Just over a year removed from the Rafael Devers trade that shook MLB to its core, it's been difficult to pinpoint a winner. The Boston Red Sox traded away every viable piece from the deal (and Jordan Hicks) while the San Francisco Giants took on Devers' entire contract.
Boston's trade struggles are self-imposed — Kyle Harrison and James Tibbs III barely got a shot in the organization. San Francisco, meanwhile, has been dealing with a struggling Devers, who's batting just .238/.302/.433 with 11 home runs over 77 games. The Giants have expressed a willingness to trade Devers elsewhere due to the team's poor play this year, but if Devers' struggles and high contract price weren't enough to render him untradeable, his behavior on June 21 did.
As the Giants fought to stave off a sweep by the Miami Marlins, manager Tony Vitello hoped to pull Devers off first base in the ninth inning to replace him with a pinch-runner, the speedy Jonah Cox. But Devers waved his finger at Vitello in the dugout, protesting his removal from the game. After he conceded, he avoided teammates in the dugout, furthering the ugly scene.
To that point, Giants fans hadn't seen much of the personality that spurred the trade a year ago. Now, reality has hit them all at once. Many Bay Area radio hosts took to the airwaves to discuss the incident with trade regret on their faces.
"I want to apologize to the city of Boston: you were right. The whole weekend was embarrassing, and the Giants know it. They are a national story when they're 15 games under .500."@Mark_T_Willard says Red Sox fans were right about their Rafael Devers warnings | @WillardAndDibs pic.twitter.com/DYQ1TbJBQ2
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) June 22, 2026
"I want to apologize to the city of Boston," 97.5 The Game host Mark Willard said. "Boston, I can't tell you how many reached out to me back when this happened and said 'wait til you see this... you're not wrong, he can rake, but wait til you see the way he conducts himself.'"
"It was a selfish exhibition from Devers of all of a sudden thinking he's Lou Brock and he shouldn't come out," another host Daryle Johnson said. "So he comes out, cusses in his helmet, then comes in the dugout, down the steps... looking like a spoiled ass kid."
Giants fans finally believe Red Sox fans about Rafael Devers' personality
It's well established that Devers didn't take the Red Sox' position change demands well — at first, he declined the move to the designated hitter spot, then outright refused to play first base after Triston Casas' second season-ending injury.
Red Sox fans warned the Giants that Devers hadn't been acting like a team player recently, which was not evident in the immediate wake of the trade. The Giants credited him as a good teammate and standup guy when he agreed to play first base for them. That didn't last long.
But Devers wasn't always this player. Earlier in his career, he was known for always smiling and being a lighthearted guy on the team. Something changed in his personality that has made him almost unrecognizable and Red Sox fans can't explain it.
There are over eight years remaining on Devers' contract and the Giants will be hard-pressed to find another team willing to take that on after his latest bit of drama. Even if the Red Sox didn't "win" the Devers trade, the Giants certainly aren't winning, either.
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