BOSTON (WHDH) – LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Boston Red Sox traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday in a blockbuster deal.
Devers’ agent, Nelson Montes de Oca, confirmed that the slugger had been traded to San Francisco. ESPN reported that the package of players going back to the Red Sox includes starter Jordan Hicks and left-hander Kyle Harrison.
Devers, 28, is one of baseball’s most feared hitters. He is batting .272 with 15 homers and 58 RBIs in 73 games after he connected for a solo drive in Boston’s 2-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday.
Devers, a three-time All-Star, agreed to a $313.5 million, 10-year contract in January 2023, but his relationship with the Red Sox began to deteriorate when the team signed third baseman Alex Bregman during spring training.
Devers insisted he was the team’s third baseman before switching to designated hitter. When Triston Casas was sidelined by a season-ending knee injury, the Red Sox approached Devers about filling in at first base. He declined, and suggested the front office “ should do their jobs ” and look for another player.
A day after Devers’ comments to the media about playing first, Red Sox owner John Henry, team president Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow flew to Kansas City to meet with Devers and manager Alex Cora.
Bregman has been out since May 23 with a strained right quadriceps, similar to his left quad strain that cost him 58 games for the Houston Astros in 2021.
The Red Sox improved to 37-36 with their three-game sweep against New York. But they are fourth in the AL East, trailing the division-leading Yankees by 6 1/2 games.
Devers first signed with Boston as an international free agent in August 2013. He was 20 when he made his major league debut with the Red Sox on July 25, 2017.
He helped the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series and led the team in RBIs for five consecutive seasons from 2020-24. He has finished in the top 20 in voting for AL MVP five times.
Devers is not the first Red Sox All-Star to be traded away: The team sent Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers before the 2020 season — just a year after he won the AL MVP award and led Boston to a franchise-record 108 wins and its fourth World Series title since 2004.
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