Article: Rafael Devers Is Gone, But The Red Sox Have A Bright Present And Future

[Alex Mayes]

While the Rafael Devers trade has dominated the headlines, lost in all the noise is that the Boston Red Sox have been playing fantastic baseball. This team has clawed their way back from below mediocrity to take five of six games from the AL East-leading Yankees, took the series against the Tampa Bay Rays, are experiencing a stellar run of starting pitching, and have a bullpen that looks settled and is anchored by a closer having a career resurgence, all while Carlos Narvaez is making us forget about Kyle Teel andthe entire Big Three plays together in the majors. There’s a lot to be happy about as a fan of the Red Sox right now if you take a breath to pause from the media chaos. Let’s take a look at each aspect and break down why it paints a crystal-clear picture for the future of the franchise.

Big Series Wins Against Good Teams

It seemed most fans and analysts had penciled in the Red Sox to lose the first series against the Yankees in New York. After a loss in the first game, it seemed like that could come to fruition. Then, Garrett Crochet turned in his worst outing of the season, but the offense picked him up and the bullpen limited the damage. The Red Sox looked like they were hungry for a win. Then, on Sunday Night Baseball, the Sox got after Carlos Rodon in a way that hadn’t really happened all season and took the series. They turned their attention to the Rays and the momentum continued to build as they took two of three from a team leading them in the standings. The Yankees came to Fenway Park on Friday, June 13 hoping to overpower the Red Sox in their home ballpark. The Red Sox responded by sweeping the Yankees with contributions from all over the roster. Carlos Narvaez walked the game off on Friday night, Trevor Story and Romy Gonzalez knocked in RBIs to extend the lead early in the Saturday game, and the team proved Sunday they could win a game with less than three runs scored. 

The Starting Pitching Has Been Lights Out, literally

Just looking at the Yankees home series, the Red Sox starters threw 21 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits, one earned run, five walks, and 20 strikeouts. Going back further to the last full turn through the rotation, Lucas Giolito went six innings pitched with zero earned runs, Walker Buehler went seven innings pitched with three earned runs, Garrett Crochet went eight and-a-third innings pitched with one earned run, Hunter Dobbins went six innings pitchers with zero earned runs, and Brayan Bello went seven shutout innings! Most recently, Giolito went six shutout innings against the Mariners. That's four earned runs in six starts. What more could you want from your rotation?

I’d like to focus on Bello for just a second though, as he’s been cited as the most disappointing starter in the rotation. He faced a Yankees team trying to avoid a sweep that included a visibly frustrated Aaron Judge, who just had back-to-back down series against the Red Sox. Bello tossed seven innings, allowed three hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts. When Judge came up to the plate, Bello threw him pitches that didn’t sniff the zone and Judge chased each of them for swinging strikes. The moment never got too big for him, even when he was only clinging onto a one-run lead for five innings. 

The Bullpen Looks Good and Aroldis Chapman Seems Reinvented

During the losing skid, the bullpen was overworked and tired. They looked listless each time they jogged from the pen to the mound. Now, though? They look rejuvenated and have been playing like a brand new group. Garrett Whitlock has been nails, Greg Weissert has worked himself into some jams and then pitched his way out, and Justin Wilson has been better than advertised. The shining star, though, is quite obviously Aroldis Chapman. He’s having a career year right now with the Red Sox, as hard as that may be to believe. He’s thrown 30 innings, sports a 1.50 ERA and 0.833 WHIP with 13 saves, a 36.5% strikeout rate, and a 7.8% walk rate. When he was brought in during the offseason, many fans, myself included, rolled their eyes and assumed he was just going to be the same pitcher he had been throughout the last few seasons as he bounced around from team to team. Coming to Boston seems to have allowed him to shift into a new gear and become the elite closer we knew him to be during his tenure with the Reds and Yankees. 

