San Francisco Giants Pursuit of Rafael Devers Started with a Question

It will be years before anyone is certain just how well the San Francisco Giants did in their trade for Rafael Devers.

The Giants gave up four players — two of were in the Major Leagues at the time of the deal — along with a first-round pick from a season ago. San Francisco is picking up the remainder of Devers’ massive contract.

The $255 million left on Devers’ deal with the Boston Red Sox — which was $313.5 million over 10 years and runs through 2033 — is entirely on the Giants. As NBC Sports Bay Area reported, as part of the deal the Red Sox aren’t picking up any of the remaining money.

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The early returns? Well, in his first two games he went 2-for-6 with a double and an RBI as a designated hitter. At some point, the Giants will determine if he’ll be their first baseman, designated hitter or some sort of hybrid.

But, right now, the Giants just need him to hit if they hope to make the playoffs for the first time since 2021.

Recently, NBC Sports Bay Area did a deep dive into the Giants’ courtship of Devers, which started last month.

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How it started was about as innocuous as one can get.

Per Alex Pavlovic, who wrote the piece, Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey was preparing for a phone call with his counterpart in Boston, Craig Breslow. The topic? Not Devers.

But apparently the thought of Devers — who by this point was publicly disgruntled twice with Boston since the start of the year — had already crossed Posey’s mind.

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The Giants had a critical problem in their lineup, which was power. Devers’ 162-game averages — a slash of .279/.349/.510 with an .859 OPS, including 33 home runs and 107 RBI — would be a perfect fit.

But, to that point, there had been no public hint that Boston was interested in moving him. Before the call, Posey started a group chat with his general manager, Zack Minasian and assistant general manager Jeremy Shelley, and asked them a question:

"Do you guys think I should ask about Devers?"

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Both Minasian and Shelley sent him a thumbs up emoji. Nearly a month later, Devers was a Giant.

San Francisco traded pitchers Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, Jose Bello and outfielder James Tibbs III to the Red Sox for Devers. The three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and 2018 World Series champion will be with San Francisco for a long time.  

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