Ten months after the Red Sox traded rafael devers, the deal still looks less like a haul than a cleanup. Boston has already moved Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks and James Tibbs III on to other teams, leaving Jose Bello as the only player from the return still in the organization.
That is the shape of the trade now, even before the baseball is judged. The Red Sox dumped all of Devers’s remaining salary on the Giants and got back four players, but the useful part of the package has mostly evaporated. Harrison appeared in three games for Boston before being sent to Milwaukee in the deal that brought back infielder Caleb Durbin. Hicks lasted 21 bullpen games, allowing 17 earned runs in 18⅔ innings before Boston dumped him on the White Sox in February. Tibbs played 30 games for Double-A Portland before he was traded to the Dodgers on July 21 for Dustin May.
Tibbs, at least, has been a moving target with some numbers attached. He posted a.900 OPS in 36 Double-A games for the Dodgers last year, then started 12 of 22 games this season for Triple-A Oklahoma City. He also had 4 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs, 3 walks and 9 RBIs in that stretch. May’s stay in Boston did not help the case for the original deal either; he went 1-4 with a 5.40 ERA in six games before leaving as a free agent and signing with the Cardinals.
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The Red Sox had pushed the transaction through after Devers refused John Henry’s request to move to first base. In the club’s telling, the move was supposed to solve one problem and create flexibility. Instead, it turned into a revolving door of parts, with Boston now left to argue that the real win was unloading the rest of Devers’s salary. That is a hard sell when the return has been stripped down to Bello, who is not regarded as much of a prospect.
The bigger question for Boston has not changed much since the trade was made: did the Red Sox gain anything lasting beyond payroll relief? The current answer appears to be no. The club’s start has been slow enough that manager Alex Cora was blunt about it, saying, “We just played bad baseball.” He also dismissed any direct link to the World Baseball Classic, saying, “I don’t think bad baseball has to do with the WBC.” The Red Sox had 13 players off their 40-man roster in the event, and the only players in the clubhouse with World Series rings are Aroldis Chapman and Willson Contreras, who won together with the 2016 Cubs and then Chapman won again with the 2023 Rangers.
Contreras has said the game should stay fun, saying, “It’s a game and I’m trying to have fun out there,” while adding, “I’m not trying to embarrass anybody else.” He also said, “I enjoy the game and being with my teammates and I want to win.” That is the contrast Boston has been chasing all along: a roster built to compete, and a trade that keeps looking lighter every time the pieces move again.