Carlos Narvaez Is An Absolute Stud On Offense and Defense

The trade for Carlos Narvaez barely caused a blip on most people’s radars, but it proves that Craig Breslow has his good days too. He swapped a prospect in Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz that had upside for a catcher that I’d wager most Yankees fans had barely heard about. We assumed he could function as a backup catcher behind Connor Wong, potentially serving as a bridge to the team's next great catcher after losing Kyle Teel in the Crochet trade. Well, Wong’s season never got going — he got hurt, and has been a shell of himself since returning. All Narvaez has done is step into the spotlight and shine. He’s currently slashing .282/.366/.457 with six home runs, including walking off his former team to secure the victory on Friday, June 13. On defense, he's been just as brilliant. Just look at the catching stats from his Baseball Savant page. If Cal Raleigh wasn’t having the incredible season he’s having in Seattle, Narvaez is likely the starting catcher for the AL All-Star team come July.

The Big Three Is Here and They Shouldn’t Be Going Anywhere

It’s been a bit of a slow start for Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Kristian Campbell. That’s okay, though. They are rookies, and we should be celebrating that The Big Three are together once again. Is it just a coincidence that once Roman Anthony joined the club, Marcelo Mayer found his power stroke? Or that Kristian Campbell’s swings started to look like they did when he was lighting the world on fire to start the season? I don’t think so. Having the band back together gives each guy a valuable support group to lean on. These guys are friends on and off the field, and having them together with the big league club, along with Narvaez, really helps showcase just how bright the future is in Boston. Give the kids some time to learn and contribute when they can, because they’ll reward you with outstanding production as they get their feet under them as the season carries on. 

I know it’s tough for some people to be a fan right now and that’s okay. What should help is that this team, your team, is playing fantastic baseball and seems primed to continue to make a run at a playoff spot. As hard as it may be to see, there’s a plan in place, and it’s going to be interesting to see what happens between right now and the trade deadline, but this team still deserve praise for the run its gone on in recent weeks. There's 26 men on this roster, and they all want to win. It’s always darkest before the dawn, and I think I can see the sun starting to break the horizon off in the distance.

View full article

[Nick]

Great article.

I feel the same way about our 4 rookies. They along with Crochet, Bello, Dobbins and Rafaela are our future. Maybe throw in recently acquire Kyle Harrison with 5 yrs of team control.

You can go ahead and throw in Duran to the mix who is under team control for 4 years.

Also look at our bullpen (although I agree that you can't make long term plans for any of them).

We have hard throwers in Guerrero (6 years),  Alcala (2 yrs). How about Slaten (5yrs)? Bernardino is also under team control for 5 yrs, same with Weissert.

I'm just not heartbroken over Devers leaving. I have always wondered if Pittsburgh would have taken Devers, $15M per year, Duran, Crawford and say Campbell (not trading Mayer and Anthony) and couple of more minor leaguers for 5 years of Skenes. They are paying Mitch Keller $15M+ so Devers contract is affordable, subsidized. 

[TedYazPapiMookie]

I like the theme of your article.  Losing Devers is a good thing and now Breslow needs to lose Cora and the transition to a less toxic environment will be complete.  It's hard when your manager is someone who represents cheating.  Devers was selfish and set a bad example, but Cora cheated and sets an even worse example for the young players.

As far as this year being a slow start for the big three prospects, think again.  The transition from minor league baseball to major league baseball is not an overnight action.  There is so much to learn.  Campbell for example started out the best of the three by FAR and looked like he was going to adjust immediately and then the reality of making the jump to the MLB hit.  The scouting for each team is very thorough.  The book on players is created and modified daily.  Once a small chink in the armor exists, the other teams exploit it.  That's how a guy like Campbell goes from hitting .400 after 6 games to hitting .301 after April and 29 games to hitting .227 after May and 51 games to .226 after 66 games on June 17th.  Teams didn't have a book on him then they did, and the coaching staff did NOT do a good job helping him adapt to the changes they identified.  Eventually, he will make his adjustment and catch fire once again, but the length of his slump will be dependent on the amount of help he gets and how quickly he learns what he needs to do to make adjustments.  This is a process that varies by player, so patience is key.  Don't expect greatness year one.  Expect the player to move up the learning curve on how to make adjustments.

Marcelo didn't start fast like Campbell.  He's struggled from day 1.  After 6 games like Campbell, Mayer was hitting .217 not .400.  Mayer has played 20 games now.  He's hitting .214.  He's now in the same boat as Campbell needing to make adjustments but he never experienced the joy of starting out hot like Campbell.  The ironic part is that fans are all over Campbell stating he should be sent down, but he has experienced so much more success than Mayer!!! 

