Question of the week: Was trading Devers the right call?

[Kimmi]

On 7/10/2025 at 3:51 PM, dgalehouse said:

With each passing day, it becomes more and more apparent that the team is better off without Devers. 

In Cora's interviews, when asked about what the team is doing right during this win streak, he usually mentions a great clubhouse culture first.  We'll never know, but I think Devers was waying the team down more than we thought.

[dgalehouse]

2 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

In Cora's interviews, when asked about what the team is doing right during this win streak, he usually mentions a great clubhouse culture first.  We'll never know, but I think Devers was waying the team down more than we thought.

When Devers was traded, I think his teammates reaction was kind of interesting. None of them would bad-mouth Rafael at all, but there didn't seem to be anyone that was all that upset about his departure. And he was their best hitter and longest tenured player . 

[jad]

28 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

100%.

It's a lot easier to not miss Devers when the team is on a high like they are, but even if the Sox were still struggling, Devers needed to go.  I am glad Breslow prioritized being a good teammate and other intangibles over the high-powered bat.

Just keep drinking that management Kool-Aid.  No need for actual evidence supporting this (of which there is none), and no need to pay any attention to  evidence that contradicts it (e.g., statements by Bregman).

[Kimmi]

16 minutes ago, dgalehouse said:

When Devers was traded, I think his teammates reaction was kind of interesting. None of them would bad-mouth Rafael at all, but there didn't seem to be anyone that was all that upset about his departure. And he was their best hitter and longest tenured player . 

Agreed.  The reaction from the teammates was telling.  I'm glad that no one on the team, including Cora and Breslow, badmouthed him, but I think the feeling in the clubhouse is pretty evident.

[Kimmi]

6 minutes ago, jad said:

Just keep drinking that management Kool-Aid.  No need for actual evidence supporting this (of which there is none), and no need to pay any attention to  evidence that contradicts it (e.g., statements by Bregman).

No evidence supporting what?  Why Breslow traded Devers?  He certainly didn't trade Devers because of his offense.

[mvp 78]

31 minutes ago, dgalehouse said:

When Devers was traded, I think his teammates reaction was kind of interesting. None of them would bad-mouth Rafael at all, but there didn't seem to be anyone that was all that upset about his departure. And he was their best hitter and longest tenured player . 

If there was a clubhouse issue with Devers, it would have been more likely that you would have heard rumors after he was gone about internal nonsense from players rather than "we're moving on." Players turning the page is just a credit to Cora and says nothing about Devers IMO.

[Soxlover]

How many Sox players spoke up to say how much they will miss Devers?

[Bellhorn04]

1 hour ago, Soxlover said:

How many Sox players spoke up to say how much they will miss Devers?

Personally I think it's one of those situations where players might prefer to not say anything about it, because it's a no-win situation anyway.

Good thing Casas wasn't still around, I guess.  I'll bet he would have said something.

 

[illinoisredsox]

Pure speculation on my part, but my guess is he was neither a plus nor a minus re. clubhouse culture; he didn’t drag it down and he didn’t add to it either.  He was just there.  If there were real issues, the press would have been all over it.

He seldom sat near anyone on the bench (in the dugout shots we saw, anyway). The happy kid who always had a sort of goofy smile on his face disappeared a couple years ago (when Bogaerts left) and he found out this is a business.

I’ve likened him to Yaz in that he is likely very introverted; the lack of reaction by his former teammates probably stems from the fact that none knew him very well.

I wish him well in SF and hope he kills it there (except for a certain  3 games a year).

[Duran Is The Man]

sounds like Devers was a clubhouse cancer. glad we got rid of him.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

If there was a clubhouse issue with Devers, it would have been more likely that you would have heard rumors after he was gone about internal nonsense from players rather than "we're moving on." Players turning the page is just a credit to Cora and says nothing about Devers IMO.

Keep drinking the Devers' punch. I imagine the Giants FO is asking for a re-do.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Keep drinking the Devers' punch. I imagine the Giants FO is asking for a re-do.

Btw, the only 'experts' who rank Devers as one of top 10 hitters in baseball are the ones who haven't seen most of his games.

[Maxbialystock]

5 hours ago, jad said:

Just keep drinking that management Kool-Aid.  No need for actual evidence supporting this (of which there is none), and no need to pay any attention to  evidence that contradicts it (e.g., statements by Bregman).

Not sure what you mean by management kool-aid.  I loved Devers as the DH, plus I think he was lied to about keeping 3b.  

