.
Boston also received minor-leaguers James Tibbs and Jose Bello.
Insider Notes Stunning Fact About Red Sox Roster Following Trade
With Devers headed to the Bay Area, the Red Sox now have no remaining players from their last World Series championship team just seven years ago.
Even more curiously, now all three of Boston’s former terrific trio of Devers, 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and four-time All-Star infielder Xander Bogaerts will now compete in the same division.
“Occurred to me on the drive home that the Sox have no players left from 2018,” Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe posted on Bluesky. “And who could have ever guessed that Betts, Bogaerts and Devers would be playing against each other in the NL West someday?”
Devers and the Red Sox won’t have to wait long before what is sure to be an interesting reunion.
San Francisco hosts Boston in a three-game series from Friday to Sunday.
