BREAKING: Rafael Devers Traded To San Francisco Giants

5 minutes ago, Nick said:

This one is for Moon.

Noah Song pitched 2 innings for Portland last night. 0 runs, 1 hit and 3 K's. He's 29 now. Maybe someone will write a song about him when he finally gets to the majors. Talk about never giving up. 

I do seem to gravitate towards all the marginal pitchers we have that still have a morsel of promise.

One of these days, one will surprise us. Oh wait, nobody thought Dobbins would do much.

48 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

All depends on the pitching.  Giolito, Buehler, Crochet, Dobbins, Bello, all just pitched excellent games.  And I'll be the first to admit I didn't see 5 good starts in a row coming. 

We only scored 15 runs in the 5 games but won them all.

Amen.  The Sox have stayed at right about 6th in scoring in MLB for the whole season, with or without Bregman.  But the team ERA has been as low as 23d and is now 20th.  

So what does that mean?  It means the Sox have every reason to cough up  a terrific but overpaid DH if the money saved can be spent on pitching.  On top of that, we Devers was no longer happy to be on this team and management felt the same way.  

37 minutes ago, dannycater said:

My only problem with Devers was that he refused to speak English in interviews...I think he should have and should still learn the English language as so many others in all sports have done to better communicate with the mainstream media in the U.S. But other than that, I appreciated his career as a Sox and his talent and hitting. He was a part of the 18 Sox champs and I'm sad to see him go.

Good points.  I suspect Devers struggles with languages.   Plus, let's face it, he knew he was good and there is no shortage of interpreters.  When the Sox signed him for 10 years and $330M, learning English wasn't in the contract.  I'll bet the majority of Americans playing in Japan know very little Japanese.   And don't most of our Japanese players need interpreters?  

15 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Starting pitching is the key! 
 

didn’t earl weaver once say it was amazing how everything in baseball revolves around the bump????

I think he also said "the key to winning is pitching, fundamentals, and three-run homers."  

35 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Amen.  The Sox have stayed at right about 6th in scoring in MLB for the whole season, with or without Bregman.  But the team ERA has been as low as 23d and is now 20th.  

So what does that mean?  It means the Sox have every reason to cough up  a terrific but overpaid DH if the money saved can be spent on pitching.  On top of that, we Devers was no longer happy to be on this team and management felt the same way.  

Part of being higher ranked in runs scored is our home park. Another part is that we've played 1-3 games more than most teams, since the week 2-3 in the season.

Our ERA suffers from Fenway, a little bit.

We are 6th in OPS and 10th in wRC+, so maybe 5-10th in O is more accurate.

We are 15th in ERA- and 10th or 11th in xFIP and FIP-, so maybe we are 10th to 15th in pitching.

The defensive metrics place us between 11th (DRS) and 17th (OAA), so maybe near average, but I feel we are more like 20th to 25th.

MLB.com has an article on reactions from other team execs. Here are some quotes...

Some of this stuff is similar to what we have said, other statements offer some new insights.

“Is this trade real?”

I think history would show that if you could get out of every long deal after two years, you’d be in great shape,” an AL executive said.

“I think it gives Boston the opportunity to reset and repurpose a lot of money,”

“On the surface, it feels like a relationship gone bad that was mismanaged from the beginning,” an AL exec said. “This is probably a welcome outcome.”

“It’s a pretty good return considering that Boston didn’t have many options,” an AL executive said. “I think there was a path to get him to first base -- maybe in 2026 -- but that would have required some serious diplomacy on [chief baseball officer Craig] Breslow’s part. And in the meantime, they had nowhere to go with [DH Masataka] Yoshida. I was surprised they got real talent back while moving all of that money.”

“The Red Sox are worse today, but I wouldn’t want to touch the Devers contract,” an AL executive said. “Harrison could be solid. It’s a good deal for the Red Sox in the long run. That’s a long time for a DH to be under contract.”

“It’s crazy for a team to trade a player in year two of a 10-year deal – and maybe even crazier for another team to take on the entire remainder of that player’s contract, particularly when he’s been so outspoken about what positions he is and isn’t willing to play,” an NL executive said.

Devers’ contract is already underwater. Giving up Harrison and Tibbs in order to take on an underwater contract is tough. This will look fine for San Francisco in the short-term, but has the strong potential to crush them when paired with Adames’ contract a few years from now.”

“What the general public never factors into their knee-jerk trade reactions is what the teams trading away the large contract can now go do with those dollars,” an NL executive said. “Boston should go trade for someone like [Brewers first baseman] Rhys Hoskins right now. Then the deal takes on a whole new dimension.”

“They definitely got some good players with upside, so when you combine those guys with whatever they get with the repurposed Devers money, I think the Red Sox did well,” an NL executive said. “But far more important than the player return is the fact that they were able to move Devers and all of his money. They just signed him, so to have changed their mind on that kind of commitment so quickly really means that they felt they had to move him, which is a really difficult spot to be in. They moved quickly, kept it quiet, and pulled it off.”

23 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Part of being higher ranked in runs scored is our home park. Another part is that we've played 1-3 games more than most teams, since the week 2-3 in the season.

Our ERA suffers from Fenway, a little bit.

We are 6th in OPS and 10th in wRC+, so maybe 5-10th in O is more accurate.

We are 15th in ERA- and 10th or 11th in xFIP and FIP-, so maybe we are 10th to 15th in pitching.

The defensive metrics place us between 11th (DRS) and 17th (OAA), so maybe near average, but I feel we are more like 20th to 25th.

