The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The shocking trade sending Rafael Devers from the Red Sox to the Giants (1:15)
- The Red Sox drama that led to the trade (4:25)
- The constant shuffling of deck chairs with the Red Sox over the past decade (7:40)
- The pieces the Red Sox got in return: Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and James Tibbs (20:00)
- The fit with Devers and the Giants (recorded before the news of Devers getting work at first base) (30:55)
- Aaron Civale asking the Brewers for a trade and getting flipped to the White Sox for Andrew Vaughn (45:20)
Check out our past episodes!
- White Sox Ownership, Roman Anthony, And The Diamondbacks’ Rotation – listen here
- Jarren Duran Rumors, Caglianone And Young Promoted, And Pitching Injuries – listen here
- Bregman Injured, Marcelo Mayer Called Up, And Pirates Talk – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images
He should have already been Boston’s first baseman. They should have traded Casas for pitching, and told Raffy— in no uncertain terms— that he was moving across the diamond. He is an atrocious third baseman, he can’t not know it.
The Red Sox dropped the ball hard at every step of the way, like they always do. It’s ridiculous. They’re a multibillion dollar franchise that can’t get out of its own way.
Of course, they’re going to have to give all that saved money to Bregman, of they’re going to be right back up the creek without a paddle because they still have too many lefties.
Leave it to the Red Sox to solve one problem with a “solution” that only creates three new problems
Should’ve included in original comment, but those three problems being:
1. As much as I like Bregman and want to have him for more than only 2025, I just know now he’s going to end up wildly overpaid and with a contract term that surpasses his shelf life as a high level player by multiple years
2. Tibbs does seem like an interesting prospect, but – would you look at that – another lefty. I like that they got someone who could be in the picture at first base, but even if he shows he is big league ready it doesn’t solve the L/R imbalance.
3. So what about this season? I understand not wanting the back end of Raffy’s contract, but that’s a 2030/beyond problem, and in the meantime they were supposed to be back to trying to make a serious effort to contend here in 2025. Where’s the replacement for a guy with a 153 OPS+, 15 bombs, and 59 RBI coming from? When fully healthy, this could have been a playoff caliber lineup. Without Devers? No. Abreu coming back soon should help somewhat, same with whenever Bregman is good to go, but unless they find a way to go get another established big bat they are not going to convince me that they’re trying. And if they aren’t trying, then Cora needs to quit platooning Mayer and Anthony and let them play every day. If we are punting on yet another season, then there is zero excuse for not making their development priorities one, two, and three. Pick a coherent effing direction for this team, please!
No uncertain terms. How is THAT going to work?
“Dropped the ball like they always do”
Having the most championships this century and always dropping the ball is super odd, no?
Small sample size.
Twenty five years is a small sample size?
Is that you, Sam?
Even though Mookie Betts is the hill I’d prefer to die on over Devers, who clearly was also not 100% in the right in how he handled this issue either, I’m really at a loss for how I feel about the Red Sox at the moment. Trading Devers on its own in a vacuum wouldn’t be an unforgivable sin, but after everything that’s led up to this moment it does feel like a final straw of sorts for me.
I am fortunate that I got to come of age during the golden era of Red Sox baseball. I’ll never pretend like I was some long suffering fan who finally got to see it pay off, truth is I was born in the 90’s so I don’t remember more than a year or two at most before ’04. But that was certainly the season that signed, sealed, and delivered me as an all-in Sox fan for life. Even though I didn’t endure much of the curse era myself, I understood the gravity of it and how blessed I was to be free from the generational futility that caused so many of the older fans to be so cynical and miserable.
It would not be too big of an exaggeration to say when I was younger the Red Sox were one of the greatest sources of joy in my life. I lived and breathed with this team year round. I’d impatiently wait to watch as many games as I could physically handle in the summer, live and die with them every October, and spend all winter reading about their offseason moves and up and coming prospects to know about.
