One year ago today, June 15, the Boston Red Sox sent shockwaves through baseball when they traded third baseman-turned-DH Rafael Devers and the $230 million or so remaining on his contract to the San Francisco Giants for four players. Devers was the latest homegrown star to depart Boston, joining Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts, and it was in part due to drama of their own creation. Remember all that stuff about Devers not playing first base? All involved could have handled that better.
The Giants, after having struck out on so many big-name free agents over the years, took a big swing when they acquired Devers. The Red Sox removed a headache, stockpiled some talent, and cleared a lot of future payroll. Here is the full trade:
- Giants receive: DH Rafael Devers
- Red Sox receive: LHP Kyle Harrison, RHP Jordan Hicks, OF James Tibbs III, RHP Jose Bello
The trade happened only a few hours after Devers hit a home run in a win over the New York Yankees (he even had to be pulled off the team plane). The Red Sox were 37-36 with a +22 run differential before the trade. Afterward, they went 52-37 with a +88 run differential and reached the postseason as a wild-card team. It was their first postseason berth since 2021.
"It's important to point out that this is in no way signifying a waving of the white flag on 2025," Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said after the trade. "We are as committed as we were six months ago to putting a winning team on the field, to competing for the division and making a deep postseason run."
The Giants were 41-31 with a +45 run differential before the trade and 40-50 with a -24 run differential after. They crashed out of a postseason spot, so, based on that, the Red Sox won the trade in 2025. Obviously, it is much more complicated than that. The Giants and Red Sox both made the trade with an eye on 2026 and beyond far more than they did with an eye on 2025.
We graded the trade when it was made, and now that a year has passed and we have more information, we can go back to dish out new grades. It's important to evaluate trades based on what we know at the time. It's also important to go back with the benefit of hindsight and see how it ultimately played out. Here are our updated trade grades on the one-year anniversary.
Boston Red Sox
Original grade: C New grade: D
On the Red Sox side, there are three ways to look at the Devers trade. One, they absolutely had to get rid of the headache because it was damaging the clubhouse. Two, they used the first base drama as a pretext to move a bat-only player with a huge contract after ownership had spent the previous few years trimming payroll. And three, the Red Sox simply loved the trade package and the players they received, and couldn't pass up the deal. In all likelihood, the reasoning was a combination of all three.
Everyone looked bad during the first base drama. Devers looked bad because he wouldn't be a good teammate and try the position (which he ultimately did with the Giants). The Red Sox and then-manager Alex Cora looked bad because they communicated one thing -- "They talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove, that I wasn't going to play any other position but DH," Devers said before the trade -- then changed gears and asked Devers to do something else. It wasn't handled well by any party involved.
"In the end, I think it's pretty clear that we couldn't find alignment with Raffy," Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy said after the trade. "We all worked at it over the last several months. Going back to the offseason, starting with Alex Cora and Craig and the staff, and then up to me, and all the way up to (owner) John Henry. We worked at it. We had a different vision for him going forward than he had and we couldn't get there. We couldn't find alignment, and we reached that inflection point and made the decision to make a big move."
Boston's run to the postseason could be an indication that, once Devers was gone, the clubhouse was in perfect harmony. That is something we just can't know as outsiders. We're not privy to clubhouse dynamics. What we do know is that, since the trade, the Red Sox haven't received much production from the DH position, which is where Devers made all 73 starts in 2025 before the trade. Here are the numbers over the last calendar year:
DeversRed Sox DHMLB average DHBatting average
.235
.253
.246
On-base percentage
.323
.316
.328
Slugging percentage
.438
.389
.430
Home runs
29
15
25.9
wRC+
113
93
110
Weighted runs created plus, or wRC+, is a souped-up version of OPS+. It adjusts for ballpark and other factors, and distills offensive performance down to one number, where 100 is average and the higher the number, the better. Devers has outperformed Red Sox DHs since the trade and not by a little, either. In fact, Boston's DHs have been among the worst in baseball since the trade. Only six teams have gotten a lower wRC+ from the position and only the Colorado Rockies (13) have gotten fewer home runs.
