San Francisco Giants Blockbuster Trade Leaves Executives ‘Stunned’

On Father's Day evening, FanSided's Robert Murray broke the news that the Boston Red Sox had dealt superstar Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants, who sent Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, and two prospects back in return. Since then, the conversation surrounding the trade has been the shock of it, and the reactions from people in baseball.

The trade came suddenly, with seemingly no smoke around an imminent trade involving Devers. While the return wasn't huge, with James Tibbs and Kyle Harrison being the headliners, Boston was still able to send Devers' entire contract to San Francisco.

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It's undeniably a win for the Giants, even with the contract.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com talked to executives all around the league, and the sentiment among most were the shock value, as well as a win for San Francisco and loss for Boston.

So, what exactly are the executives saying about the trade?

"Is this trade real?" an American League executive said.

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That seemed to be the reaction of everyone in the baseball world as soon as the news was announced. After the immediate flurry, the dust settled and the impact of the trade began being discussed.

"For the Giants, it provides them with the big bat they have struggled to draft, develop or acquire without giving up huge amounts of prospect capital," an AL Executive said.

For years, the Giants have endlessly tried to get the big bat, whether it was Giancarlo Stanton via trade, or Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa via free agency. With this trade, they acquired the best left handed hitter they've had since Barry Bonds.

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The prospects sent to Boston have nice pedigrees, but may not turn into superstars. Kyle Harrison was once the top left handed pitching prospect in baseball, but has struggled in the majors. He didn't make the Opening Day roster, and has a 4.43 ERA with an 8.8 K/9 in 39 major league games.

James Tibbs was a first round pick in 2024, and has some plus power along with an .857 OPS in High-A, but he probably isn't a perennial All-Star. Jose Bello is a flier with good numbers in a small sample size.

Seemingly the biggest issue on the Giants side is the fact that they will be taking on the rest of his contract, which comes out to a franchise record eight years, around $250 million.

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"Having both Devers and [Willy] Adames on the books is going to make life very tough for them in just a few years... but has the strong potential to crush them when paired with Adames’ contract a few years from now," said an NL executive.

Aside from Devers and Adames, San Francisco also has Jung Hoo Lee and Matt Chapman locked in on big, long term deals. The criticism of paying a player who will amount to a DH that kind of money is a fair one. Aside from Shohei Ohtani, no DH has ever really been paid that much money, excepting older players at the end of their career.

It may look bad in the last couple years of the contract, but that is the reality of most long term deals. That doesn't seem to matter to the Giants, who now have their core locked in for the next five years, along with the young pitching along the way.

The trade was a shocking one, but seems to favor San Francisco in the immediate future. Despite competing with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division, this is a team set on making the playoffs sooner rather than later. Devers makes that better, and all it took to get it done was one of the most stunning trades in recent MLB history.

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