Why the Red Sox made the right move in trading Rafael Devers even if they are a pathetic organization

Monday 6/16/25

Red Sox fans are in an uproar following the announcement that the team had traded Rafael Devers to the Giants following yesterday's win--in which Devers homered--to complete their sweep of the Yankees here at Fenway. It's the standard irrational, uninformed behavior calling for the team to be boycotted, etc. and one of those things which I believe was the right thing to do and that hardly anyone else does or will until other things play out.

Devers had rebounded--at the plate--from the atrocious start he got himself off to this year when he showed up at spring training in worse physical condition than usual--which is saying something--and with a bad, "me first" querulous attitude because he was expected to do what was best for the team--that is, not play third base, because they had a better option--instead of what he felt like doing.

The Sox organization is a joke. They're a poorly run franchise. They have a cheater as a manager who has quietly quit and was never that good at the job despite winning a World Series in his first year with the team. That squad won in spite of Alex Cora, and was exactly what I'm talking about when I say that Alex Cora is the perfect manager for a team that could win 100 games without him. His teams are never ready to go at the start of the year, they're inept with the fundamentals, they have no urgency, they make mental mistakes, they can't field. Cora was suspended for the cheating, and the Sox brought him back after MLB suspended him for a year, which looks crazier and crazier on the Sox' part as the years go by, and was crazy enough to begin with.

Further--and worse--the Sox turned their entire approach to the game--the whole of their philosophy--to analytics people from Yale with no idea how the game is actually played, and, more importantly, won.

Their owner, John Henry, gave Devers a massive contract that Devers had no business getting, and which he was the recipient of merely because Henry was stung by all of the criticism he was receiving as an owner who would not longer pay for big-time players. The contract was gestural. It was pathetic. It was to Devers' great good fortune, because he wasn't a player anywhere near deserving of that money and term. He was in the right place at the right time. That contract wasn't offered for business or baseball reasons. Dreadful leadership at the top from Henry. Insecurity and ego.

As I've said a number of times, Devers is a slight star. He's not a great player. He's awful in the field, and already, in his twenties, he's stopped being a fielder and is a DH. He's never finished in the top ten voting for MVP, which should tell you quite a bit. If he hasn't done that by now, he's unlikely to ever do it. Think about that.

He's gotten it going this year and leads the AL in walks and RBI. His power has been good, but not outstanding. The batting average is fine, but no more. You're looking at a 34 home run, 116 RBI, .279 type of season, which is very good. That's if he stays healthy, and Devers is never completely healthy, because he's out of shape. He could miss three weeks at any time with a hamstring issue. A groin. He could be playing all the games at the end of the year but be limited because of this muscle issue and that muscle issue. And then morons will say "He's a gamer" and make excuses for him. That's what happened last year when Devers finished with 28 homers and 83 RBI. But that should have been 35 and 110.

Here's a truth about sports to say to your friends and pass off as this thing you know on your own: Players start to decline a lot earlier than just about anyone thinks they do. Their prime is much earlier than just about anyone thinks it is. That prime is closer to twenty-five than thirty. In hockey, it's closer to twenty-four. You've seen the best of Devers. How do you think that body is going to age? Recently, he had issues running the bases. You could see him grabbing at his leg. What do you think he looks like at thirty-one? Thirty-four? Is he "raking" then or is he broken down? Do you have a part-time DH on your hands? What is the value in a part-time DH? Nil. Can't be a full-time DH hitting .264 with 17 homers and 58 RBI.

He's not a leader. And this is before we get into one of the main reasons why he should have been traded: He's a bad teammate. The Sox signed Alex Bregman (likely for just one year, which most fans didn't understand, thinking they instead had modern day Mike Schmidt--not that most of these fans really know the player Schmidt was--locked up for a decade of elite offense and defense), a Gold Glove-winning third baseman. Obviously, the 2025 Red Sox would have been better with Bregman at third, being a significant defensive upgrade over Devers, with the roly-poly former third baseman as their DH. Devers' value is in hitting. Nowhere else. Leaving aside he doesn't hit the fastball like he used to.

Devers complained. He pouted. His attitude permeated a team that already didn't have a winning attitude (which also has to do with their manager). Then, he realized that DH'ing was easier. Devers is lazy. He doesn't work at his fitness. And now he could take his four at-bats and not have to do anything else? Well, what do you know--he started to hit. All of that sulking, and now he'd found something he seemed to like better.