The Red Sox understood they would take an offensive hit when they traded Devers and banked on better defense and a DH rotation (mostly Masataka Yoshida) to pick up the slack. It played out that way last year. It hasn't this year (the Red Sox are way short on power) in part because they were unable to retain Alex Bregman as a free agent. The Bregman signing started the "Devers to DH" domino effect, and, after the Devers trade, the thought was the Red Sox would re-sign Bregman and keep the better all-around player.
(Bregman is not having a good year with the Chicago Cubs, so perhaps it's for the best that the Red Sox were unable to keep him.)
How the Red Sox spent the money they saved when they shed Devers and his contract is difficult to untangle. Roman Anthony signed an eight-year, $130 million extension last August, but did the Red Sox really have to trade Devers to be able to do that? I have a hard time believing that. They also extended closer Aroldis Chapman last September, took on money in the Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray trades with the St. Louis Cardinals, and signed Ranger Suárez over the winter.
Those were all significant additions to payroll made after the Devers trade, and, after years of cutting back, Boston has raised payroll to a franchise record level this year. Here are the club's end-of-season competitive balance tax payrolls:
Red Sox CBT payrollMLB rank2022
$236 million
5th
2023
$226 million
12th
2024
$226 million
12th
2025
$249 million
7th
2026
$264 million (projected)
6th
The Red Sox have spent the money they saved with the Devers trade. How exactly they spent it is impossible to say due to all the moves that followed. The important thing is the Red Sox have reinvested the savings, which isn't always a given. The savings will continue too. Devers is owed $211 million from 2027-33, or just more than $30 million per year. Baseball's economics could change with the new collective bargaining agreement after the season, meaning those savings could take on increased importance, but no matter what, $30 million is $30 million.
As for the players the Red Sox received in the trade, only Bello (Jose, not Brayan) remains in the organization. He has a 3.04 ERA in 26 ⅔ Low Class-A innings this year and has been on and off the injured list. Neither Baseball America nor MLB Pipeline rank him among Boston's top 30 prospects. Bello was considered the fourth piece in the four-player package. The other three players have since been traded elsewhere and the returns definitely haven't been great. Let's go chronological:
OF James Tibbs III: Selected by the Giants as the No. 13 pick in the 2024 Draft, Tibbs was traded with minor-league outfielder Zach Ehrhard to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Dustin May at last summer's deadline. May had a 5.40 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance with Boston, and did not pitch after Sept. 3 because of an elbow injury. He left as a free agent this offseason. Tibbs, meanwhile, has blossomed with the Dodgers. He's running a 1.035 OPS in Triple-A and is among the minor-league leaders with 19 home runs. Given their MLB roster and other more touted outfield prospects, it seems likely Los Angeles will use Tibbs as a trade chip rather than plug him into their big-league roster. Ehrhard has had a nice year in Triple-A as well. Point is, the Red Sox traded Tibbs and received little from May.
RHP Jordan Hicks: Hicks allowed 20 runs in 18 ⅔ innings for the Red Sox last year, then, on Feb. 1, he was traded with minor-league righty Nick Sandlin and two players to be named to the Chicago White Sox for minor-league righty Gage Ziehl and a player to be named. This was a salary dump. The Red Sox attached a good prospect (Sandlin) to Hicks to shed $16 million of the $24 million remaining on his contract. The hard-throwing Sandlin made his MLB debut for the ChiSox on May 27. Ziehl has a 4.66 ERA in Double-A. Again, it's impossible to say how the Red Sox spent the money they saved with the Hicks trade, but that was the goal here. Dump that contract. (None of the players to be named later have yet been named. They are unlikely to be significant pieces.)
