Devers Trade Fallout: Breslow, Deadline Plans, Clubhouse
The baseball world remains focused on last night’s stunning blockbuster that sent Rafael Devers to San Francisco. There’ll surely be more from the Giants once Devers reports to the team tomorrow, but there’s already been plenty of note out of Boston.
The trade was obviously driven by the deterioration of the relationship between Devers and the Red Sox. That stemmed from the three-time All-Star’s frustration with being moved off third base when the Sox signed Alex Bregman. Devers initially indicated he was unwilling to change positions before begrudgingly agreeing to serve as the designated hitter. He was more adamant in refusing to even take pregame reps at first base after the Sox lost Triston Casas to a season-ending knee injury. He went public with his displeasure with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow after the team approached him about considering it.
Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe posted last night that the team felt that Devers’ franchise-record $313.5MM contract came “with responsibilities to do what is right for the team” which the infielder had not met. More specifically, Sean McAdam of MassLive writes that the Sox feared that Devers’ frustrations with the position changes would send a poor message to their younger players — especially their talented rookie trio of Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell.
Breslow alluded to the clubhouse culture in a Zoom call with reporters this evening (YouTube link to 38-minute conversation). “It’s the willingness to step up and sacrifice at times of need and essentially do whatever is necessary to help the team win,” the former MLB reliever said when speaking generally about successful teams of which he’d been a part. “I think that’s the identity, this relentless pursuit of winning, that we’re looking for.” He declined to directly answer a follow-up question from ESPN’s Jeff Passan as to which areas Devers was not meeting those standards.
CEO Sam Kennedy and Breslow repeated multiple times on the call that the team and Devers could no longer “find alignment.” Breslow indicated that Devers did not formally request a trade, though he added that “there were times during the course of conversations with Raffy’s camp where they had indicated that perhaps a fresh start would be best for both sides.”
This was evidently under consideration for a while. Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey told the San Francisco beat last night that they’d been in conversations with the Sox about Devers for a few weeks (relayed by Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). While Breslow did not provide any specifics on the talks, McAdam reported this morning that the Braves, Blue Jays and Padres had also inquired about Devers’ availability.
Ultimately, those teams weren’t willing to top the Giants’ offer. San Francisco assumed the remaining eight and a half seasons and more than $250MM remaining on Devers’ contract. They sent back starter Kyle Harrison, two prospects (including last year’s first rounder James Tibbs III), and righty Jordan Hicks. There’s some element of salary offset with Hicks’ inclusion, as he’s under contract for $12.5MM annually through 2027. San Francisco signed Hicks with an eye towards stretching him out as a starter, but he failed to hold a rotation role in either of his first two seasons. They’d moved him back to the bullpen before he landed on the injured list with toe inflammation early this month.
Breslow described Hicks as “a dominant late-inning reliever,” suggesting they don’t intend to build him back out for another rotation attempt. Harrison was optioned to Triple-A Worcester but figures to get a rotation look later in the season. It seems clear the Red Sox accepted a significant downgrade in the short term, though Breslow tried to make the case that “there is a real chance that at the end of the season, we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would have.”
While that seems unlikely, Hicks and Harrison are potential short-term contributors. “We needed to create a more functional roster and give certain guys more playing time, be able to rotate through the DH spot and potentially match up there,” Breslow said. “This is a roster that certainly has some needs — starting pitching, bullpen help — and we think that we addressed some of those in the return. Additionally, I do think that it gives us some resources as we head toward the deadline.”
RosterResource now calculates the Sox’s luxury tax number right around the $241MM base threshold. Cot’s Baseball Contracts has them slightly below the line at roughly $238MM. Any tax payment would be minimal since they didn’t pay the CBT last season (and therefore aren’t subject to repeat payor penalties). The decision whether to exceed the threshold could have an impact on next year’s payroll and compensation if they sign any free agents who decline a qualifying offer.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported this morning that the Red Sox continue to view themselves as deadline buyers. Breslow didn’t commit to a direction six weeks in advance of July 31, but he stated that this trade ” is in no way signifying a waving of the white flag on 2025. We are as committed as we were six months ago to putting a winning team on the field, to competing for the division and making a deep postseason run.”
The Sox entered tonight’s series opener in Seattle with a 37-36 record that has them half a game back in the Wild Card race. They’d been riding high, winning five straight and coming off a sweep of the Yankees. While the trade had seemingly been coming together for weeks, making the deal after arguably the Sox’s best series of the season (culminating in a game in which Devers homered off Max Fried) was certainly jarring.
