A year after the Boston Red Sox shipped Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants, the move still isn’t fading into the background. If anything, the story keeps getting messier.
Boston’s decision to trade away a 29-year-old, three-time All-Star with eight years left on a $313.5 million contract was stunning when it happened. Devers had been positioned as the franchise centerpiece, the homegrown star Boston chose to invest in after letting other big names leave in different ways, including Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts.
But the relationship had already been fraying. The Red Sox’s move to bring in Alex Bregman didn’t sit well with Devers because he didn’t want to shift off third base.
Later, he also resisted moving to first base to fill in for Triston Casas. The tension built, Boston cut bait, and the club actually performed better after the trade even though it didn’t get immediate help back in return.
Kyle Harrison spent most of the season at Triple-A before becoming the centerpiece in the Caleb Durbin deal after the year, a move that is now viewed positively. Jordan Hicks struggled before being traded this past offseason. James Tibbs III was moved before the 2025 trade deadline.
Now, new reporting has added another layer to what was happening behind the scenes. On Thursday, The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli wrote about the dysfunction and struggles around the Giants and included details about how some in the Red Sox organization viewed Devers.
“While he was a three-time All-Star in Boston, some in the organization found Devers immature and selfish,” Ghiroli wrote. “On more than one occasion, Devers became upset when asked to honor the age-old practice of letting veteran players with more service time hit first in the batting cages. One former Red Sox star threatened to start swinging with Devers still in the cage if he didn’t move.”
That kind of friction goes beyond the positional back-and-forth that had already been public. The issues last season were mostly framed around communication and where Devers would play, but this reporting suggests the problems ran deeper.
Even now, his production is still there. Devers has 24 home runs and 64 RBIs in 121 games this season.
That kind of bat would play in Boston. But the Red Sox clearly decided the off-field and clubhouse issues were too much to keep sorting through.
In Other News...
Rafael Devers Is Putting The Red Sox Trade Back Under Fire
Rafael Devers was supposed to change the conversation when the Red Sox sent him to San Francisco before the 2025 trade deadline. In Boston, he had been one of the lineups most productive and recognizable stars, and his long-term contract made the deal feel like a major organizational reset as much as a roster move. For Red Sox fans watching from afar, the trade always carried the weight of a franchise letting go of a player it had spent years building around.
Now the move looks even messier from the Giants side, with Devers performance slipping after the deal and the front office left sorting through the consequences. San Franciscos general manager has already offered a mixed assessment of Devers and the rest of the roster after the deadline, a reminder that the aftermath of a blockbuster trade can linger long after the phones go quiet. For Boston, the questions around whether this was the right time to move him only grow louder as the Giants try to make the arrangement work. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Deadline Gamble Looks Wilder Than Fans Realized
The Red Sox made their biggest deadline swing by landing catcher Adley Rutschman from the Orioles, parting with multiple top prospects in a move that underscored just how aggressively they wanted to reshape the roster. It was the kind of deal that signals urgency now and a willingness to accept real risk later, especially with Rutschman coming in carrying injury questions and a contract situation that adds another layer of uncertainty.
What makes the move feel even bolder is how wide the search reportedly was before Boston settled on Rutschman. The club explored other high-profile names before pulling the trigger, which says plenty about how far the front office was willing to go to find the right fit and how much conviction it had in making a deadline gamble of this size. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox May Be Tipping Their Hand With Franklin Arias
The Red Sox still have not made a decision on Franklin Arias, but the young infielder is getting a look in a couple of places as the club sorts out its infield picture. Boston has been weighing when, or even whether, to bring him up, and the uncertainty has only added to the sense that the team is keeping its options open with a prospect whose timetable has been the subject of varying reports.
Arias is getting reps at both second base and shortstop, a detail that suggests the Red Sox may be trying to determine how flexible he can be if they need him later this season. The larger question is whether Boston sees a path for him to help down the stretch and possibly in October, even as no official promotion plan has been set. [Read more 🡒]