The Red Sox front office insisted the shocking trade of Rafael Devers to the Giants on Sunday night was a "baseball trade" made in the best interest of the team, while describing the breakdown between the star player and organization as hitting an "inflection point."
The rift between Devers and the Red Sox had been growing this season, dating back to spring training, when he initially refused to move from third base to designated hitter before eventually softening his stance. But the issue flared up again when chief baseball officer Craig Breslow approached Devers about playing first base last month.
Breslow and Red Sox president Sam Kennedy both insisted that the two sides had hit an "inflection point" without giving specific reasons as to what led to the surprising breakup, simply saying that they couldn't "find alignment."
Rafael Devers rounds the bases after homering during the Red Sox's game June 15. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is pictured May 19. Getty Images
"We all worked at it over the last several months, going back to the offseason," Kennedy said Monday. "Starting with Alex Cora and [Breslow] and the staff, and then up to me and all the way up to [owner] John Henry. We worked at it. We had a different vision for him going forward than he had and we couldn't get there. We couldn't find alignment and we reached that inflection point and made the decision to make a big move."
The Red Sox made the deal on Sunday night after they swept the Yankees , shipping the $313 million ballplayer to the Giants in exchange for Jordan Hicks , Kyle Harrison and a pair of prospects.
The Giants will pay out the rest of the contract with Devers only in the second year of the 10-year contract he signed in 2023.
This season, the three-time All-Star is hitting .272/.401/.504 with 15 home runs, 58 RBIs and a .905 OPS.
While the decision to trade Devers has been an inflection point of its own with Red Sox fans, Breslow insisted several times that the move was made in the best interest of the club and that the organization was in "no way a signifying of the waving of the white flag on 2025."
"I acknowledge that kind of on paper, we're not going to have the same lineup as we did," Breslow said about trading Devers. "This is about the game that's played on the field and ultimately on winning the most games that we can. … I do think there is a real chance that at the end of the season we're looking back at more wins than we otherwise would have."
Sam Kennedy is pictured at an end-of-season press conference in 2022. Boston Herald via Getty Images
The trade was as shocking to players inside the Red Sox clubhouse as it was to those on the outside.
Trevor Story told the Boston Globe's Tim Healey that he was "just as shocked as everyone else" when he heard about the trade and Jarren Duran said that he saw Devers hop off the team flight, but didn't realize what was going on.
"I saw him get off the plane and just thought, 'Oh, no way.' But it's Rafael Devers," he explained prior to Monday's game in Seattle . "I was just shocked to see him leave the plane. But I napped most of the [flight], so I didn't really have time to think about it."
The Red Sox played their first game without Devers on the roster on Monday night in Seattle.