Tim Healey of The Boston Globe was among those to chronicle the reactions from Sox players before tonight’s game. “Probably just as shocked as everyone else. That’s the best way to describe it, didn’t really see it coming,” Trevor Story told reporters. “The timing of it comes at a weird time. We thought we were playing really good.” Jarren Duran and Garrett Crochet also acknowledged being taken aback, with Crochet calling it “a shock for sure, after the run we just had this past week.”
Nevertheless, the prevailing sentiment was that the team is confident about the players who remain on the roster. Crochet and Walker Buehler each stated that the front office did not owe the clubhouse an explanation. “From the outside perspective, that would seem like a logical thing,” Buehler said. “But this is part of the business. We have no reason to get an explanation. They made a decision. Our job remains the same.”
Giants Outright Osleivis Basabe
The Giants sent infielder Osleivis Basabe outright to Triple-A Sacramento, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He was designated for assignment last week when they selected catcher Logan Porter onto the big league roster after losing Patrick Bailey to injury.
Basabe hasn’t played an MLB game with San Francisco. They acquired him from the Rays in an offseason DFA trade and had kept him on optional assignment all year. He hasn’t hit despite the generally favorable Pacific Coast League parks. Basabe owns a .242/.287/.352 slash with four homers in 198 plate appearances. He has put the ball in play at a solid rate but hasn’t walked much or hit for any kind of power. It’s his second straight poor showing at the top minor league level. He hit .248/.293/.336 in 66 games for Tampa Bay’s affiliate last year.
This is the first career outright for Basabe, so he doesn’t have the ability to elect free agency. He’ll remain with the River Cats and try to play his way back into the MLB conversation. He’s still just 24 and was a highly-regarded prospect not long ago, though clearing waivers demonstrates how far his stock has fallen since his bat has stalled. Basabe would qualify for minor league free agency at the end of the season if San Francisco doesn’t add him back to the 40-man roster before then.
Ron Taylor Passes Away
Former MLB reliever and physician Ron Taylor has passed away, according to an announcement from the Mets. He was 87.
A Toronto native, Taylor began his career in the Cleveland organization in 1956. He reached the big leagues six years later and had a memorable debut at Fenway Park. Tabbed as the starting pitcher — one of just 17 starts he’d make in his career — Taylor began with 11 scoreless innings. Boston’s Bill Monbouquette matched him zero for zero, though, working through 12 scoreless frames. Taylor’s remarkable first outing came to a disappointing end, as he surrendered a walk-off grand slam to Carroll Hardy in the twelfth.
That was one of eight appearances that Taylor would make in his rookie season. After the year, Cleveland swapped him to the Cardinals for first baseman Fred Whitfield. Taylor had a strong first year in St. Louis, turning in a 2.84 ERA across 133 1/3 innings in a long relief role. He’d add another 4 2/3 scoreless frames against the Yankees in the World Series. Almost all of those came in Game 4, when he fired four scoreless without allowing a hit to save a 4-3 victory. That evened the series at two games apiece, and the Cards would go on to win in seven behind Bob Gibson.
Taylor struggled over the next couple seasons, leading St. Louis to deal him to the Astros midway through the ’65 campaign. He didn’t pitch particularly well during his year and a half in Houston. The Astros sold his contract to the Mets going into 1967. Taylor turned things around in Queens, working to a sub-3.00 ERA in each of his first three seasons.
He tossed 76 innings of 2.72 ERA ball with 13 saves for the ’69 Miracle Mets team that won 100 games and knocked off the Braves and Orioles en route to the first championship in franchise history. Taylor made four appearances in the postseason, striking out seven across 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He recorded one save apiece in the NLCS and World Series, getting Brooks Robinson to ground out with two runners on in a 2-1 ballgame to lock down Game 2 of the Fall Classic.
Taylor pitched a few more seasons in New York and finished his playing days with a very brief stint for the Padres in 1972. He remained in the game after the end of his playing career, but he didn’t follow the coaching or scouting paths of most former players. Taylor went to medical school immediately after retiring and was later hired as the team physician for the Blue Jays, a role he’d hold for a few decades. He added two more World Series rings in that capacity when Toronto went back-to-back in the early 1990s.
