BOSTON – The Red Sox had just pulled off a three-game sweep of the rival Yankees for their seventh win in the last eight games and were getting ready for a Sunday night West Coast trip to Seattle when one of the most stunningly timed trades in team history took place.
Star slugger Rafael Devers, the lone remaining player from the team’s most recent World Series title squad of 2018, was dealt to the Giants for righty Jordan Hicks, lefty Kyle Harrison and a pair of prospects in outfielder James Tibbs III (Giants No. 4 prospect at the time of the deal) and righty Jose Bello.
The blockbuster comes six weeks before the July 31 Trade Deadline, but just five days before the Red Sox and Giants face off in what has suddenly become a most enticing three-game matchup in San Francisco.
Following the trade of Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in 2020 and Xander Bogaerts signing with the Padres two years later, Devers became the face of the Red Sox, particularly when he signed a 10-year, $313.5 million contract that started last season.
In what wound up being his final game with the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon, Devers took a pretty opposite-field swing and clubbed his 15th homer of the season and 215th of his career. It was his 500th career extra-base hit.
So why trade a 28-year-old who is still at the height of his powers?
Well, things got turbulent between Devers and the Red Sox this past Spring Training, when Boston signed third baseman Alex Bregman to a three-year contract to be the right-handed bat and veteran leader the club lacked.
Devers, a below-average defender according to the error column and the metrics, had played third base his entire career. He initially balked at the idea of transitioning to DH in meetings with the Red Sox and in comments to the media before he reluctantly agreed to the arrangement in March.
He then got off to a historically rough start at the plate, going 0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts.
Give Devers credit for this: He gathered himself nicely and got into a good routine at DH.
However, another storm cloud arrived when first baseman Triston Casas ruptured his left patellar tendon on May 2 and was lost for the season.
Searching for potential solutions at first base, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow asked Devers if he would consider playing the position. Devers declined.
His lack of willingness to sub for Casas wasn’t good for the overall roster. Not only could Boston have increased its production at first base with Devers, but it would have created a path for Masataka Yoshida to slot in as the DH.
Yoshida has been on the injured list all season as he recovers from right labrum surgery and was used as a designated hitter in Spring Training. But his slow recovery in being able to throw erased the possibility of co-existing on a roster in which Devers was already in place as the DH. Look for Yoshida’s return to the club to be fast-tracked now, though he will still need to go on a Minor League rehab assignment.
Following a game on May 8, Devers was critical of Breslow to the media for asking him to play defense.
“They had the conversation with me," Devers said through interpreter Daveson Perez. "I don't think, for me personally, it's the best decision after they asked me to play a different position [in Spring Training]. And I only had two months playing this position to all of a sudden have me try to play another position. So, from my end, it doesn't seem like a good decision. They came to me and talked to me about it. I know I'm a ballplayer, but at the same time, they can't expect me to play every single position out there. In Spring Training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove and I wasn't going to play any other position but DH."
The reluctance of Devers to play defense became even more notable when Bregman suffered a significant right quad injury on May 23. Bregman hopes to be back in early July, and he is now needed even more given that Devers will be taking his at-bats for the Giants.
Look for Breslow to be active in trying to replace some of the production void left by Devers between now and the Trade Deadline.
The Red Sox suddenly have a lot of payroll flexibility with Devers off the books (the Giants will assume the rest of his contract, which has eight years left after this one), making this trade somewhat similar to the one in August of 2012 that sent Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to the Dodgers.
The team’s general manager at the time, Ben Cherington, re-allocated the club’s financial resources opened up by that trade to make a series of acquisitions (Shane Victorino, Mike Napoli, Koji Uehara, Jonny Gomes, David Ross and Ryan Dempster) that helped lead to a 2013 World Series championship.
In Hicks, the Red Sox get a 28-year-old pitcher who has always had promise, though he is 5-12 with a 4.83 ERA in 42 games (29 starts) since signing a four-year, $44-million contract with the Giants prior to the ’24 season.
Judging by some peripherals, Hicks has endured some bad luck that has led to his 6.47 ERA so far this season.
His expected ERA (3.86) is far better. He has the 11th-largest "unlucky" gap among 367 qualified Major League pitchers. While Hicks allows a lot of hard contact, he largely keeps the ball on the ground: His 58.7% ground-ball rate is in the 95th percentile. As a result, his barrel rate -- 4.7% -- is actually in the 88th percentile.
For years, Harrison was one of the best prospects in San Francisco’s farm system. Like Hicks, he has experience starting and relieving. He is known for a four-seamer that can be overpowering, but he has had trouble developing consistency with his secondary stuff.
Tibbs was a first-round pick of the Giants last year (13th overall) out of Florida State and was having a good season at High-A Eugene, belting 12 homers to go with an .857 OPS in 252 plate appearances.