Agree on Fenway effect, agree on more games played by Sox.  But right now the Sox are 5th in runs scored and the 6th team, the Tigers, have also played 73 games.  So the Sox are a legit 5th, and that's where they were in 2021 when they made the postseason and then the ALCS.  

What is wRC+ ?  

ESPN says the Sox ERA, 3.96, is tied with the Mariners for 17th.  They were 15th in ERA in 2021, so maybe, as you say, they are competitive.  

I like our defense this year more than you do and think only 2b and 1b are problems.  RF, CF, 3B and C are all above average.  SS is steady with a DWAR of +0.4.  LF is 0.0, but Duran is 5th in putouts.  

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

MLB.com has an article on reactions from other team execs. Here are some quotes...

Some of this stuff is similar to what we have said, other statements offer some new insights.

“Is this trade real?”

I think history would show that if you could get out of every long deal after two years, you’d be in great shape,” an AL executive said.

“I think it gives Boston the opportunity to reset and repurpose a lot of money,”

“On the surface, it feels like a relationship gone bad that was mismanaged from the beginning,” an AL exec said. “This is probably a welcome outcome.”

“It’s a pretty good return considering that Boston didn’t have many options,” an AL executive said. “I think there was a path to get him to first base -- maybe in 2026 -- but that would have required some serious diplomacy on [chief baseball officer Craig] Breslow’s part. And in the meantime, they had nowhere to go with [DH Masataka] Yoshida. I was surprised they got real talent back while moving all of that money.”

“The Red Sox are worse today, but I wouldn’t want to touch the Devers contract,” an AL executive said. “Harrison could be solid. It’s a good deal for the Red Sox in the long run. That’s a long time for a DH to be under contract.”

“It’s crazy for a team to trade a player in year two of a 10-year deal – and maybe even crazier for another team to take on the entire remainder of that player’s contract, particularly when he’s been so outspoken about what positions he is and isn’t willing to play,” an NL executive said.

Devers’ contract is already underwater. Giving up Harrison and Tibbs in order to take on an underwater contract is tough. This will look fine for San Francisco in the short-term, but has the strong potential to crush them when paired with Adames’ contract a few years from now.”

“What the general public never factors into their knee-jerk trade reactions is what the teams trading away the large contract can now go do with those dollars,” an NL executive said. “Boston should go trade for someone like [Brewers first baseman] Rhys Hoskins right now. Then the deal takes on a whole new dimension.”

“They definitely got some good players with upside, so when you combine those guys with whatever they get with the repurposed Devers money, I think the Red Sox did well,” an NL executive said. “But far more important than the player return is the fact that they were able to move Devers and all of his money. They just signed him, so to have changed their mind on that kind of commitment so quickly really means that they felt they had to move him, which is a really difficult spot to be in. They moved quickly, kept it quiet, and pulled it off.”

 

Gold star for moonslav.  I love all of them because that's the way I feel--and I have defended Devers all season long.  

1 minute ago, Maxbialystock said:

Agree on Fenway effect, agree on more games played by Sox.  But right now the Sox are 5th in runs scored and the 6th team, the Tigers, have also played 73 games.  So the Sox are a legit 5th, and that's where they were in 2021 when they made the postseason and then the ALCS.  

What is wRC+ ?  

ESPN says the Sox ERA, 3.96, is tied with the Mariners for 17th.  They were 15th in ERA in 2021, so maybe, as you say, they are competitive.  

I like our defense this year more than you do and think only 2b and 1b are problems.  RF, CF, 3B and C are all above average.  SS is steady with a DWAR of +0.4.  LF is 0.0, but Duran is 5th in putouts.  

ERA- makes adjustments based on park factor and other influences.

wRC+ is weighted Runs Created, which also factors in park and other influences.

Both are better indicators of how well our team is doing when compared to others.

I agree our D is better. I thought we were bottom 3-5 in 2024 and are maybe 20th to 23rd, this year.

I'd say our O is about 10th and our pitching about 15th. I'd be okay with 10-15-20.

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

Good points.  I suspect Devers struggles with languages.   Plus, let's face it, he knew he was good and there is no shortage of interpreters.  When the Sox signed him for 10 years and $330M, learning English wasn't in the contract.  I'll bet the majority of Americans playing in Japan know very little Japanese.   And don't most of our Japanese players need interpreters?  

 

Thats why Alfonso Soriano was the most useful teammate - fluent in English, Spanish and Japanese…

12 minutes ago, Nick said:

“But far more important than the player return is the fact that they were able to move Devers and all of his money."

There you have it....quit bitching about the return. If we get any upside, we win the trade.

The new word of the Day....REPURPOSE....yep it matters the most how we REPURPOSE the money we saved, $240M or so.

Out of curiosity, what did the Sox spend the $300mill earmarked for Betts on?

31 minutes ago, notin said:

Out of curiosity, what did the Sox spend the $300mill earmarked for Betts on?

That made the whole thing even worse. Then, they failed to replace Porcello & ERod's money. JD and Nates... and on and on...

46 minutes ago, Nick said:

“But far more important than the player return is the fact that they were able to move Devers and all of his money."

There you have it....quit bitching about the return. If we get any upside, we win the trade.

The new word of the Day....REPURPOSE....yep it matters the most how we REPURPOSE the money we saved, $240M or so.

I thought the same thing about the GM jargon, "repurpose."

I thought the Rys Hoskins comment was interesting, but I guess as long as Toro and Romy are bridging us back to Casas, maybe we look for some expensive pitcher... but a good one.