Are the Red Sox Sellers, Or Was It Just About Moving Devers?

It’s not a stretch to say that the Rafael Devers trade news was shocking when it broke on Sunday night. The Boston Red Sox got a jump start on Major League Baseball’s trade deadline season, dealing their superstar to the San Francisco Giants.

Acquiring Devers in the five-player trade solidifies the Giants as contenders in the gauntlet that is the National League West. But where does it leave the always seemingly in-flux Red Sox?

Now that everyone has had a few days to pick their collective jaws off the floor, we can take a step back and see what the rest of the Red Sox’s season might look like.

The big question is whether this deal makes Boston a trade deadline seller. Or was this just a move to offload a star player who had reached his limit with the Red Sox, and vice versa? All signs point to the latter.

Why the Rafael Devers Trade Was (Kind Of) Surprising

The franchise-altering move came as a surprise for several reasons. Although, it also isn’t that surprising when you start to hear about the behind-the-scenes dysfunction in Beantown, as tragically documented by Joon Lee of Yahoo! Sports.

When a team deals away a star player, it’s usually a non-contender offloading an expiring contract to a contender. Neither of those things are true in Boston’s case.

The Red Sox are far from a non-contender. They’re in the thick of the playoff race in the American League. Entering play on Friday, they’re fourth in the AL East, but just five games back of first. Playing some of their best baseball, they’re 8-2 in their last 10 and had just completed a sweep of the rival New York Yankees hours before the trade.

They’re tied for the third wild-card spot. Just from that fact alone, it should be obvious that they’re not throwing in the towel by trading away their best hitter.

Devers wasn’t just the Red Sox’s best hitter, he has been one of the best in the majors this year. Despite his legendary slow start, the third baseman-turned-designated hitter has improved his batting average to .272 with a .899 OPS, 15 home runs and 59 RBIs in 76 games.

He continued that torrid pace in his Giants debut:

Unfortunately for Red Sox fans, that tumultuous position change is where the not-so-hidden cracks within the organization started to become more visible.

It was an ongoing saga dating back to spring training. Devers didn’t want to move off third base after Boston’s offseason signing of Alex Bregman. He didn’t want to DH. He didn’t want to play first base when the need arose. Devers had obviously had enough of Red Sox management.

Devers Trade Doesn’t Make Red Sox Deadline Sellers

It seems like chief baseball officer Craig Breslow had bungled the handling of the team’s $313.5M star to the point that the only solution left was to make the trade. That doesn’t mean Breslow thinks his team’s season is over, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

“This is in no way signifying a waving of the white flag on 2025,” Breslow said on Monday, per Passan.

“We are as committed as we were six months ago to putting a winning team on the field, to competing for the division and making a deep postseason run. I do think that there is a real chance that at the end of the season we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would’ve.”

If the Red Sox are going to compete, they’ll be relying on a crop of young hitters and top prospects to help get them to the playoffs.

Boston’s No. 1 prospect, Roman Anthony’s recent debut was just the latest stage of the youth movement. He joins Marcelo Mayer (No. 3) and Kristian Campbell (former No. 2) as the “Big Three” prospects who the Red Sox will lean on.

They’re all 23 or younger. There’s also Ceddanne Rafaela, 24, and Wilyer Abreu, 26, who both have just over a year of MLB service time.

In return for Devers, the Red Sox received former top prospect left-hander Kyle Harrison, veteran reliever Jordan Hicks, outfield prospect James Tibbs III and right-hander Jose Bello. Harrison could help at some point this year, but he was sent to Triple-A.

Hicks will join the MLB pitching staff after getting off the IL. Tibbs is in Double-A and won’t be seen by Red Sox fans this season. Bello was sent to the Florida Complex League.

What If Red Sox Do Have to Sell at the Trade Deadline?

The young players will have to perform for the Red Sox to make a push in the second half. But it might ultimately be the starting rotation that turns out to be their Achilles heel.

The bullpen has done its job so far, with a ninth-best 3.39 ERA. The injury-riddled rotation, however, ranks 23rd with a 4.31 ERA. Aside from Garrett Crochet doing what he does, and the surprisingly serviceable Hunter Dobbins, manager Alex Cora hasn’t had much to work with.

So, what if the offense can’t overcome the rotation’s flaws? The Red Sox could be forced to sell at the deadline, just based on circumstances in the ultra-competitive wild-card race. In that case, Boston has some high-value trade chips that will help them reload for 2026.

Dynamic outfielder Jarren Duran and his three additional years of club control will be a popular commodity. He has already been mentioned in early rumors. Pending free agent outfielder Rob Refsnyder will be another name that will attract teams looking for a lefty-hitting specialist.

Veteran closer Aroldis Chapman will also be high on contenders’ shopping lists. The 37-year-old left-hander is having a resurgence in 2025 and will net Boston some assets if they decide they need to look ahead to 2026.

While the Red Sox obviously have some pieces they could move at the trade deadline, from all appearances, it looks like trading Devers hasn’t tipped the scales toward being sellers. At least not yet.