That's the politics of the Red Sox fan base and front office.  That is the direct influence of a manager who plays favorites which is why he needs to be fired.  That should level the playing field for the young prospects. 

Lastly, there is Anthony.  After 6 games, he's the worst of the three with a .059 average.  He's only played 8 games so far and he is at .080.  He's batting 3rd in the line-up!!  Again, this is why Cora needs to go.  He's benched Campbell the most successful prospect and is batting the worst performing prospect 3rd and the 2nd worst 5th. 

Put yourself in that dugout and tell me, as a player not on Cora's good list, would you want to be there when outperforming others means nothing?  That's how Duran felt a couple of years ago.  That's how Rafaela felt last year.  Now Campbell is the red-headed stepchild.  That's why the dugout is toxic.  It was great for years for Devers when players like Mookie, JD, Bogey and Benny were out playing Devers and now it's great for Anthony and Mayer and Hamilton, a AAA at best skilled hitter batting .178 or 48 points lower than then Minor League Player of the Year in 2024 who is sitting.  It's truly pathetic the choices Cora makes and his reasons for doing so.  He was hired as an attempt to fix the diversity issue and instead he simply created a new type of racism.  Instead of white players getting all the opportunities, it's now the Cora favorites that get all the breaks and those favorites have a tendency to be people who are part of Cora's culture.

Baseball should be a performance-based sport, not ethnic based sport   Cora didn't represent diversity like he was supposed to, he simply changed the focus of the racism.  Couple that with his cheating and I will never understand how this former player with questionable morals got the greatest managerial job in baseball.

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, Nick said:

Great article.

I feel the same way about our 4 rookies. They along with Crochet, Bello, Dobbins and Rafaela are our future. Maybe throw in recently acquire Kyle Harrison with 5 yrs of team control.

You can go ahead and throw in Duran to the mix who is under team control for 4 years.

Also look at our bullpen (although I agree that you can't make long term plans for any of them).

We have hard throwers in Guerrero (6 years),  Alcala (2 yrs). How about Slaten (5yrs)? Bernardino is also under team control for 5 yrs, same with Weissert.

I'm just not heartbroken over Devers leaving. I have always wondered if Pittsburgh would have taken Devers, $15M per year, Duran, Crawford and say Campbell (not trading Mayer and Anthony) and couple of more minor leaguers for 5 years of Skenes. They are paying Mitch Keller $15M+ so Devers contract is affordable, subsidized. 

Excellent points.

I'm a little less optimistic this season because I'm not sure the recent brilliant run--6 games, 6 wins--by the rotation is sustainable.  I also suspect the lineup will struggle until both Abreu and Bregman return.  

Longer term, I agree the Sox are on the right track.

Beyond question Breslow screwed over Devers by lying to him and then going public when Raffy said he wouldn't play 1b.  The trade was necessary because Devers and Breslow were both displeased--plus dumping that $330M contract for a DH also makes sense.  Devers has just said he's willing to play anywhere for the Giants, which to me confirms that Breslow mishandled Raffy and disregarded what Cora thought (leave him at DH this season).   

[Bellhorn04]

6 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Beyond question Breslow screwed over Devers by lying to him and then going public when Raffy said he wouldn't play 1b.  The trade was necessary because Devers and Breslow were both displeased--plus dumping that $330M contract for a DH also makes sense.  Devers has just said he's willing to play anywhere for the Giants, which to me confirms that Breslow mishandled Raffy and disregarded what Cora thought (leave him at DH this season).   

Possibly.  Or Raffy might be giving the Red Sox the middle finger, too, right?  Remember Nomar grinning and saying his ankle was great right after the Red Sox traded him.

[Maxbialystock]

1 minute ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Possibly.  Or Raffy might be giving the Red Sox the middle finger, too, right?  Remember Nomar grinning and saying his ankle was great right after the Red Sox traded him.

I think he's sincere because he had no hesitation complaining about losing 3b and about losing DH.  Plus his agent or someone must have told him it's the right thing to say and do.  $330M for a DH makes no sense, which was Breslow's point.    

Excellent point about Nomar, but he had a different makeup.  