LHP Kyle Harrison: Harrison made three appearances for the Red Sox last year and was on their Wild Card Series roster, but did not pitch in the three games against the Yankees. A week after the Hicks trade, Harrison was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers in a six-player swap. Here is the full trade:
Brewers receivedRed Sox receivedLHP Kyle Harrison
3B Caleb Durbin
LHP Shane Drohan
UTIL Andruw Monasterio
Harrison has been terrific this season and will probably be an All-Star. Drohan has also been very good in a swingman role for the Brewers, pitching to a 3.59 ERA in 42 ⅔ innings across four starts and 10 relief appearances. Durbin, meanwhile, has needed a recent hot streak to approach a .580 OPS. He's a gifted defender at the hot corner, but the bat has been a disappointment after last year's third-place finish in the National League Rookie of the Year voting. Hamilton, Monasterio, and Seigler are low-impact utility guys.
We needn't overthink this one: Harrison has been outstanding and Durbin has been bordering on replacement level. To date, this is a big L for the Red Sox, though of course that could change given the long-term control of both players. The May trade didn't work out and Hicks was salary dumped at the cost of a prospect who is better than the prospect the Red Sox received in that trade. Did any of these three trades make Boston better? When the Hicks salary dump looks like the best move, the answer is no.
One year after the trade, it's fair to say the Red Sox downgraded their offense with the Devers trade, and made a bad thing worse with the Tibbs and Harrison trades. They don't look very good at the moment. At minimum, there's an opportunity cost there. Those were two good trade chips that were dealt for players who haven't moved the needle. The Red Sox have spent the savings from the Devers trade and the Hicks salary dump, so give them credit there. Too many teams simply pocket the money nowadays.
There's a case -- a very good one, I think -- to be made that the Red Sox deserve an F for the Devers trade because they simply aren't a better team now than they were a year ago. The reasons for that are bigger than Devers, but that trade is definitely part of it. I won't go with an F though. I'll update the Red Sox to a D because the last seven years (!) of the Devers contract aren't looking so hot. Getting out from under that money is a win to me. A small win, but a win nonetheless. The rest of the trade though? Yikes.
San Francisco Giants
Original grade: B New grade: C
The origin story of the Devers trade dates back almost a decade. The Giants tried and failed for years to lure a big-name slugger to San Francisco, starting with Giancarlo Stanton during the 2017-18 offseason, when he used his no-trade clause to block a deal. The Giants pursued Bryce Harper and especially Aaron Judge as free agents, but were shut out. Shohei Ohtani turned them down as well: the Giants tried hard to bring him to San Francisco, only to watch him land with the rival Dodgers. It was one rejection after another.
For a long time, the Giants couldn't give their money away. They were ready to pay out a big contract, but no big-name hitter was willing to join them. With Devers, the Giants didn't have to worry about selling him on the organization because his contract does not include any no-trade protection. All they had to do was find common ground with the Red Sox and agree to a trade, and the big-name bat they badly craved across multiple front office regimes would finally be theirs.
"The bat is so special," Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said after the trade. "It's just really hard to acquire this type of talent at this point of his career. We're obviously taking on a lot of money. We're giving up some pitching, we're giving up our first-round pick last year, so it didn't come without a cost. It felt like this was a chance to take a shot."
Devers, 29, initially struggled after the trade, but eventually settled in and put up numbers not too far below his usual output with the Red Sox: .236/.347/.460 with 20 home runs in 90 games for the Giants. He started poorly this year, but if you stopped paying attention to the Giants a few weeks ago (I wouldn't blame you), you missed him getting his season on track. Since May 1, Devers owns a .256/.326/.506 batting line with seven homers in 41 games. That again looks like typical Devers production.
