The Boston Red Sox don't have a third baseman, or at least a proven one. After signing Alex Bregman last offseason, the ensuing drama gave Craig Breslow the window to trade Rafael Devers and a contract he never wanted to the San Francisco Giants. Because of that massive ripple effect, the belief remained that the Red Sox would ensure Bregman stuck around, even if he opted for free agency this offseason. That belief was wrong. Bregman is heading to the Chicago Cubs, the Red Sox were outbid, and Devers is on the Giants for nearly the next decade.
Make no mistake, it's probably more likely that Bregman's five-year, $175 million contract ages quite poorly for the Cubs. At the same time, the situation for the Red Sox is dire now that they lost the All-Star third baseman to Chicago. The Ketel Marte trade is no longer an option, and it's becoming harder to believe they can win a bidding war for a Bo Bichette. So now, Boston is left without any answers — and without Rafael Devers. And it feels like the perfect time to re-evaluate the trade.
Alex Bregman gamble cost the Red Sox him and Rafael Devers
You really do have to wonder how this would've all been different if Alex Bregman had played second base. That's where the poor communication with Devers began last offseason, with Alex Cora and everyone in Boston seemingly reiterating that their homegrown star would stay at third base even if they landed Bregman. That, of course, immediately changed upon signing him, they moved Devers to DH, and everything spiraled horribly thereafter.
But the situation that Breslow created by choosing Bregman over Devers put him and the Red Sox in really left the head decision-maker in the front office with no option. They simply had to keep Bregman.
Now, they haven't accomplished that. It's a conflicting feeling when it comes to how that transpired, too. Anyone who says that Breslow wasn't willing to overpay and get uncomfortable is both wrong and right at the same time. In my estimation, the Red Sox were willing to overpay if the reported five-year offer worth $32 million per season is true — they just weren't willing to overpay to the degree that the Cubs were.
It feels like everything with Breslow, beyond just this instance, comes back to the Andrew Friedman quote, though. "If you're rational about every free agent, you'll finish third for every free agent." And the maddening part of that for the Red Sox is that there isn't a prize for being the runner-up to Bregman in free agency. Instead, it's just an empty-handed ball club that seemingly was an Alex Bregman signing away from being a better baseball team than a year ago.
And now, they're left searching for answers with the market shrinking and with both Bregman and Devers not in Boston.
Even worse, the Devers trade is already a net negative return for Boston
What makes the current state of the Red Sox roster more infuriating is how the return from the Devers trade fits into all of this. It's bad enough that Boston has given away Devers and now lost Bregman, but you would at least hope that some of the players who came back from the Giants in the June trade would be helpful. But that's far from the case.
James Tibbs III, arguably the top prospect in the trade, is now in the Dodgers' system after bafflingly giving him up in exchange for a few months of Dustin May — a few months that worked out miserably for the Red Sox. Meanwhile, Jose Bello, the throw-in at the end of the deal, isn't even a Top 50 prospect in Boston's system.
That leaves us with the two other pieces that came to Boston in the deal, Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks. Harrison barely pitched for the Red Sox after they spent more than a month tweaking his arsenal in Triple-A. He pitched well, but it also doesn't currently seem like he fits into the team's plans for the rotation in the 2026 season. Maybe he's a bullpen arm, which I certainly wouldn't hate given some of his stuff. At the same time, that doesn't have the same impact when he was traded for Rafael freakin' Devers.
Then there's Hicks. He was an unmitigated disaster for the Red Sox after coming over in the trade, clearly not jibing with Andrew Bailey and the Boston coaches about how to use his stuff, and posting an abysmal 8.20 ERA across 21 appearances following the trade. To make matters worse, he's still on the books for $12.5 million for the next two seasons as San Francisco returned a salary dump while Breslow tried to disguise his own with Devers.
All that to say, the Red Sox painted themselves into a corner where they lost two All-Star third baseman in the span of a year, and the only pieces that they still have as a result are far from a guarantee to help this team win in the 2026 season. That's just plain disastrous to round out this mistake-ridden process from Boston's front office.
Final Rafael Devers trade grades for Red Sox and Giants
Boston Red Sox grade: F
How can it be anything but abject failure for the Red Sox at this point? Let me be clear, I don't believe Devers handled his final months in Boston well at all. He was being paid the richest contract in franchise history, and should've been more amenable to both the transition to DH and the request to see time at first base with this team, just like he's been since moving to San Francisco. But it can also be true that the Red Sox and Breslow handled that process unforgivably poorly, so it was understandable why Devers was a malcontent over the situation.
Now that we're more than six months removed and the ripples have finally settled, most notably with Bregman now in Chicago, though, where the Red Sox stand is a bad spot that could've been avoided. There's a world wherein Boston still has both Devers and Bregman on the roster, along with Roman Anthony and maybe even still a Willson Contreras. Instead, they have Contreras joining their young core, but the lineup is clearly worse than it was a year ago.
If there was a plan to this, the Red Sox have failed in executing it. And to be sure, there's no guarantee that there was a plan other than to shed Devers' salary. No matter which of those is truer to reality, however, Boston fans were kicked in the groin by Breslow and the front office with this, and the roster is worse off because of it.
That doesn't mean Boston can't rebound and find an answer to still improve this team. They could still pay Bo Bichette. They could still trade for an Isaac Paredes or a mystery candidate. But as things currently stand, the Red Sox don't deserve much (if any) grace at all.
San Francisco Giants grade: A
Most of this focus is on the Red Sox, and deservedly so. But Buster Posey and the Giants do deserve their flowers for the Devers trade. Not only did they give up a less-than-meaningful return to Boston to get the deal done, but the full salary that they took on is aging beautifully. Yes, Devers' game is likely going to make him a DH only later in the deal. At the same time, that's also true for a Pete Alonso, among others, and Devers is making less than the Polar Bear and most others in his position with similar outlooks.
The Giants simply read the room far better than Craig Breslow and the Red Sox, and now they can reap the benefits of that while Boston has left themselves scrambling for answers.