Did Dodgers Try to Trade for Rafael Devers Before Giants Blockbuster?

The blockbuster trade that sent Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday caught many in the baseball world by surprise.

Speaking to reporters in Boston on Monday, Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and President Sam Kennedy addressed many of the more obvious questions about the rare June trade.

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Included among their comments: yes, the Red Sox spoke with teams besides the Giants before executing the deal.

The Dodgers, however, were reportedly not among them.

According to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman never heard from Boston's front office about Devers.

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To the surprise of many — if not the Giants themselves — Devers is amenable to playing first base, third base, or serving as a designated hitter now that he's out of Boston.

The Dodgers have the game's best designated hitter in Shohei Ohtani, and are getting more production out of their first basemen (principally Freddie Freeman) than all but three teams.

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For all of Max Muncy's struggles in April and May, the Dodgers' third basemen have been worth a collective 1.0 bWAR — more than all but five other teams. Given Devers' defensive struggles at his primary position, adding him to the Dodgers' position player core would not have been a great fit.

For all the shockwaves created by the trades, they reverberated most loudly in the National League West. The Dodgers (45-29), Giants (41-32), and San Diego Padres (39-33) are separated by just five games atop the standings through Tuesday's games, making it arguably the most competitive division in baseball.

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The Dodgers didn't need to be a perfect fit to have been looped in on the calls for Devers.

Left field has been a black hole for production all season. Michael Conforto's .168/.305/.277 slash line and below-replacement-level fielding have sank the Dodgers to 29th out of the 30 MLB teams in Baseball Reference's version of WAR at the position. Only the Padres have gotten less production at the position than the Dodgers.

Could the Dodgers have helped facilitated a trade of three or more teams to get Devers (and his $313.5 million contract) out of Boston in order to get left field help?

Consider it a question left to history.

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