Re-Grading Red Sox's Rafael Devers Trade on One-Year Anniversary

Boston Red Sox fans will never forget the shock they felt on June 15, 2025.

Hours after a three-game sweep of the hated New York Yankees, the Red Sox stunned the baseball world by trading three-time All-Star slugger Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. In the initial trade package, they received pitchers Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, and Jose Bello, and outfielder James Tibbs III.

In the year since the deal, a lot more drama has unfolded. Most of it hasn't reflected well on the Red Sox, and if we're going to give chief baseball officer Craig Breslow an overall grade on the various assignments he's completed in the Devers lane, it's not going to be a sunny one.

Red Sox grade for Devers trade tree: D-minus

Aug 5, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Jordan Hicks (46) throws a pitch against the Kansas City Royals in the ninth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

The Red Sox saved $255 million by offloading Devers' contract, which is frankly the only reason this deal isn't an F. They then failed to re-sign Alex Bregman, but that might not be the worst thing ever, considering his just-okay offensive numbers with the Chicago Cubs. And redirecting $130 million toward starting pitcher Ranger Suárez seems like a sound investment.

Where the Red Sox have failed miserably, though is in trading other useful pieces from the original deal for subpar returns. Tibbs is crushing the ball in Triple-A for the Los Angeles Dodgers, because the Red Sox traded him and fellow outfielder Zach Ehrhard for Dustin May, who made six terrible appearances for Boston in his walk year before getting injured.

Then, there's the Harrison debacle. The Giants' former first-round pick has an 8-1 record and a 2.47 ERA for the Milwaukee Brewers, while new Boston third baseman Caleb Durbin has a .568 OPS following his third straight hitless game on Sunday.

Hicks was such an abject failure in Boston that the Red Sox chose to eat $8 million to ship him off to the Chicago White Sox and attach hard-throwing pitching prospect David Sandlin in the deal.

Devers, for his part, has heated up at the plate since a terrible April. It's not that the Red Sox would be much better off with him in tow, but after bungling their end of the relationship last year, they've done everything in the year since to make sure they burned any good will that could have come from trading him.

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