I don’t think I can ever fully quit this team, that’s not the kind of fan I am and I don’t want to start so I’m not going to be one of those sanctimonious “I’m done with this team” people, Especially knowing how many fanbases have had it plenty worse than us over the years. But I have lost so much faith and trust in this organization the last 6 years, I don’t know if I can ever get back to being as excited about simply being a Red Sox fan as I used to be when I was younger. It’s got nothing to do with winning, obviously I knew all along that winning a World Series every 4 or 5 years was never going to last forever. But there has been a palpable shift in the way they do things. John Henry and FSG clearly no longer care about the people and players who made the organization and being part of its fanbase so special. So why should we care anymore either?
Since I have no plans on quitting my fandom, I guess you can consider this my resignation to having fully transitioned into one of those cynical, “expect the worst, always” kind of fans I never wanted to become. So thanks for that, FSG! You can’t sell the team soon enough. Take your ROI and get the hell out of Boston, forever.
Glad you got that off your chest
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk lol.
All of these Red Sox fans who feel the need to let the Internet know they’re done forever.
Guy reading post about “Reacting to the Rafael Devers Trade” surprised to find reactions to the Rafael Devers trade.
Take a deep breath Dw…you could live in Colorado!
I’m good. I got my venting out of the way, everything else is what it is. Can’t control what they do either way so I’m not gonna sit and stew over it, Not gonna care again about the team as much as I ever used to either, until Henry sells it. That means going to zero games, watching as few as possible, not buying any merch. Think I’ll spend the rest of the summer focusing more on my golf game and hanging out with my dog instead.
And honestly, went to Denver last summer – as bad as the Rockies are, I could do okay there. Coors Field is a ton of fun. Cheap beers, beautiful views of the front range, tons of fun bars in the area for before/after. Not a bad setting at all to catch a buzz and take in some sun.
I’m 71 years old. I went through most of my life watching bad Red Sox baseball. Winning four Series in 20 years gives me a different view of things. These are still the golden years for me. And all the winning was under Henrys” leadership…just saying…
Henry was the best owner in the game from when he took over, until 2011.
That team flopped spectacularly, and it’s been a total clown show ever since. Also, the way they trashed Tito on his way out at the end of that season was despicable.
The worst part, is that being afraid of spending money has not actually stopped them from spending money. They’ve just been doing it in tremendously stupid ways. They were afraid of extending Beltre so they traded for Gonzalez and extended him. They were afraid to extend Lester, so they signed Price. They were afraid to extend Betts, so they traded him for nothing. They were afraid to extend Bogaerts, so they signed Story. They were afraid to extend Eovaldi, but instead of trading him let him walk away as a free agent for nothing. They were afraid to extend Schwarber so they signed Yoshida. They were afraid of the extensions they did give to Sale and Devers, so the former was given away and the latter I guess is TBD pending how the prospects pan out, but it doesn’t look like great value at the moment. All of the players they were too gun shy about should have been Red Sox lifers (or rest-of-lifers, for the guys who didn’t start here) and aged like fine wine with their new teams. All the guys they ID’ed as ideal replacements were or have been terrible. Most of them they wound up having to salary dump. It’s led to a rudderless, directionless team that has been perpetually unclear about whether they are trying to compete or trying to rebuild. Henry’s apathy has reached the point where it appears neither he, nor Breslow, nor Cora are on the same page. Pretty hard to create a healthy culture of player development and winning when your 3 key leaders are all trying to pull in different directions. I would prefer Henry sell, but if he is going to insist on keeping the team he at least needs to get hands-on again and commit to setting a strong directive from the top down on what the direction of the Red Sox is going to be so the rest of management can do their jobs better.
consider this my resignation to having fully transitioned into one of those cynical, “expect the worst, always” kind of fans
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That’s sad. I lived thru a long time of struggling every year. This is a great franchise since Henry took over. It’s a good team now, and likely to only get better.
