It's not even been a full month since the San Francisco Giants stunned the baseball world by trading for Boston Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers, who was just 2.5 years into a 10-year extension he'd signed to stay in Beantown. While the relationship with the Red Sox soured, the Giants acquired the 28-year-old to get a much-needed power bat into the offense and in hopes that a change of scenery would rejuvenate him. The opposite, however, has happened, and some members of the Giants media appear to already be starting to turn on Devers.
While more details regarding Devers "standing up" Giants legend Will Clark have emerged to smooth over any unresting waters there, the DH's performance on the field has drawn criticism as well. Frankly, that's deserved. Since coming to San Francisco, Devers has only appeared as a DH and has produced 0.0 WAR across 96 plate appearances while slashing just .225/.344/.363/.706 with 31 strikeouts. It's not been pretty at all.
That's what spawned San Francisco's KNBR radio hosts Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher to seemingly offer the first real, pointed criticism that we've seen of Devers with the Giants from the local media. And it wasn't all that kind to Devers, particularly Murphy, even if both hostsdid leave room for improvement.
"He's got a 0.0 WAR," Murphy said. "All in all, just a tough first month for Rafael Devers."
"I'm not even coming close [to giving up on the guy]," Murphy later added. "What I'm saying is that, in a tight race where every game matters, there was the hope that he would affect two or three games by now, and he hasn't. And this is kind of critical — these are games they need — and it's like they got him to win these games specifically and he hasn't been doing it. It's been very frustrating, and surprising, because these games matter. Every game in this Wild Card race matters, and you got him to affect these games. So we can just say right now, the first — it's been an F for the first month."
MURPH: "All in all, just a tough first month for Rafael Devers... I'm not even coming close to (calling the deal a bust) but it's been an F for the first month."
— KNBR (@KNBR) July 10, 2025
MARKUS: This is an example of living in a society in which everyone wants instant gratification... I've watched a lot… pic.twitter.com/QrLhsPRd1X
Boucher was a bit kinder, saying that the struggles have been real but that some rest and adjustment over the All-Star break could do some good, and also knowing the type of player Devers has been as a hitter gives him confidence. At the same time, though, he too expressed similar frustrations. And frankly, Red Sox fans would have to call all of this all too predictable.
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Red Sox fans always knew a SF Giants turn on Devers was coming
Make no mistake, there are still Red Sox fans who are furious and foaming at the mouth to get at Craig Breslow for trading away Devers. That's even true with the vibes sky-high in Boston right now. Having said that, realistically, these are many of the frustrations that fans had while Devers was in Boston, and the same fans have a keen understanding of how the slugging star can make that worse.
When Devers is hot, he's an absolute microwave. He can go absolutely nuclear with one swing of the bat and then not cool off for a month. However, he's also prone to exactly what you're seeing right now in San Francisco. Remember with the Red Sox when Devers began the 2025 season going 0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts and four walks? While that might be the most extreme example, it is undeniably an example of the cold spells he can go through when his timing gets off and he starts chasing.
In the aggregate, it's always balanced out for Devers at the plate. He's not had a single-season OPS below .850 since it was .793 in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. It's just a simple fact that he's streaky when it comes to this, which can undeniably be frustrating. It's also unfortunate for Giants fans and the media, obviously, that one of his cold spells has coincided with his arrival in San Francisco.
However, as it pertains to the media, Devers was infamous in Boston — in fact, it's part of the reason why the front office was willing to trade the team's best player — for not speaking to the media and for being quite introverted. On a new team and in front of a fan base that's not accustomed to that the way Red Sox fans became, having that approach amid struggles only exacerbates the issue, because fans want nothing more than to hear Devers address the situation.
Ultimately, I think this all will blow over and, like Boucher said, he'll get back to being one of the elite hitters and baseball, exactly what the Giants paid for. But right now, we're seeing the media start to at least temporarily sour on their new star in the building. More unfortunate is the fact that, if Giants fans hadn't been celebrating, Red Sox fans could've enlightened them to the idea that this was always a possibility.