In the wake of the shocking June 15 trade that sent slugger Rafael Devers to the West Coast, the Boston Red Sox's roster is, again, short on star power.
Garrett Crochet and Alex Bregman have made the team more recognizable since last season, but Devers was an established star among fans. Neither of them can hit home runs the way Devers can, either, something fans will surely miss in his absence. In the immediate aftermath of the trade, though, Bregman remains on the injured list, and his timeline to return to the lineup is still unclear.
After Jarren Duran's regression from last season, the biggest stars on the Sox's roster are their top prospects: Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony. This is exactly what the front office claimed should not happen for them.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow recently confirmed that he's the one who makes the calls on roster and call-up decisions. He stated over and over again that Boston's top prospects should not be put in a position to be saviors of the team. Then, he put them in such a position by trading Devers.
After saying they wouldn't, the Red Sox have forced their top prospects into being the saviors of the team in the post-Rafael Devers era
The Red Sox traded their top offensive performer for peanuts (not to John Henry, though, who was seemingly only concerned with getting Devers' entire contract off the books), therefore removing much of the protection from the top of their lineup. Against the Mariners on June 16, Anthony and Mayer batted third and fifth, respectively — quite important roles for players of such a young age on a team in a playoff spot.
Boston also quite literally called Mayer and Anthony up to save it. After Bregman and Romy Gonzalez's injuries, it had no other third base depth options and was forced to summon Mayer to play there. The front office also attested the Big Three wouldn't post up anywhere other than their natural positions, but Mayer, a shortstop, has been solely a third baseman in the big leagues (and he's done a great job). Anthony was also called up because of Wilyer Abreu's IL stint.
Devers' career is the baseline to which all other top prospects' Red Sox careers will be compared. Devers himself was often compared to David Ortiz, but unlike Ortiz, he was a homegrown player and had all of his career milestones and "firsts" in a Red Sox uniform. The links have already begun — Anthony hit his first career home run at T-Mobile Park on June 16, eight years after Devers hit his first big league homer in Seattle. He's also the youngest player to hit a home run for the Red Sox since Devers did so during the 2017 ALDS, according to Sarah Langs of ESPN.
The timing of the Devers trade and the ceaseless comparisons to his career milestones won't help take the pressure off the Red Sox's youth. Instead, they've too soon become the homegrown players forced to fill the Devers-shaped hole in fans' hearts.