Roman Anthony will be a member of the Boston Red Sox through the 2034 season. The organization agreed to an eight-year, $130 million extension with baseball's former top prospect who has been an immediate star in Boston at just 21 years old and has helped push the Red Sox firmly into the top AL Wild Card position. But while Sox fans have to be over the moon that a burgeoning superstar won't follow the same path as Mookie Betts, a former star in Rafael Devers has to feel like he's taking a bigger loss than anyone after seeing Craig Breslow work in this capacity.
Never forget that Devers signed his franchise record-setting 10-year contract with the Red Sox when Breslow was not yet the top decision-maker in Boston. That was Chaim Bloom's deal, one that many people believed would age poorly given his lack of defense. Given everything that led up to Devers being traded to the San Francisco Giants, you have to believe that Breslow was part of the camp who also believed that.
It's been clear even before the third base-to-DH and "will you play first base?" drama that the Red Sox were trying to shoehorn Devers into their future under Breslow. However, this regime still in the middle of their second year at the controls clearly had a different vision, one where Anthony was a centerpiece and in which guys like Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello, Kristian Campbell and Ceddanne Rafaela — all of whom are also locked up with extensions through at least 2030 — are the core. And when Devers became a malcontent, it was better off to remove him from the equation.
And now, the Red Sox future is bright while Devers and the Giants' looks more questionable.
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Craig Breslow's Red Sox always had Roman Anthony valued over Rafael Devers
Despite the reactions, many of which were deserved, after Devers was traded to the Giants, suffice it to say that it hasn't worked out as San Francisco had hoped. The Red Sox, due in no small part to the jolt Anthony has provided, have gone a blistering 26-15 since the Devers trade while the Giants entered Wednesday at 15-26 since the deal, which ultimately forced San Francisco to be sellers at the trade deadline.
And for his part, Devers' biggest gripe with the Red Sox hasn't meaningfully gone away with the Giants. He entered Wednesday playing 42 games in San Francisco, 35 of which have been as a DH and only seven of which have come at first base or in the field at all. Exactly what Breslow and Boston saw as the best spot for him hasn't changed with the scenery for the slugger.
To that point, it has to feel like Devers ultimately lost out on this. He was supposed to be an all-in addition for the Giants and now the club is left with more questions than answers moving forward while also having almost the entirety of the decade-long contract ahead of them with Devers. Meanwhile, the Red Sox are locking up a young core of a team that's already bound for the postseason without their former third baseman and DH.
Things can always flip on a dime, but Breslow and the Red Sox continue to look more validated with how they handled Devers, even if unpopularly, and the Anthony extension only furthers that. Put simply, Boston's future looks far brighter than Devers' does, and he has to partially blame himself for why those two outlooks are no longer intertwined.