[mvp 78]

22 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

I think he's sincere because he had no hesitation complaining about losing 3b and about losing DH.  Plus his agent or someone must have told him it's the right thing to say and do.  $330M for a DH makes no sense, which was Breslow's point.    

Excellent point about Nomar, but he had a different makeup.  

300M for Devers at DH makes no sense. 

Soto for 700M? 

Vlad Jr for 500M? 

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

300M for Devers at DH makes no sense. 

Soto for 700M? 

Vlad Jr for 500M? 

Ty. Finally some sense.

To replace Devers bat, it will cost way more than the 280M we shedded.  Maybe that bat, which will cost 40% more may be able to play a lousy 1B, so maybe that makes it a better value (saracasm)

Most likely they will get another Giolito with the money saved, who will promptly get hurt, and your Boston mediocre Sox continue to be just that.

[Maxbialystock]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

300M for Devers at DH makes no sense. 

Soto for 700M? 

Vlad Jr for 500M? 

Vlad plays 1b, Soto RF.  When signed, Raffy played 3b.

No disagreement, however, that the salaries are insane.  Mookie was/is a bargain for the Dodgers.  

 

[drewski6]

In a world where Walker Buehler costs 21m, freeing up 31m by removing the guy who carries your entire lineup - and spinning it as a good thing is a take that is way to pervasive

[Maxbialystock]

1 minute ago, drewski6 said:

Ty. Finally some sense.

To replace Devers bat, it will cost way more than the 280M we shedded.  Maybe that bat, which will cost 40% more may be able to play a lousy 1B, so maybe that makes it a better value (saracasm)

Most likely they will get another Giolito with the money saved, who will promptly get hurt, and your Boston mediocre Sox continue to be just that.

You exaggerate Devers value to the Sox.  For most of his tenure, the Sox have been unable to make it to the postseason.  In the fantastic, incredible 2018 run Devers WAR was 0.0.  The big guns were Betts, JDM Bogey, and Beni.  The Sox made the 2021 postseason, and Devers was one of 6 pretty good bats.  The others were JDM, Bogey, Dugo, Renfroe, and Kike.  Devers was on the 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024 teams which did not make the postseason.  

And this.  The Sox almost always have pretty good hitting.  Their problems have  been with the pitching. 

Despite the recent spate of weak hitting/scoring, the Sox are still ranked 6th in MLB in runs scored--which is where they have been for almost all of this season.   And the Sox team ERA is currently ranked 20th.

 

[Maxbialystock]

5 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

In a world where Walker Buehler costs 21m, freeing up 31m by removing the guy who carries your entire lineup - and spinning it as a good thing is a take that is way to pervasive

Agree Buehler was a bust.  Ditto Giolito.  Ditto giving away Sale.  And others.  

But Devers did not carry our lineup, which in fact is impossible for any one player to do. 

I think he was pretty dadgum good, but he was even better when Bregman followed him in the lineup.  In the Sox best run of the season, just ended, Raffy had nothing to do with those 6 wins.  The pitching did all the heavy lifting and Raffy, the world's greatest rbi man, drove in exactly 1 run in those 6 games.

I rooted like crazy for Raffy and almost daily recited where he was in almost leading (he did for a day or two) MLB in rbi's.  Plus he had the best OPS of his career.   So, yes, he's a loss.

But right now the Sox are also without Bregman and Abreu.  And 3 of our 4 rookies have OPS's of .691,  .673, and .388.  It is a reasonable assumption those will improve.   Story and Rafaela both have OPS's over .800 in June.  Heck, maybe Yoshida can even get his OPS over .800.  

Meanwhile, the Giants have by far the greater need--they are ranked 15th in runs scored.  And their team ERA is ranked 3d.

And we're the opposite.  We need another Crochet or two.  Replacing Raffy should never be Job 1 for Breslow.  

 

[drewski6]

51 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

You exaggerate Devers value to the Sox.  For most of his tenure, the Sox have been unable to make it to the postseason.  In the fantastic, incredible 2018 run Devers WAR was 0.0.  The big guns were Betts, JDM Bogey, and Beni.  The Sox made the 2021 postseason, and Devers was one of 6 pretty good bats.  The others were JDM, Bogey, Dugo, Renfroe, and Kike.  Devers was on the 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024 teams which did not make the postseason.  

