Rafael Devers trade: Which teams make the most sense for Giants All-Star?

Within the span of 15 months, Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants gambled and uncharacteristically spent the big bucks on a trio of former All-Stars: Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and Rafael Devers.

Barely a year after landing Devers from the Red Sox, the Giants are reportedly open to moving all three within the coming weeks. San Francisco enters play on Wednesday with the National League’s second-worst record at 29-43, barely ahead of the NL West rival Rockies.

Devers enters Wednesday hitting .235 with nine home runs, 33 RBI and a .706 OPS. Although he has an MLB-high 21 doubles, his 30.3-percent strikeout rate is easily the worst of his career. What makes that trend especially concerning is that Devers had a 22-percent strikeout rate through his first nine seasons.   

Is a Rafael Devers trade even feasible?

Before going any further, we must discuss two critical parts of any Devers trade: his lack of a no-trade clause and the possibility of a salary cap.

​​Devers is in the third season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract that runs through 2033. San Francisco picked up the entire deal when the Giants acquired Devers from Boston last June. 

Because Devers loved Boston and believed he’d spend the rest of his career there, he opted not to include a no-trade clause upon signing. That’s how the Red Sox stunned everyone by sending Devers to the Giants a year ago — he had no leverage to refuse being traded.

Theoretically speaking, Devers could tell the Giants that he wouldn’t play elsewhere in hopes of scaring teams off. For the sake of conversation, though, let’s assume that Devers would accept — and welcome — a trade. And let's also assume that San Francisco would be willing to pay down at least some of the remaining money owed for the sake of getting his contract off its books.

Which teams should try to trade for Rafael Devers?

New York Yankees

Objectively speaking, Devers makes perfect sense for the Yankees. His swing is tailor-made for Yankee Stadium, and he’d certainly be a more reliable DH than Giancarlo Stanton, at least from a health perspective. 

Actually, the more that we think about it, a Stanton for Devers salary dump isn’t the worst idea. 

The problem is the Yankees’ overall budget, especially with the possibility of a salary cap looming. Even if the Giants eat some of Devers’ contract, the Yankees only have so much money to go around assuming a cap is implemented this winter. 

We’ll nonetheless include Devers, if only because the idea of him in a Yankees uniform is so ludicrously amusing that we need to see it. 

Seattle Mariners

Here’s our question: If the Mariners acquired Devers, would they be open to playing him at third base? 

If so, you could make an argument for keeping top prospect Cole Emerson at short, sliding veteran JP Crawford to the bench and using Brendan Donovan in a super-utility role when (or if) he can ever stay healthy this season. But would that even make the Mariners better? Sure, they need more power, but this is a lefty-heavy lineup as is, and Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley have been straight-up better in the long side of a platoon than Devers this season — that's how far his stock has fallen.

Texas Rangers

The 35-38 Rangers desperately need a jolt if they’re to challenge the Mariners in a mediocre AL West. Could Devers provide that spark? Maybe? The fact that we’re not totally sure should say enough about how much faith Devers currently inspires.

Jake Burger owns a .737 OPS as the Rangers’ first baseman, and designated hitter Joc Pederson’s .350 on-base percentage is well above the league average of .319. Consider that Devers is only reaching base at a .293 clip. Many stats can be interpreted one way or another, but OBP isn’t one of them.

This would certainly be an intriguing move by the Rangers, though we’re skeptical it’s one that they’d make ahead of the All-Star Break. Pederson and Burger are far cheaper, and the Rangers already made one salary dump when they sent Marcus Semien to the Mets last offseason.   

More MLB news and analysis:

• These Cubs will survive the MLB trade deadline for all the wrong reasons

• What's wrong with Ha-Seong Kim? Braves offseason gamble has gone horribly wrong

• These Pittsburgh Pirates could be on the trade block if they keep losing

• The Pirates and Rays are about to guarantee an MLB lockout

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