Interesting Rafael Devers twist emerges ahead of the trade deadline

The San Francisco Giants may be getting a surprise lifeline before the Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline.

At least one rival team has called the Giants with interest in trading for star first baseman Rafael Devers, Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported on Monday. Heyman does note though that San Francisco would have to pay down a significant portion of Devers’ contract in any potential trade.

Devers, 29, just arrived in San Francisco a little over a year ago in a trade with the Boston Red Sox. But Devers has had a forgettable tenure in The Bay thus far as he has hit just .242 with a .332 OBP over his two partial seasons with the Giants.

The lefty-hitting Devers has also been causing some issues in San Francisco this year. Most notably, Devers was at the center of an ugly spectacle last month in which he threw a tantrum after the Giants pinch-ran for him in a game.

We learned not long afterwards that San Francisco was looking to move Devers ahead of the trade deadline. The problem though is that Devers’ contract is total anathema as he is still owed $28.5 million per season all the way through 2033 (Devers’ age-36 campaign).

That said, Devers has slowly been heating up over the last month and is hitting .274 with a .982 OPS in the month of July (though overall this season he is still batting .248 with an .803 OPS to go along with 22 home runs and 60 RBIs). The Giants will certainly be hoping that Devers’ recent solid stretch can be enough to entice even one team to take the three-time MLB All-Star off their hands (albeit with San Francisco still being on the hook for a sizable chunk of Devers’ contract).