Triston Casas, the team's first basemen, went down with a season-ending injury. Devers refused to play first base in Casas' stead. Take reps to see how he might do at the position, get up to speed. Not so much as look into it. No, I'm the DH, was his attitude. Next, Bregman went down. And still Devers refused to do anything but what he wanted to do. That's a bad teammate. He whined about having to do DH, and then refused to do anything but DH.

It got so bad that the general manager--or whatever Craig Breslow's title is--and John Henry flew to Kansas City where the Sox were playing the Royals on a road trip in order to meet with Devers. I can't think of any other time something like that has happened.

Fans don't realize that a lot of that stuff doesn't come out. It's like when you go to some restaurant. There's all this drama between staff you're not privy to because you're sitting there eating and they're not going to let it be publicly known that he hates her and she hates him and these two did whatever and he cheated on her blah blah blah. Sports fans, though, act like what they know is all there is to know and they know nothing. I say they know nothing because they can't think imaginatively and they don't understand human nature and they're recalcitrant in their ignorance, like they refuse to know or allow for anything else going on and what that might be, what it might look and sound like, the everyday toll it can be taking.

The Sox aren't going anywhere this year, as I--and I alone--said before the season started. I am encouraged by their recent play. They're winning tight, low-scoring games of late. They took two of three from the Yankees in the Bronx, then two out of three from the Rays at Fenway, and now they just swept the Yankees at home over the weekend. They're a half game out from a Wild Card spot.

But they are still making a lot of errors. They still have the extremely flawed roster they have. They've gotten more out of a Dobbins than they expected to and which you can't and shouldn't bank on going forward. Their catcher has been a most pleasant surprise. The call-ups from Triple A gave the team a much-needed jolt just by being brought up, regardless of their impact on the actual games (I'm not saying they haven't had a bearing on some wins, because they have). Crochet is a legit Cy Young contender and befuddles the other team's offense in most of his starts.

Rafael Devers is not a future Hall of Famer. He's not Mookie Betts. He's already just a DH but he's not David Ortiz. The latter was a stud, a game-changer, a leader, a "follow me to the promised land, boys," player. Was he a diva too? Yeah, he was. But David Ortiz was an entirely different kind of cat than Devers. He was the man. Devers is a pouty passenger. Red Sox fans also bitch about the team moving on from Xander Boegarts, who has become a below average player and hasn't been anything better than average from the moment he left Boston. Imagine having him signed to a hefty long-term deal right now?

This is the right move from an organization that has been an organizational disaster. And still is. Doing one thing right doesn't change that. And who knows if they even did it for the right reasons. They never should have signed Devers to the contract that they did. It was crazy. Not as crazy and dumb as the Bruins with their Jeremy Swayman contract--which is the dumbest in Bruins' history and may go down as the worst in Boston sports history--but plenty crazy and dumb.

Play the younger players. Fill in the pieces. See what you got. Play hard. Play with the right attitude. Cut down on the errors. Play some situational ball. Scrap, claw. Make sure you win the Crochet starts. Get Bregman back. He'll want to show he's healthy and productive so he can sign a long term deal somewhere else. You might win 85 games.

Devers is just going to get worse over the years. He's not professionally committed to being the best he can be. Look how many guys are good in their twenties and nothing in their thirties. Andruw Jones. Dale Murphy. Mike Trout. Two of those three players I just named packed on the pounds. Mookie Betts isn't the player he once was and it's not like he's thirty-five. You have to look at things like age, health, trends, the player's commitment, his attitude, his intangibles, his leadership. And remember: Players usually peak a lot earlier than is generally believed.

There's a huge disconnect between who Red Sox fans think Rafael Devers is as a player and who he really is as a player. He's not a superstar. He's kind of an underachiever. He faded last year because, again, his lack of fitness caught up to him. He's not jacking 45 bombs and driving in 135. He's a low-level star who is not going to get better, who likely had what will be his career-best year in 2021 during his age twenty-two season, and wants things how he wants them no matter what, even if that makes it harder for his team to win. Could be a great fit for the 2025 Giants. (I would say, though, that the Giants' ballpark isn't kind to left-handed hitters and that a number of Devers' doubles and homers to left at Fenway would be outs in San Francisco.) But that's a different proposition.