Impact of the Boston Red Sox trading Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants

Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jake Mintz and senior MLB analyst Jordan Shusterman discuss the shocking trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

Rafael Everests has been traded to the San Francisco Giants, and I think the first thought that everyone had is Is this really Jeff Passan’s account?

This is so absurd that we had to wait, we had to wonder, is this real?

And as we had the experience for, for the hoops fans out there with the Lukadonic trade, now that was in the middle of the night, and in the case of a big basketball trade, Chams has kind of the monopoly on the information in the way that Weach did.

But in baseball, we do have a few more that can confirm these things.

And very quickly over that next half an hour, here come the Red Sox, here come the Giants supporters, here comes Jeff Passan, and we start to understand that Raphael Devers is no longer on the Boston Red Sox.

What is the trade?

The trade is Des to the Giants in exchange for starting pitcher Kyle Harrison, pitcher Jordan Hicks.

Hitting prospect, James Tibbs the 3rd, Jimmy 36, and Jose Bao, a low-level complex league Dominican pitcher, and All of Raphael’s contract, and that is what is important.

Let’s get that out of the way.

There is a world maybe where these four names that maybe some of you folks that don’t even know these names, you’re like, those must be the top 4 prospects in the giant system.

Jose Bao throws 104.

That is not the case here, OK?

Let’s get this out of the way quickly.

Kyle Harrison has had some big league time.

He’s shown, he’s he’s got the most upside of anybody in this trade.

Big fastball hasn’t performed in the big leagues yet.

James Tibbs the 3rd, top pick last year, 1st rounder, cannot hit left-handed pitching, powerful corner outfield bat, probably a platoon guy.

Best Joy scenario is he’s 60% as good as Rafael.

50%.

Um, Jordan Hicks, you probably know, he’s been in the big leagues for a while, signed to be a starter.

He’s been disastrous this year, moved to the bullpen.

With the Giants, Jose Bao still throwing hard.

Jose Bao made good numbers in the low minors might not make it above Haye, who knows, total lottery ticket.

This is a salary dump for all intents and purposes for the Boston Red Sox.

It is dumping the remaining $250 million or so on Rafael Devers’s contract, which runs through the 2033 season.

Freeing up the DH spot, getting some roster flexibility, and if you believe the reports coming out of Boston, which I believe are being said.

Getting rid of a clubhouse problem.

Because this is the thing.

Now we, now we gotta do context, right?

So, one of the main storylines of this baseball season has been Raphael Devers is fit within the Red Sox.

The Red Sox have been the messiest team in the league, I would say.

And the second that they sign Alex Bregman, they say he’s gonna play 3rd.

They say, Raffi, you’re gonna go DH.

Ray says, I’m a 3rd baseman.

It gets messy, they move him to DH.

He eventually drags his feet and he agrees to do it.

Great.

Cool.

Tristan Casas blows out his knee.

Hey, Ray, can you slide in and go play first base?

No, I’m a DH.

That happened about a month ago, I would say.

And the whole time, Rafi has done nothing but rake.

He is having the best season of his career.

I believe he is 11th in OPS.

He’s gonna be an all-star.

He’s looked awesome.

But behind the scenes, it’s, I guess now we know with hindsight that this was not a sustainable setup for whatever reason.

This whole thing has to start with, why did Craig Breslow, the chief baseball officer of the Red Sox, and his bosses, the ownership group, Want to trade and decide to trade Rafael Devers, right?

How it fits in with like Bryce Eldridge, like, that’s like the 7th level of the conversation, right?

Yes, I agree with that.

Now, I, I do wanna say though, as we, as we keep the focus on Boston here, there is a huge conversation about just like how the Red Sox ended up here, how they ended up making this decision, all the ways that they mishandled the relationship with Davors, that they chose to construct their roster in ways that would make him unhappy, but also, again, like, Let’s bring Alex Bregman into the conversation.

That was another move that started to win the fans back from a trust, from a we’re going for it perspective.

Croche, crochet, right?

Not to mention that now we know that so far in the standings, it hasn’t necessarily reflected, but we know this, so they just swept the Yankees.

We’re clearly barely gonna talk about that, OK?

But let’s, let’s, let’s, let’s keep this hyper focused on the baseball, OK?

Clearly, they did not want to be paying Rafael Evers $31 million in 2032.

I, why they’re concerned about that right now, that’s fine.

Let’s just move past that.

Let’s talk about the baseball part of this, OK?

How does this make the Red Sox better right now?

What is the part, how, how are they selling to the fans when, uh, now listen, Sam Kennedy and Craig Reso are going to speak to the media on Monday.

We have not heard how they’re going to, to, to describe this, OK?

But the first part is going to be To explain how the relationship ended up where it was and how they believed they needed to move him.

And then they’re going to have to try and explain why this is going to help the Red Sox win to make the playoffs this year, which from all, based on all their actions over the last year, is what they have been doing, or at least seemingly have been trying to do.

And by the way, I mentioned Alex Bregman because, um, What if he leaves?

Now what?

It’s all on the kids?

All right, Roman Anthony, you better be an all-star right away.

Hey, Marcel.

That’s gonna be an all-star against everything that they have said, where the messaging around the, the big three of Campbell, Meyer and Anthony has been, we don’t want to rely on these guys.

We don’t want to put pressure on them to make them feel like they need to perform right away.

Well, you know what’s a good way to make 3 rookies feel some pressure is trading away the best hitter on your team.

Impact of the Boston Red Sox trading Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants | Baseball Bar-B-Cast

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