Looking back at the June 15 Rafael Devers trade, it's hard to pick a winner and a loser. On the one hand, the Boston Red Sox are desperate for some home run pop in their lineup. On the other hand, the San Francisco Giants ate all of Devers' contract, and he hasn't been very good.
Devers is slashing .235/.326/.430 over 130 games since he arrived in Northern California, a worse line than any single season he'd ever posted in Boston. The Giants, similarly to the Red Sox, are in a rough spot so far this season, with a 16-24 record that a peak-Devers would surely help improve.
After an ugly start that's likely to lead to a lost season in the ever-competitive National League West, the Giants would reportedly like to offload some of the more expensive contracts on their books. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Devers' is one of them. He also listed Jung Hoo Lee and Willy Adames as other salary dump options.
Devers happens to be breaking out in the wake of Nightengale's early trade deadline prediction, with a .348/.407/.739 slash line in his last seven games. But if he can't maintain a similar offensive pace, maybe he would fare better back at Fenway Park?
Red Sox fans joke about Boston trading back for Rafael Devers amid Giants rumors
There's next to no chance of the Red Sox trading back for Devers after trading him away less than a year ago — bridges have been burned on both sides that would prevent anyone from agreeing to such an arrangement. But as long as Devers isn't working out in San Francisco, fans will speculate and joke.
It will be hard for the Giants to offload Devers' contract on another team. He's owed $226.5 million over the remaining seven-plus years of his deal, which is no easy price to pay for the majority of teams in the league (and Red Sox fans know good and well the front office will never go near a contract of that value again, at least until the team is sold). Other teams may also see him as a troublesome character in the clubhouse after the way his relationship with the Red Sox front office ended.
The Red Sox had an easy chance to win the Devers trade by holding onto Kyle Harrison, not trading James Tibbs III for the deadline disaster that was Dustin May, and never trading for Jordan Hicks in the first place. If the Giants do intend to trade Devers, either before this year's deadline or one in the future, they'll be hard pressed to find a suitor willing to take on his money.
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