Red Sox boss not ‘waving the white flag' with Rafael Devers trade, expects aggressive trade deadline
The Red Sox traded their best player Sunday in a blockbuster trade that caught the entire industry by surprise. They're now vowing, both publicly and privately, that moving Rafael Devers to San Francisco in a five-player swap is not a sign of a fire sale coming later this summer
On a Zoom call to discuss the trade that sent Devers to the Giants for pitchers Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison as well as prospects James Tibbs III and Jose Bello, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow went out of his way to note that the Devers deal was a one-off — and not the beginning of a larger trend.
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'This is in no way signifying a waving of the white flag on 2025,' Breslow said. '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 Red Sox, who won seven of eight games entering Monday's series opener in Seattle to climb back above .500 at 37-36, have just over six weeks to decide whether they'll buy or sell at the July 31 trade deadline. Veteran assets like Aroldis Chapman, Justin Wilson, Alex Bregman, Lucas Giolito and Walker Buehler might get nice hauls if the Red Sox choose to sell. But a source, speaking to MassLive in the wake of the Devers' deal, adamantly claimed the Red Sox plan to be buyers in the next few weeks and that the club could target a big bat to replace Devers' production.
Things could always change if the Sox — who had a 30.3% chance to make the playoffs as of Monday, per FanGraphs — fall in the standings in the next few weeks. For now, though, it's a club with designs on adding after introducing Hicks ('a dominant late-inning reliever,' according to Breslow) and Harrison (who was optioned to Triple-A) to the pitching mix.
According to MassLive's calculations, Boston just saved more than $270 million in future commitments by shipping Devers to San Francisco, including more than $16 million off the competitive balance tax for the rest of this season (and $29 million in each of the next eight seasons). That means there's an appetite to add payroll in. the coming weeks.
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'This is a roster that certainly has some needs,' Breslow said. We can talk about starting pitching and bullpen help and we think that we addressed some of those in the return that we had in this deal. But additionally, I do think that it gives us some resources as we head toward the (trade) deadline.
'Starting pitching could be an opportunity for us to continue to upgrade. Also, we've had our share of both bullpen injuries and inconsistency trying to get the ball to Aroldis (Chapman) who has been so good late in games. That's another potential pathway. Then, we have to start thinking about what a long-term solution looks like at first base. Triston's rehab is going well but it's going to be a long road there. We're absolutely going to look at the best use of those resources and could potentially use that as early as the 2025 trade deadline.'
Breslow and Kennedy weren't shy about the desire to allocate the money saved on Devers to other players. For now, though, the lack of Devers' bat in the lineup will create opportunities for others.
'In the short-term, giving some flexibility at the DH spot does allow us to rotate through the three left-handed hitting outfielders (Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu and Roman Anthony) as soon as Willy's back, plus Ceddanne (Rafaela) being able to play in center field where we've seen him play elite defense,' Breslow said. 'Likely opens up some additional at-bats for Masa (Yoshida), as well, as soon as he's healthy. We look at opportunities to improve our team every single day.
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'When you consider the flexibility, the ability to give some of the young players some run, the opportunity to re-package some of the resources and fill some voids in the roster as early as approaching this year's deadline and being really intentional about the environment we create for these young players to thrive in, I do think there's a real chance we're looking back and we've won more games than we otherwise would have.'
More than once, Breslow spoke of a more 'functional' roster without Devers that might end up winning more games in 2025 than it would with the disgruntled slugger on the roster.
'We've talked a lot about, for some reason, being an example where the whole was not greater than the sum of the parts,' he said. 'When you move a player of Raffy's caliber and take that bat out of the lineup, how could I sit here and say we're a better team? I acknowledge that, on paper, we're not going to have the same lineup we did. But this isn't about the game that is played on paper. This is about the game that's played on the field and ultimately, about winning the most games that we can. In order do that, trying to put together the most functional and complete team we can.'
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