The infamous Rafael Devers trade is nearly one year old, though neither the Boston Red Sox nor the San Francisco Giants have much to show for it these days.
At this point, reciting the package the Red Sox got in return for their star third baseman is just a humiliation ritual. Jordan Hicks was so bad in Boston that he got sent to the Chicago White Sox for little more than salary relief, while Single-A prospect Jose Bello owns a 4.96 FIP this season. Meanwhile, Kyle Harrison is a National League Cy Young contender with the Milwaukee Brewers, while James Tibbs III is one of the Los Angeles Dodgers' many elite outfield prospects.
It's not like things are going much better for the Giants, though. As of June 12, Devers is hitting .233/.292/.415 through roughly 300 plate appearances, striking out more than ever before (30.5% K rate) while hitting for little power (nine home runs). His .706 OPS and 96 wRC+ are both below average, hence why he's been worth the exact same value as a replacement-level player this year (i.e., he's been worth 0.0 fWAR).
Considering the Giants' rebuilding status and Devers' bloated contract, could another trade involving the baby-faced assassin come to fruition this summer?
Giants will try to trade Rafael Devers, though it will prove more difficult than it did for Red Sox
Bob Nightengale of USA Today first raised the possibility of another Devers trade last month, reporting that the Giants hope to rid their payroll of their biggest contracts. Doing so will prove difficult — Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, and Devers are all still owed nine figures — but that's the reality facing all teams ahead of the impending lockout.
Devers has the largest contract of the bunch, with more than $200 million still remaining on the original 10-year deal he signed with the Red Sox. Now nearing 30 and experiencing his first true spiral in production, his salary looks far less favorable than it did a few years ago.
Nevertheless, he's a superstar slugger with a long track record of success; someone will be interested in him on the trade market. According to Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller, that someone could be the Washington Nationals, who are a young team with an elite offense and practically no long-term money on their books.
The Giants almost certainly won't recoup the value they lost in the original Devers trade, though Miller does suggest that former Red Sox prospect Luis Perales could make for a fine centerpiece in a new deal with the Nats. More importantly, San Francisco will almost certainly have to eat a ton of Devers' remaining deal in order to move him — remember, the fact that the Giants were willing to take on his entire deal is a big reason the Sox traded him in the first place.
It'd be quite the admission of failure to trade Devers so quickly after acquiring him, but the Giants aren't having any better luck with that trade than the Red Sox did. It may be best for both teams to just scrub their hands of the whole ordeal and start fresh.
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