And this.  The Sox almost always have pretty good hitting.  Their problems have  been with the pitching. 

Despite the recent spate of weak hitting/scoring, the Sox are still ranked 6th in MLB in runs scored--which is where they have been for almost all of this season.   And the Sox team ERA is currently ranked 20th.

 

2018 was a different team. More recently, I dont think that the fact that the TEAM success in recent years has been bad means we can just subtract our best hitter during that span and not miss a beat.

And it is my opinion that you are taking our "pretty good hitting" (which we almost always have had, per you) for granted.  Keep subtracting your best bats and see how long that keeps up. Also, I dont think "pretty good hitting" is good enough.  Dodgers had a rash of pitching injuries and were carried by their offense.

6th isnt good enough, and if it werent for Devers I wonder what they would have been.

Count on your pitchers to get hurt, build your team through the bats.

[Maxbialystock]

6 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

2018 was a different team. More recently, I dont think that the fact that the TEAM success in recent years has been bad means we can just subtract our best hitter during that span and not miss a beat.

And it is my opinion that you are taking our "pretty good hitting" (which we almost always have had, per you) for granted.  Keep subtracting your best bats and see how long that keeps up. Also, I dont think "pretty good hitting" is good enough.  Dodgers had a rash of pitching injuries and were carried by their offense.

6th isnt good enough, and if it werent for Devers I wonder what they would have been.

Count on your pitchers to get hurt, build your team through the bats.

Well, we just disagree.  I would love to see the hitting improve above 6th in runs scored and agree it will be harder without Devers.  But the Sox are going nowhere without pitching--and in the that 6 game winning streak the Sox lineup was without Bregman and Abreu plus the key hits were by players not named Devers.  

If the pitching turns around and resembles something like what we just saw, the Sox are in the postseason with or without great hitting.  

Bregman was our best hitter, but the real point is that both of them in lineup helped a lot.  Thus were the Sox 26-26 when Bregman went down.  Thus too they are back over .500 because of great pitching and without Bregman and Abreu and, for one game, Devers.  

A lot of truth in those pitcher injuries.  No wonder every MLB has 13 even though just one is on the mound at any given time.  

[Kimmi]

2 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Possibly.  Or Raffy might be giving the Red Sox the middle finger, too, right?  Remember Nomar grinning and saying his ankle was great right after the Red Sox traded him.

Raffy is definitely giving the Red Sox the middle finger.  The sad part about that is that it's his teammates and the fans that he hurt.

Raffy will quickly be on my list of once beloved Red Sox players whom I no longer like.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

In a world where Walker Buehler costs 21m, freeing up 31m by removing the guy who carries your entire lineup - and spinning it as a good thing is a take that is way to pervasive

Gotta save money somehow when you've spent $40M on Masa/Story and have 0.2 fWAR to show for it so far. 

[mvp 78]

Just now, Kimmi said:

Raffy is definitely giving the Red Sox the middle finger.  The sad part about that is that it's his teammates and the fans that he hurt.

Raffy will quickly be on my list of once beloved Red Sox players whom I no longer like.

His teammates aren't hurt at all. None of his teammates have complained. 

The fans turned their backs on him while he was here! They complained about his paycheck, his weight, that he used an interpreter! Why should he care about their feelings? 

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

You exaggerate Devers value to the Sox. 

Did you expect him to be Bugs Bunny out there playing all 9 positions?

Sox since 2019:

[Nick]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

In a world where Walker Buehler costs 21m, freeing up 31m by removing the guy who carries your entire lineup - and spinning it as a good thing is a take that is way to pervasive

I'd hedge a bit. $20M on a one year deal is easier to deal with than $313M over 10 yrs, now 8 1/2 years left.

[Kimmi]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

Ty. Finally some sense.

To replace Devers bat, it will cost way more than the 280M we shedded.  Maybe that bat, which will cost 40% more may be able to play a lousy 1B, so maybe that makes it a better value (saracasm)

Most likely they will get another Giolito with the money saved, who will promptly get hurt, and your Boston mediocre Sox continue to be just that.

