The Boston Red Sox made waves across Major League Baseball this past season with a move that still has fans and analysts scratching their heads: trading Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. It was bold.
It was unexpected. And now, it’s looking worse by the day.
Let’s rewind. Devers, one of the premier hitters in the game, was dealt to San Francisco in a blockbuster that brought back a package of young talent: James Thibbs III, Jordan Hicks, Jose Bello, and Kyle Harrison.
On paper, it was a reset. The Red Sox shed Devers’ hefty contract and brought in a mix of promising arms and upside.
But the fallout from that deal has been anything but promising.
In fact, the moves that followed have only compounded the damage.
To make the deal more palatable and maximize the return, Boston agreed to take on Jordan Hicks’ contract. The idea was that absorbing Hicks’ salary would sweeten the pot, allowing the Red Sox to land top-tier prospects like Harrison, Thibbs, and Bello.
At the time, it was a calculated risk. But it didn’t take long for that risk to spiral into a series of questionable decisions.
First came the trade that sent Thibbs - one of the key pieces from the Devers deal - and Zach Erhard to acquire Dustin May. That move flamed out quickly, as May is no longer with the team. Just like that, one of the main returns for Devers was gone, and Boston had little to show for it.
Then came the Hicks problem. His contract, which was meant to help facilitate the Devers deal, turned into a burden.
The Red Sox ended up having to offload Hicks in a salary dump to the Chicago White Sox. But it wasn’t just Hicks they gave up - they also had to attach David Sandlin, a top-10 prospect in their system with real bullpen potential this season and long-term rotation upside if he stays healthy.
Oh, and they still sent $8 million in the deal.
That’s a tough pill to swallow.
So let’s take stock. Less than a year after trading Devers, the Red Sox have lost Thibbs, Erhard, Sandlin, and Hicks.
They’ve added Gage Ziehl in the Hicks dump, but that’s hardly a one-for-one replacement for the talent they’ve shipped out. What’s left from the original Devers return?
Kyle Harrison, Jose Bello, and Ziehl. Harrison’s a solid young arm, but with Boston’s current rotation depth, he’s not exactly moving the needle.
Bello has shown promise, but he’s still developing. And Ziehl, while intriguing, wasn’t even part of the initial deal - he came in as damage control.
Meanwhile, the offense has taken a hit. Devers hasn’t been replaced, and the lineup is noticeably thinner without his presence in the heart of the order. The money saved from his contract hasn’t yet translated into a meaningful upgrade - and unless that changes this offseason, it’s hard to justify the trade from any angle.
This was always going to be a high-risk move. Trading a franchise cornerstone like Devers is never easy, and it demands a clear, cohesive plan in return. But instead of building around the young talent they acquired, the Red Sox have flipped, dumped, and backtracked their way into a worse position - both on the field and in the farm system.
Now, all eyes turn to the front office. If the financial flexibility from this trade doesn’t result in a major infield addition soon, the Devers deal won’t just be remembered as a gamble. It’ll go down as a self-inflicted wound - one that might take years to fully recover from.