However, to quote Cora, "players are traded all the time.  It's part of baseball.  End of story."   

When Devers was traded the Sox were on a hot streak, not because of anything Devers did, but because the pitching was terrific for 6 straight games. Since he left, the Sox hitting is better without Devers and the Giant hitting is worse with him.  The Sox have been winning while the Giants have been losing.  

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

Not sure what you mean by management kool-aid.  I loved Devers as the DH, plus I think he was lied to about keeping 3b.  

Max, if Bloom promised Devers he could play 3B for X years, but Brez comes in and changes the plan, it's not a lie.

There was no deliberate untrue statement made by Brez or Cora, that we know of. It has to be an intentional mistruth to be a lie.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Btw, the only 'experts' who rank Devers as one of top 10 hitters in baseball are the ones who haven't seen most of his games.

Depends on what time sample size you choose and what numbers/metrics, but many show him as top 12 to 20.

I don't see him as top 10, but he's not far away.

[Deja Doh]

Devers was way over hyped and over paid for what he had accomplished.  He's a .277 hitter who had hit 30 homers in a season just twice and we gave him $320 million.  He was/is unremarkable.  We should have given Judge $500 million (I said that then).  Then this year he starts off acting as a baby (hell, he's "earned' $100 million at this point) and doesn't want to play team ball.

 

[Jasonbay44]

6 minutes ago, Deja Doh said:

Devers was way over hyped and over paid for what he had accomplished.  He's a .277 hitter who had hit 30 homers in a season just twice and we gave him $320 million.  He was/is unremarkable.  We should have given Judge $500 million (I said that then).  Then this year he starts off acting as a baby (hell, he's "earned' $100 million at this point) and doesn't want to play team ball.

 

He had 30+ homers 3 times (and finished with 28 last year despite injuries.)

his career OPS in Boston is higher than Yaz, Dwight Evans, Fisk, Pedroia and Jim Rice.

he is also 10th in team history in homers.

people can say what they want about him but calling “unremarkable” and acting like he wasn’t a great hitter is insane. 

[mvp 78]

17 hours ago, Soxlover said:

How many Sox players spoke up to say how much they will miss Devers?

Duran said in an interview that he got along great with Devers, didn't believe anyone had a problem with him, but it was just time to move on after he was traded. "What am I supposed to do? Cry about it?"

[notin]

36 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Duran said in an interview that he got along great with Devers, didn't believe anyone had a problem with him, but it was just time to move on after he was traded. "What am I supposed to do? Cry about it?"

Outside of the issues Devers himself had no issues airing, I didn’t think he was such a bad guy.  But he definitely was not one to do whatever it takes to help the team…

[notin]

1 hour ago, Jasonbay44 said:

 

his career OPS in Boston is higher than Yaz, Dwight Evans, Fisk, Pedroia and Jim Rice.

 

Taking age into account?  Those guys all played into their late 30s (and beyond for Yaz) and those declining years brought their OPS down.  As it will for Devers one day…

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Deja Doh said:

Devers was way over hyped and over paid for what he had accomplished.  He's a .277 hitter who had hit 30 homers in a season just twice and we gave him $320 million.  He was/is unremarkable.  We should have given Judge $500 million (I said that then).  Then this year he starts off acting as a baby (hell, he's "earned' $100 million at this point) and doesn't want to play team ball.

There is not need for rewriting history to support the idea that trading Devers was or may have been the right move.

Devers was a top 15 hitter in MLB, IMO- last 2-3-4-5 years, whatever you pick and almost any stat of choice. He's a career .855 batter.

His .747 split v L if a very respectable for a L v L and .906 vs the bigger split is awesome.

His Home v Away splits are just 45 points apart.

His AUG (.759) and SEP (.798) OPS were concerning, but the guy played injured, when we needed him to play.

I'm not a believer in "clutch" as a skill but consider his career OPS is .855, and...

893 RISP (.881 2 outs and RISP)

.872 Men On Base

.851 High Leverage (.820 Low Leverage)

.880 v NYY

 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Duran said in an interview that he got along great with Devers, didn't believe anyone had a problem with him, but it was just time to move on after he was traded. "What am I supposed to do? Cry about it?"

Sounds kinda flattering, but also kind of a read between the lines kinda thing to say.

Duran's quotes can't be taken at face value, IMO.

Are there several quotes of players saying they were shocked? Why is the team selling? Bitching at the GM for trading a star? These things happen in many cases like this. I didn't hear much, this time.