During a playing career that spanned parts of 11 seasons, Taylor posted a 3.93 ERA in exactly 800 regular season innings. He recorded 464 strikeouts and collected 74 saves. His postseason résumé was brief but impactful, as he didn’t allow a run in 10 1/3 frames while getting the save in three of his six playoff appearances. He played a key role in winning a pair of championships and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. MLBTR sends our condolences to Taylor’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates and colleagues throughout the game.
Padres Select Bryce Johnson
The Padres announced they’ve selected outfielder Bryce Johnson onto the big league roster. Catcher Luis Campusano has been optioned to Triple-A El Paso as the corresponding active roster move. Right-hander Yu Darvish has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.
Johnson gives the Friars some extra outfield depth after they lost Jackson Merrill to the concussion-related injured list over the weekend. Campusano hadn’t been playing much as a third catcher behind Elias Díaz and Martín Maldonado, so it made more sense to add another outfielder to the bench. Tyler Wade and Brandon Lockridge are likely to split the center field reps, but Johnson adds a switch-hitting bat to Mike Shildt’s outfield mix.
It’ll be the second Padres stint for the 29-year-old Johnson. He appeared in 47 games and tallied a career-high 73 plate appearances with the Friars a year ago. Johnson was non-tendered at season’s end and landed with the Pirates on a minor league deal. The Padres brought him back in April in a minor league swap for depth catcher Brett Sullivan. (Today has been less kind to Sullivan, who was designated for assignment by Pittsburgh this afternoon.) Johnson has spent the bulk of the season in El Paso, where he’s hitting .303/.407/.458 with three homers and 10 steals. He’s out of minor league options, though, so they’d need to run him back through waivers to take him off the active roster.
Darvish’s IL transfer is just a formality. It backdates to Opening Day, so it doesn’t affect his eligibility for reinstatement. It’s still not clear when he’ll be ready to return. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, he made it through a simulated game on Saturday.
Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
- Hey everyone, hope you had a good weekend! I'm not feeling great today so I'm going to keep this one around an hour. Let's get rolling
Duffy Scliff
- You’re gonna get a million Devers questions, but tell me this, have you ever seen a trade like this? Where a contending team trades a player early into a massive contract? This is not Mookie, or Sale, or Nomar. This is not like A Rod or Stanton being traded in a salary dump. This is 100% unprecedented. This relationship must have been so far beyond repair and we didn’t see it. This is one of the most shocking trades in baseball history.
Devers
- Why would SF do this deal? They don't have 3B open for him and with Eldridge coming up soon, Devers is going to be a very expensive DH only bat. The upside exists, but that's gambling a lot on a guy adjusting to the NL West gaunlet and changing his clubhouse negativity for a team surprisingly in the midst of a tough playoff race.
Anthony Franco
- A quick control Ctrl-F shows there are 18 mentions of Devers in the queue. Not going to publish all of them for obvious reasons
- Broadly speaking, I like it more for SF though I get where both sides are coming from. If Boston felt the relationship was truly beyond repair, I have a hard time seeing them getting more than this. Giants took the whole deal (minus the Hicks contract, which is a negative value asset but a short-term commitment) and Harrison and Tibbs are arguably on par with Top 100 type prospects
- Harrison obviously is no longer a prospect but I think he'd be valued equivalently to a back of the top 100 guy if he hadn't exhausted his rookie eligibility
- There's definitely risk for the Giants in creating a long-term logjam at the corner infield with Chapman signed forever and Eldridge knocking on the door. But we've also seen the top of the market for elite hitters spike in the couple years since the Devers contract was signed -- Vlad Jr. might be a worse player and just got $500M -- and they're in a division where there's always going to be huge pressure to pursue top-end talent
Dear Evan Carter
- do you see the Mets transitioning well given canning is starting to show his true colors and senga being out awhile? i am concerned about what we could expect from montas/manaea given the time off.
John
- Would it make sense for the Mets to trade one of their depth starters to try to get a higher leverage reliever or use some of the younger prospects in a bullpen role later in the season? I get a feeling the bullpen market will be light given how scarce quality arms are, especially lefties
Anthony Franco
- Yeah I think they're going to be fine. The rotation is going to regress a little bit but the offense was heating up (at least going into the TB series) and they were starting to produce more with RISP
- I imagine they'll just deal prospects to a non-contender for lefty bullpen help but I wouldn't be wedded to keeping Blackburn if they had another win-now team that wanted to swap MLB assets
Bat first
- Yankees' designating Pablo Reyes for assignment in favor of keeping Ben Rice in the lineup is a bit surprising. With Rice/Escarra on the bench, that leaves Peraza/Grisham (or whichever outfielder is sitting that day) as the only pieces on the bench that can play a position other than 1B or C. Wouldn't it have been better to give Rice or Escarra everyday reps down in AAA, rather than let your 100 wRc+ players rust on the bench if you simply don't have everyday spots for them?
