On Sunday night, the Boston Red Sox stunned the entire baseball world when they traded away star slugger Rafael Devers, who was supposed to be the face of the franchise, to the San Francisco Giants for an uninspiring package. Devers needed some time to ramp up his production for the 2025 season, but at the time of the trade, he had an OPS of .905 — which meant that he was one of the most productive hitters in all of MLB and that they got no one to replace his production in the immediate aftermath of the trade.
This bombshell decision from the Red Sox caused a bit of confusion among fans as to what the franchise’s long-term plans are. They created a huge hole in the lineup with the departure of Devers, and at such an odd time as well, coming off a huge sweep of the New York Yankees over the weekend.
Nonetheless, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made it clear that they are not punting on 2025 and that their decision to trade Devers away was made with the franchise’s best in mind.
“I do think there’s a real chance that at the end of the season, we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would’ve,” Breslow said, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.
“This in no way signifies a waving of the white flag in 2025,” he added, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
It looks like the Red Sox are looking to ride their hot pitching to a successful 2025 campaign; their 2-0 win over the Seattle Mariners makes it two straight shoutout victories for Boston.
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Nonetheless, banking on shutting out the opposition in every game is not a sustainable strategy. The Red Sox will have to acquire some sort of replacement for Devers or hope that the players they have in the organization will be enough to compensate for the meantime.
Red Sox’s patchwork offense gets it done in first game post-Rafael Devers trade
It was Kristian Campbell who filled in at designated hitter in the Red Sox’s first game following the controversial Devers trade. Campbell went 1-3. On the season, Campbell has an OPS of .675, which is a far cry from the production that Devers gave the team. Nonetheless, the Red Sox had enough run production to defeat the Mariners, thanks to some stellar pitching from Lucas Giolito.
With there being a little over a month to go before the trade deadline, the Red Sox have time to go out and acquire the necessary offensive upgrades that could help their push for a World Series be more sustainable.
