Pointing The Finger – A Look At The Rafael Devers Trade

Following the Boston Red Sox’s win over the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon, they shocked the baseball world by trading third baseman Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for pitchers Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks as well as prospects James Tibbs III (Giants #4 prospect) and Jose Bello.

Since the move was announced on Sunday evening, Red Sox Nation has been split in their reactions. One side sees it as an indictment on the player, while the other sees it as it’s on the team. So let’s take a look at both sides.

In his time in Boston, Devers was a three-time All-Star, a two-time Silver Slugger award winner, a World Series champion and was a member of the All-MLB Second Team in 2021.

Starting with the group pointing finger at Devers, the main people bring up is his lack of leadership following the contract extension he had received in 2023. One of the biggest signs of this were rumblings that he didn’t take the idea of moving off of third base to designated hitter very well.

After Boston had signed third baseman Alex Bregman in free agency, Devers made it known that he was a third baseman and wouldn’t accept the position change. He would later accept the change.

A month into the season, first baseman Tristan Casas would suffer a season-ending injury, which saw the team ask if he could play the position; he would decline. It got to a point where former Red Sox players Jonathan Papelbon and Hall of Famer David Ortiz spoke out about Devers.

If this is how its seen by people who played the game for years, this could be a purely cultural move, mixed in with a money move, as the Giants agreed to eat all of Devers’ contract.

On the other side, the argument has been the front office not communicating well to their players or even coaches.

One of the biggest complaints with the current Red Sox’s front office has been an alleged disconnect between them and manager Alex Cora. There is one claim that says Cora is more focused on winning now but the front office is more interested in organizational long-term success.

It’s also been argued that the trade didn’t yield enough of a return.

A lot of fans took to social media questioning why they didn’t get either of San Francisco’s top two prospects, citing that Bryce Eldridge would be a fix at first base or that Carson Whisenhunt would be an arm that would be a nice piece for their rotation and would be up soon with them both being in Triple A.

With the trade now official, Boston will have to wait and see how the chips fall. It’s more than likely that general manager Craig Breslow will now be under the microscope for the rest of the season.

Even with the belief that Boston could ultimately be buyers at the trade deadline, if Boston doesn’t make the playoffs, then changes will likely be made.