Has Devers Trade Made Them The Boston Rush Sox?

 Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

A gifted offensive player, signed professionally by his team as a teenager, is in the prime of his career when the team suddenly and inexplicably trades him, citing his unwillingness to shape up and play defense. The sports world is aghast!

Jaws drop. Heads roll. SportsCenter Armageddon is upon us!

No, this is not the story of Luka Doncic, the Dallas Maverick-turned-Los Angeles Laker who is picturesque on offense yet statuesque on defense. It’s about Rafael Devers — Boston’s former unstoppable hitter and immovable third baseman — and it may be a never-ending story because it’s apparently how the Red Sox do business these days. They are leading MLB in chain reactions.

The latest haste — approved by Boston’s chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow and signed off by his boss John “Liverpool” Henry — was unloading their superstar hitter to the San Francisco Giants for four players with library cards in the great heist. They figured Devers was no longer a role model for the Red Sox Generation Z future.

“It’s a trade, man. It’s a trade. It’s baseball. It’s a business. That’s how it works,” Boston manager Alex Cora said from the visitors dugout at Oracle Park Friday night. “People have their opinions about the whole thing. Communication. First base. DH. Third base. The manager. The GM. The owners. Whatever. It’s a baseball trade. From my end I turn the page.”

Not so fast. Red Sox fans have trade trauma. They are still digesting the Mookie Betts trade to the Dodgers and that was more than five years ago. And what do the Red Sox have to show for that? Connor Wong, who has slipped to back-up catcher in Boston, is batting .154 this season, .108 (4-for-37) in games on the road. Wong has gone Wrong.

Chaim Bloom was the Red Sox general manager who made that idiotic deal and it ultimately cost him his job. Breslow, a left-handed relief pitcher for the Red Sox on their 2013 World Series winning team, replaced Bloom and he is probably on thin ice after trading Devers to the Giants on Sunday. Devers doesn’t call Breslow by name. He refers to him as the “GM” For Gone Mad?

Breslow said in so many words that trading Devers was aimed at improving the team culture. One would assume that Breslow, who majored in molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University, would know a thing or two about team chemistry.

Right.

For starters, Breslow traded his best hitter who killed the Yankees, the team the Red Sox are forever chasing. For what? Kumbaya?! Kyle Harrison, a left-handed pitcher who might be No. 4 or No. 5 in the Red Sox starting rotation plus Jordan Hicks who is headed back to the bullpen which he hates? And two other players TBD — To Be Developed?

Amazingly the trade was consummated 46 days before the MLB trading deadline. Why not wait and see if Breslow could have gotten a better package of players for his superstar? Why not take time to repair his relationship with Devers? Why not pick a leader in the Red Sox clubhouse — a captain or veteran player — to step in and intermediate this mess?

 

Thanks to Breslow, they should be called the Boston Rush Sox now. They are trying to take the FasTrak out of Mediocrity.

In March of 2019, the Red Sox had Chris Sale under contract, but Bloom decided to give him an extension for five years and $145 million. They were under no obligation to resign him until 2020, but the extension meant he would earn $30 million per year from 2020-22 and $27.5 million in 2023 and 2024. Then Sale started breaking down like a house of cards in a hurricane.

Frustrated by injuries, the Red Sox ended up trading him before the 2024 season. Sale, healthy and rejuvenated, won the National League Cy Young Award for the Atlanta Braves. In return, the Red Sox received second baseman Vaughn Grissom who has played only 31 games with the Red Sox hitting .190. He’s currently playing for the Worchester Red Sox. The Woo Sox. Boo hoo.

By trading Devers and promoting top prospects Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer to join rookie catcher Carlos Narvaez, the Red Sox and Breslow are now committed to a youth movement and they are banking on it big time. Last year, after rookie centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela had one good MONTH, Breslow and the Red Sox signed him to an eight-year $50 million contract after his 49th day of major league service.

Rafaela, who went 3-for-4 with a homer on Friday night, has spent the bulk of his Boston career as the team’s No. 9 hitter.

So did the Red Sox and Breslow rush to judgement too soon on Rafaela? Did they learn their lesson? Nah.

This year Kristen Campbell made the team out of spring training and had a great first week of the season as the team’s starting second baseman. He had one good WEEK in the big leagues and the Red Sox and Breslow, trying again to be proactive to lock up a promising player, felt the need to sign him to an eight-year, $50 million contract with just 49 days of major league service time. 

On Thursday, the Red Sox decided to option Campbell to the Woo Sox where he will play multiple positions including first base. Earlier this month Cora said he asked Campbell if he wanted to play first base, though it was reported that Campbell volunteered to play first base, which annoyed Devers who had refused to play first base after Triston Casas suffered a season-ending injury then refused to play third base after Alex Bregman was hurt.

Obviously Devers feelings were hurt when Breslow neglected to communicate with his best player in the off-season when the Red Sox were entertaining trading for Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado or signing free agent third baseman Alex Bregman. Bregman, a Gold Glove third baseman, said he would move to second base if needed to keep Devers at third in the best interests of the team. 

But Boston is a bad defensive team, so putting Bergman at third base and making Devers the DH would be an upgrade. However, Devers balked at the idea the instant he arrived at spring training. That problem could have been diverted had Breslow done his job and kept his best player abreast of the team’s maneuvering.

If you have a $300 million player — the so-called face of the franchise — you should be kept in the loop. Do you think the Golden State Warriors consulted with Steph Curry before trading for Jimmy Butler?

Instead, Devers came to Florida for spring training with a frown face emoji.

Breslow may think he’s the smartest person in the room, but he apparently lacks people skills. Devers, a proud Dominican player, didn’t help himself by not surrendering his position to Bregman come spring training, creating the narrative that he was not a team player.

Devers — who said on Friday he would have worked out at first base had the Red Sox asked him before spring training — took the slight personally and never backed off. Breslow reacted like he had no choice but to trade him.

“Nothing in this business is personal,” Cora said. “Xander Bogaerts is in San Diego and it’s not personal. Mookie Betts is in L.A. and it’s not personal. Raffy Devers is with the Giants and it’s not personal.”

Tell that to sellout crowd of 40,169 at Oracle Park Friday night when Devers’ new team faced his old one for the first time. It was personal. When Devers came to the bat for the first time in the first inning against his former team, there were loud cheers and a smattering of boos from Red Sox fans in the ballpark.  Judging from my Facebook friends and fellow Red Sox fans in New England, they bid Devers farewell and good riddance. Boston is a blue collar town and when someone doesn’t toe the company line and do what’s best for the team they are shunned.

Giants fans rejoice. You got a steal of a deal. But buyers beware. Devers failed to run out ground balls at least a couple of times in Boston and he isn’t a picture of fitness. In fact he is on the chubby side and he has been injury prone with such a violent swing. He’s a below average fielder and — with Matt Chapman at third and first base prospect Bryce Eldridge in the on deck circle — if it is the Giants’ intention to make Devers primarily a Designated Hitter that is a steep price to pay for someone with a 10-year, $313 million contract through 2033 when he will turn 36.

The trade and the timing of it made for great theater on Friday night, a tight and tense game. Devers went 0-for-5 at the plate and, when he struck out in the ninth inning against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman in a 7-5 Giants loss, Red Sox fans in the ballpark could be heard cheering. Their team, with or without Devers, has won eight of their last nine games.

They’ve turned the page, too.