I don't think the Red Sox can replace Devers bat with a single player.  That would be very difficult and expensive to do.  Get a solid, veteran bat (perhaps the return of Bregman and Yoshida will be enough?), and focus on a starting pitcher.  The offense likely won't be as good, but there are other ways to improve the team.

[Nick]

I will never bad mouth Devers for his performance. He's a very good baseball player. Maybe even a Hall of Fame worthy.

But I'm not going to relitigate what happened here. It didn't do me any good to torment over Betts departure. My being negative toward Devers and Betts probably has more to do with concealing my hurt feelings.

When my favorite team loses in NCAA tournament, for me the basketball season is over. That's how I deal with disappointments. Devers is over for me.

[Kimmi]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

His teammates aren't hurt at all. None of his teammates have complained. 

The fans turned their backs on him while he was here! They complained about his paycheck, his weight, that he used an interpreter! Why should he care about their feelings? 

The teammates don't care now that he is gone.  That is telling.

However, you can bet that while he was sitting on the bench, refusing to play 1B, while the Red Sox scuffled their way to below .500, they felt hurt, angry, betrayed, or all of the above.

As far as I know, fans didn't turn their backs on him until after he started being selfish.  But you are right, he has no obligation to care about fans' feelings.  

[Nick]

Tarik Skubal will be a free agent AFTER 2026 season. He's making $10,150M this year. Lucky for us that his agent is Boras. That means Skubal will go FA route.

Sox needs to gear up for him. Got to have him.

Crochet, Skubal, Bello, and two cheap starters will go long ways in getting us to the World Series.

(maybe Dobbins and Kyle Harrison?)

[Kimmi]

Back on point with the topic of the thread, our present and our future are indeed very bright.  I am glad that we have a guy like Bregman on the team to lead our young hitters.  On paper, our offense with Campbell, Mayer, and Anthony in it should be elite.  Give it a little time for them to become acclimated and make adjustments.  I think a few reinforcements and this team can compete.

The best thing about it is that we have several of these players for many years to come.

[Bellhorn04]

19 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

His teammates aren't hurt at all. None of his teammates have complained. 

The fans turned their backs on him while he was here! They complained about his paycheck, his weight, that he used an interpreter! Why should he care about their feelings? 

Which fans though?  There are fans who complain about every player at one time or another, especially here in the blogosphere.

[mvp 78]

28 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

However, you can bet that while he was sitting on the bench, refusing to play 1B, while the Red Sox scuffled their way to below .500, they felt hurt, angry, betrayed, or all of the above.

I'm sorry Kimmi, but you're just making this up. I know you're upset he left, but there was no clubhouse drama between Devers and his teammates. 

[mvp 78]

18 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Which fans though?  There are fans who complain about every player at one time or another, especially here in the blogosphere.

It seemed like there were a lot more fans than usual that bought into the Raffy is a "lollygagger" and "he stole my sweetroll" and whatever else the media was putting out there once that first press conference went off the rails. 

Maybe I'm just too even keeled for my own good! 😎

[mvp 78]

21 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

Back on point with the topic of the thread, our present and our future are indeed very bright.  I am glad that we have a guy like Bregman on the team to lead our young hitters.  On paper, our offense with Campbell, Mayer, and Anthony in it should be elite.  Give it a little time for them to become acclimated and make adjustments.  I think a few reinforcements and this team can compete.

The best thing about it is that we have several of these players for many years to come.

I think it will be tougher this season. I think it doesn't change the outlook for 2026 and on. The biggest concern is getting starting pitching on track. Having an ace goes a long way. 

[Kimmi]

26 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I'm sorry Kimmi, but you're just making this up. I know you're upset he left, but there was no clubhouse drama between Devers and his teammates. 

I'm not making it up any more than you're making it up that there was no clubhouse drama.  

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, Nick said:

I'd hedge a bit. $20M on a one year deal is easier to deal with than $313M over 10 yrs, now 8 1/2 years left.

Sure - but is it really better. Is that what you want? Every year 3 new 1 yr contracts for pitchers and if they do great they are gone, while we struggle to score runs.

Our aversion to long term deals is part of the reason why we keep getting the Giolittos and Buehlers and paying them high AAVs. The James Paxtons and the Sandovals.

When you offer 1 yr deals, you get players who are willing to accept them.