It is sad, just like the way they have been running the team. It is pathetic. To call it resting on their laurels wouldn’t do it justice. Everything they have done in the last 6 years has been one giant middle finger to the fans after another. I am grateful for the WS trophies and always will be, but no amount of hardware will justify the level of thorough organizational malpractice we’ve been seeing lately.
Now, I am generally an optimistic person by nature so honestly, I probably will snap out of the cynical mindset eventually. But they’re going to have to give me a reason to. They’ve been lying to us about their intent to compete for what, 2 or 3 years in a row? I’m not going to keep falling for it. I’ll start caring again when they prove they have too.
I’ve been slightly vocal about my concerns for the Giants and how they have been run for years. This trade makes me think I wasn’t alone even though most people on here didn’t agree! It also makes me think I wasn’t wrong if Buster was willing to make this move. We desperately needed a centerpiece to this offense and a superstar to rally around and we got him. Buster also needed to have a signature move like this and he hit a grand slam. The players he gave up were expendable and we got a top 10 hitter that costs a third of what the last two top ten hotters made in free agency. Thank you Buster!!!!
frugal – I think basically almost everyone knew the Giants desperately needed a big bat in the lineup, something they haven’t had since ….. Bonds?
As much as I hate to see Raffy go, having followed him since he was a teenager in the minors, I’ve known since ST that a trade was necessary and I’m happy for both him and Giants fans.
Just please promise me y’all won’t trade him to the Yankees someday, okay?
I think this might end up being good for both teams! And good for all fans! I can’t wait to see him hit against the dodgers.
He’s not a top 10 hitter and who does he cost 1/3 of?
Soto and Ohtani? Memory loss affects all of us but come on man. Not a top 10 hitter in your opinion but most of us think he is. This is an amazing move by a guy very few thought was qualified to do the job. Is there a rookie of the year for front office staff??
Left out is the def decline is a sign of approaching hitting decline. Can’t get to balls he used to and really can’t turn DPS. They got out of an underwater, tho not disastrous, contract by being worse this year. If they miss w by 2 games, or lose a playoff in 6 or 7, can say was mistake, but this trade will look marvelous for b sox in 3-4 years.
The worst podcast you have ever done. No one ever mentions that Devers with his injury wasn’t even going to play 3rdbase earlier in the season. I don’t even know now if he can throw (not that he was very good at it anyway). There’s blame on both sides but refusing to play 1stbase for the good of the team and then being pissed at Campbell for volunteering to do it is unforgivable. I’m a Red Sox fan but good riddance to that primadonna!
So, you’re celebrating this trade? Because San Francisco has been a nonstop party since the news broke on Sunday.
Celebrating, of course not. The bottom line is he is being paid to help the team win. He obviously was not doing that he was putting himself first.
If you watched the games you would notice that he wasn’t hustling. Also his body is starting to look like the Panda
..
Not close to Panda. Devers is heavy, but not obese. And he’s probably the strongest guy on the team. He’d look good with only a 20-pound loss.
This fanbase makes me hate the Red Sox more than I did before.
That’s kinda pathetic.
You were incorrect:
The Giants didn’t decide to make Jordan Hicks a starter, that was his desire, and the Giants were the only team willing to help him make the transition. He was a stud for the first month of last season but things have continued to deteriorate.
Shocking as it was, both teams got what they wanted. Red Sox got rid of the drama and the contract, along with picking up some decent pitching and prospects. Giants got the lefty thumper and marquee player that they’ve been looking for forever. Nobody knows how this plays out in the long run but I can tell you that Giants fans and most of Northern California are completely over the moon with this deal. My sense is that Beantowners are not so ecstatic about it.
A fine post. Most fans, right or wrong, only see the near term, and often only the current year. You’d be surprised how many fans were upset that the RS didn’t sign that ridiculous contract that Bogaerts signed.
But like you said, this should be a good trade for both teams.
Not ecstatic about it but it had to happen. You know that guys in the locker room couldn’t be happy with him. It’s not a situation that would have improved…
Maybe he learned something from this and won’t act like a spoiled little girl like he did in Boston. He should be embarrassed…