Anthony Franco
- They like Escarra more than Rice defensively as the backup C and I'd much rather have Rice on my team than two of Reyes and Peraza
- Tough to count on Stanton playing every day and there's not much harm in mixing in a few more rest days for Goldy. Between that and maybe an occasional start at catcher, I think they can find 3-4 starts a week to keep Rice in a groove
Robert from SC
- I saw that Braves fans were disappointed today when Nacho Alvarez was optioned. I don't understand why. He's not going to save this team from the disappointing season they're having. Is Nacho the long term answer at SS?
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Marlins Select Freddy Tarnok
June 15: The Marlins made it official today, with left-hander Anthony Veneziano optioned to Jacksonville and right-hander Luarbert Árias designated for assignment as the corresponding moves. Árias was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November. He has a 10.61 ERA in 9 1/3 big league innings so far in his career. He has a 3.93 ERA at the Triple-A level this year but with an 8.5% strikeout rate and 15.9% walk rate.
June 14: The Marlins are selecting righty Freddy Tarnok onto the big league roster, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. Miami will need to make corresponding active and 40-man roster moves.
Tarnok joined the organization on an offseason minor league deal. He has been working from the rotation at Triple-A Jacksonville. He’s not going very deep into games — he has yet to work more than five innings — but he has managed alright rate production. Tarnok carries a 4.79 earned run average while striking out more than a quarter of opponents. He’s averaging north of 95 MPH on his fastball while mixing in a slider, curveball and changeup. Tarnok is coming off his best start of the season, striking out six across five scoreless innings against Tampa Bay’s affiliate last weekend.
That earns the 26-year-old his first MLB action in two years. Tarnok is a former third-round pick of the Braves who was a solid prospect. Atlanta dealt him to the A’s in the three-team Sean Murphy trade over the 2022-23 offseason. Tarnok had made one relief appearance as a Brave and pitched five times for the A’s. He allowed eight runs in 15 1/3 career innings. His ’23 season ended when he underwent right hip surgery. That lingered into last year and ultimately ended his tenure in green and gold. Tarnok was claimed off waivers by Philadelphia but didn’t make an MLB appearance for the Phils and was outrighted off the 40-man roster at the beginning of the winter.
Miami needs a fifth starter after losing Max Meyer and Ryan Weathers to the injured list. They welcomed Eury Pérez back from his Tommy John rehab on Monday to fill one spot. They haven’t settled on the final spot, though Janson Junk worked nearly six innings of relief during a bullpen game today against Washington. Junk could assume a more traditional rotation role moving forward, but they used another five relievers this afternoon. Tarnok gives them a fresh arm capable of working multiple innings with Pérez slated to start tomorrow.
D-Backs Sign Matt Foster To Minor League Deal
The Diamondbacks signed reliever Matt Foster to a minor league contract. The move was announced by their Triple-A club in Reno.
Foster, 30, had been pitching for the Algodoneros del Unión Laguna in Mexico for the past month and a half. He thrived in that extremely hitter-friendly setting, allowing only two runs (one earned) through 13 2/3 innings. The righty punched out 13 and didn’t walk any of the 51 batters he faced. It didn’t take long with that kind of production for the Alabama product to find his way back to affiliated ball.
The D-Backs are only the second MLB organization of Foster’s career. He was drafted by the White Sox in 2016 and pitched parts of four seasons for Chicago. Foster’s best season came in 2020, when he turned in a 2.20 ERA while striking out 28% of opponents across 28 2/3 innings. His production tailed off between 2021-22 and he underwent Tommy John surgery early in 2023. Foster missed the entire season and only managed 6 2/3 big league frames late last year. Those came with a 91.9 MPH average fastball velocity that was down two ticks from where he’d been sitting before the surgery.
Arizona’s bullpen has been decimated by injury. Justin Martinez, Cristian Mena, A.J. Puk, Kendall Graveman and Christian Montes De Oca are all on the shelf. Martinez and Montes De Oca have undergone surgeries, and Mena is out for multiple months. Puk was recently shut back down from throwing and is headed for further evaluation due to lingering soreness as he rehabs a flexor strain.
Should The Braves Consider Offers On Chris Sale?