[harmony]

11 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Depends on what time sample size you choose and what numbers/metrics, but many show him as top 12 to 20.

I don't see him as top 10, but he's not far away.

By wRC+, Rafael Devers ranked 19th among qualified hitters in 2024, 31st in 2023, 18th in 2022 and 26th in 2021.

Cumulatively over those four seasons, Devers ranked 22nd among qualified hitters in wRC+.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&month=0&ind=0&sortcol=17&sortdir=default&startdate=&enddate=&pageitems=30&season1=2021&season=2024

After entering the league in 2017, Devers never finished in the Top 10 in voting for American League most valuable player.

[Bellhorn04]

Career OPS+

Manny Ramirez 154

David Ortiz 141

JD Martinez 131

Rafael Devers 128

Devers is a very good power hitter, but not nearly in the same class as Manny or Papi, much more in the class of JDM.

Which makes him clearly overpaid as a DH.

 

[jad]

Since Breslow had just proven he was willing to let anyone go, why would any RS player speak up against this move?  The 'bad team-mate' narrative manufactured by RS front office is not supportted by any current player, and flat-out contradicted by those (e.g., Bregman) who have spoken out.   Meanwhile, JH just picked up 30million/year, so I guess 'true fans' are required to celebrate that,

[notin]

15 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Btw, the only 'experts' who rank Devers as one of top 10 hitters in baseball are the ones who haven't seen most of his games.

But anyone who keeps him out of the top 20 clearly has an axe to grind…

[notin]

2 minutes ago, jad said:

Since Breslow had just proven he was willing to let anyone go, why would any RS player speak up against this move?  The 'bad team-mate' narrative manufactured by RS front office is not supportted by any current player, and flat-out contradicted by those (e.g., Bregman) who have spoken out.   Meanwhile, JH just picked up 30million/year, so I guess 'true fans' are required to celebrate that,

Devers made it clear he was not going to be a team player.  He didn’t take the position switch to DH very well despite his, I’ll be kind, lackluster play at third.  (If he isn’t the worst defensive 3b in MLB, he’s really, really close.) And then when an injury forced the Sox to rearrange aging, he flat out refused.  Yes he refused to help his own team adjust to losing a starter to injury.  Exactly why are you overlooking that?  It’s not like the Sox fabricated that story, either.   It’s from his own interpreter’s mouth.  So either he’s a selfish player or bad at hiring interpreters…

[Maxbialystock]

6 minutes ago, notin said:

Devers made it clear he was not going to be a team player.  He didn’t take the position switch to DH very well despite his, I’ll be kind, lackluster play at third.  (If he isn’t the worst defensive 3b in MLB, he’s really, really close.) And then when an injury forced the Sox to rearrange aging, he flat out refused.  Yes he refused to help his own team adjust to losing a starter to injury.  Exactly why are you overlooking that?  It’s not like the Sox fabricated that story, either.   It’s from his own interpreter’s mouth.  So either he’s a selfish player or bad at hiring interpreters…

Of course he didn't take the switch to DH well. He was repeatedly promised 3b would stay his.  However, when he embraced DH as Cora said he should, he was pretty good at it--OPS .905 plus he didn't miss a game.  

I do not understand the furor over replacing Casas, who was having a horrible season.  Toro/Gonzalez have been way better than Casas.  

What I do understand is that keeping Devers at DH was like paying double because Yoshida can only DH.  So that's $30M + $18M for a DH.  

On top of that has been the emergence of Anthony, maybe or maybe not Mayer, Story, Narvaez, and Rafaela at the plate.  The Sox are in fact hitting better without Devers than they did with him.  

Plus let's not forget that pitching has been the biggest issue with the Sox.  So the emergence of Giolito and Bello as pretty good starters has made a world of difference and also reduces the "pain" of losing Devers.

I'm not mad at Devers, but am mad at the commentary that says the Sox were stupid to let him go.  It was the smart move.  

 

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Sounds kinda flattering, but also kind of a read between the lines kinda thing to say.

Duran's quotes can't be taken at face value, IMO.

Are there several quotes of players saying they were shocked? Why is the team selling? Bitching at the GM for trading a star? These things happen in many cases like this. I didn't hear much, this time.

You're the one reading between the lines? It's clear some fans are just going to paint whatever comes out with a negative spin against Devers. 🙃

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Devers is a very good power hitter, but not nearly in the same class as Manny or Papi, much more in the class of JDM.

Devers hasn't been linked to PED's yet.