Really? They also traded Lester that same week. Certainly he wasn’t threatening by retirement too.
The Lackey thing was made up by Masarotti. The week before, Ken Rosenthal (who never talked to Lackey) put in his Sporting News column that Lackey’s only leverage was to retire, but ultimately he felt Lackey and the Sox would agree on a two year extension. Then Massarotti states in his article “According to Ken Rosenthal, Lackey has threatened to retire rather than play for league minimum.” Huh? Not what Rosenthal said.
Also, Lackey did play for the league minimum that year for St. Louis. The Sox traded him because Cherington was bad at midseason trades.
As for Devers, this whole thing has been a nothing story. “Devers thought about asking for a trade but didn’t”. Is that really our new controversial headline?