The Braves have continued to underperform as the season nears its three-month mark. They clawed back from their 0-7 start to get above .500 in mid-May -- right as they were about to activate Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider from the injured list. Optimism was high. Then came a stretch of 14 losses in 17 contests that dropped them to a season-high 10 games below .500 over the weekend. They're coming off a solid series win in Milwaukee, but they face long odds to climb back into a tough NL playoff race. The division is all but gone, and they're nine games back with six teams to jump in the Wild Card picture.
Atlanta's front office isn't going to sell six weeks in advance of the trade deadline. They've invested a lot and this core's prior successes have earned them as much runway as possible to get hot. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote last night that the Braves still view themselves as buyers, highlighting shortstop and the outfield as potential targets.
Still, they're running low on time and coming off their worst stretch of the season. The back half of the lineup, late-inning relief mix, and starting pitching depth are all issues. They'll need a significant turnaround in the next 4-6 weeks to avoid selling some short-term pieces. Marcell Ozuna would be an obvious candidate as a rental bat who is raking for a third consecutive season. They could try to offload impending free agent reliever Raisel Iglesias, who has put himself on shaky ground by struggling with the longball. The tougher question is whether the front office should move any key players who are controllable beyond this year -- with Chris Sale leading the way as the team's top option.
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Astros To Select Luis Guillorme
The Astros will select infielder Luis Guillorme onto the MLB roster tomorrow, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Houston has an open 40-man roster spot after designating Forrest Whitley for assignment and trading him to Tampa Bay. They’ll need to make an active roster move.
Guillorme has spent the entire season at Triple-A Sugar Land on a minor league contract. The lefty-hitting infielder owns a .245/.376/.310 line across 242 plate appearances. He has walked in 17% of his trips against a 19% strikeout rate, but he only has a pair of home runs. That’s in line with Guillorme’s track record. He’s a patient hitter with good contact skills and bottom-of-the-scale power.
A career .251/.336/.322 hitter over parts of seven MLB seasons, Guillorme is valued most highly for his defense. He has ample experience at each of the three infield spots to the left of first base. He hasn’t played much shortstop this year in the minors, though he won’t be needed there in the majors either because of Jeremy Peña. Guillorme can push Brendan Rodgers for playing time at the keystone while offering short-term insurance as Isaac Paredes navigates an injury.
Paredes left last night’s game with left hamstring discomfort. He didn’t play tonight; Mauricio Dubón drew into the lineup at the hot corner. Manager Joe Espada told the Houston beat that Paredes has been diagnosed with a strain but it’s seemingly mild, as he added that the team believes the infielder will avoid the injured list (relayed by Brian McTaggart of MLB.com).
The corresponding active roster move may be an IL stint for rookie outfielder Jacob Melton. The 24-year-old sprained his right ankle during tonight’s game, Espada said. Houston will have Jose Altuve, Jake Meyers and Cam Smith as their starting outfield but may need to use Dubón more often as a fourth outfielder with Melton out.
A.J. Puk Halts Throwing Program With Elbow Discomfort
Diamondbacks reliever A.J. Puk has paused his throwing program after experiencing renewed elbow soreness, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters on Friday (link via Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic). Puk will visit Dr. Neal ElAttrache before deciding on next steps. Lovullo called it “slight discomfort” and noted that the star southpaw initially hoped he could continue throwing through it.
Puk has been out since the middle of April with a flexor strain. The organization has remained hopeful that he’ll be able to rehab the injury without requiring surgery. That’s presumably still the case, but any kind of setback for a forearm/elbow injury is worrisome. That’s especially true considering Puk has a 2018 Tommy John surgery on his medical chart. Even if the follow-up visit goes well, the shutdown will push back his return timeline to some extent.
It’s the latest bad news for a reeling Arizona bullpen. Puk and Justin Martinez were supposed to serve as Lovullo’s 1-2 punch in the late innings. Puk made eight appearances before his IL stay. Martinez got into 17 games and suffered an elbow injury of his own last week. That one immediately proved serious, and the team announced this evening that he’s headed for the second elbow surgery of his career.
Arizona’s bullpen has been a huge weakness. They entered play tonight with a 5.21 earned run average that ranks 27th in MLB. The injuries to Puk and Martinez are the biggest factors, but they’ve also seen former key contributors Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel struggle through rough years. Low-cost acquisitions Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks have been their most reliable relievers. The D-Backs will need to acquire multiple bullpen arms if they’re in position to add at the deadline.