There are red flags under the hood, though, red flags that existed at the time of the trade last year and were likely part of the motivation on Boston's part. Devers' strikeout rate continues to balloon and his overall contact rate is among the worst in baseball. This is a troubling trend for any hitter, but especially a 29-year-old who should not yet be experiencing age-related decline:
Strikeout rateIn-zone contact rate2022
18.6%
80.0%
2023
19.2%
78.4%
2024
24.5%
74.9%
2025
26.3%
73.9%
2026
30.3%
74.1%
MLB average
22.0%
86.0%
It's good Devers has halted his in-zone contact rate decline this year, but those are scary trends. Early in his career, Devers had a special blend of low strikeouts and big power. The low strikeouts are gone. He's now one of the biggest swing-and-miss hitters in the game. The Giants have played Devers at first base almost full-time this year and he looks surprisingly capable there, but this is a bat-first player who has to hit -- and hit big -- to justify his contract. Any offensive decline is worrisome.
As for the trade package, Hicks was included as a salary offset and Bello is a longshot prospect in the low minors. The trade really boils down to Harrison and Tibbs for Devers. Tibbs was San Francisco's first-round pick in 2024 (No. 13 overall) and was performing well at the time of the trade: .246/.379/.478 with 12 home runs in 58 High Class-A games. Harrison had seemingly fallen out of favor with the Giants. He made 35 wobbly starts from 2023-25 (4.48 ERA) and started the 2025 season in Triple-A.
That the Red Sox traded Tibbs to the rival Dodgers, where he looks like the power-hitting outfielder the Giants lack, and Harrison to the Brewers, where he is now living up to his top prospect pedigree, is salt in the wound, for sure. Once you trade a player, though, you don't have control of where he goes next. Tibbs landing with the Dodgers is just unfortunate from the Giants' perspective. There would be less hand-wringing if the Red Sox had traded him to, say, the Detroit Tigers. That's just the way it goes.
The larger issue is why the Giants couldn't unlock Harrison. What did the Brewers see that they didn't? Sometimes a player needs a change of scenery and perhaps that was the case with Harrison. The Giants have to (and I'm certain they have) reflect on this and learn from it. Harrison was, to use GM speak, a distressed asset. The Giants traded him when his value was at its nadir and another team was able to get him on track. It just so happens that that team is the Brewers, not the Red Sox.
More than two months into 2026, the Giants have one of the worst records in baseball, and there have been conflicting reports about their desire to shed their big contracts. That presumably includes Devers as well as Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, two good players who were given outsized contracts to come to San Francisco. Even if those reports are inaccurate and the front office wants to keep everyone, the fact that rumors like that are even plausible a year out from the Devers trade is a bad, bad sign.
Similar to the Red Sox, the Giants are not where they expected to be on the one-year anniversary of the trade. They're near the bottom of the standings and not particularly close to postseason contention. That's not all on Devers, but he's part of it. He's hit well with San Francisco. As well as they expected? No, I don't think so. They expected a game-changer and have gotten a good hitter. The contract is entering the "worst contract in baseball" conversation as a result, though I don't think we're there yet.
I'll give the Giants a C because I give them credit for taking a big swing. They've been unable to land a big-name hitter, and they made a very bold move. I also think Devers still has a chance to be an above-average hitter, though probably not an elite one. On the other side of the coin, the contract will be a payroll drain well into the 2030s, and the Giants used two of their better trade chips in one move. This is a C that is trending toward a D, and maybe an F. The early returns aren't horrible, but they aren't great either.
My guess is, if given the chance, the Red Sox would go through with the Devers trade again but the Giants wouldn't. As weak and as powerless as the offense has been, I think the Red Sox are happy to be free of Devers and his contract. If anything, they're upset the Tibbs/May trade didn't work out last year, and that the Harrison/Durbin trade looks like a big loss. The Devers trade? Yeah, the Red Sox would do that again. The Tibbs/May and Harrison/Durbin trades? I think those are the bigger regrets.
The Giants can't feel great about where things stand on their end. Devers has performed worse on the road (.747 OPS) than at Oracle Park (.777 OPS) since the trade, so the Giants can't even talk themselves into their spacious ballpark suppressing his offense. I don't think they regret trading Harrison and Tibbs too much. Posey & Co. understand you have to give to get. Devers not becoming a transformative offensive piece is the problem. One year later, this trade is a stinker for both teams, albeit for different reasons.
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