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The Rafael Devers Trade Makes No Sense

 The Rafael Devers trade makes no sense.

By HB


The Rafael Devers trade makes no sense. Full stop. With Marcelo Mayer up and Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro performing significantly above average there was no reason to have Devers play the field. Any issues surrounding Devers playing either first or third, on a practical level have been resolved. This was a power trip of a move from the ownership and the GM. After the 2018 World Series, we were sort of given the expectation that we would not be able to pay all three of our stars, Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers, which is not something that should be coming from a team of the Red Sox stature. Nevertheless, Rafael Devers was all the fanbase was left with from the 2018 World Series and now he is gone. For what? AN injured pitcher with a 6 ERA and another pitcher with a 4 ERA who was just assigned to AAA. 

What makes even less sense about this trade is the timing. Coming off of a sweep of the first place New York Yankees and in the midst of a five-game win streak, a half game out of a wildcard spot, right when the team is gaining momentum you trade the best hitter? Not only the team's best hitter, but potentially a top 10 hitter in the league. At the very least I would argue that Devers is a top 15 hitter in the MLB. Multiple 100 RBI seasons, multiple 30 home run seasons, on pace for both of those this season. There is no angle where you can look at this trade and possibly think the team is better because of this. Because it is not. As of yesterday, we are looking at a worse team. 

The Devers trade is just another entry in a long list of the Fenway Sports Group giving the finger to Red Sox fans. Since 2018 the front office has pretty much done the bare minimum for this team. This was the first season where it finally looked like things were changing and then this happened. We finally make some larger moves at the deadline just to have the rug pulled out from under us, in a move made out of hurt ego and spite. This does nothing but hurt the fans. We don’t ask the office to go out and spend like the Dodgers, although they probably should, we just want them to care about the Red Sox, the heart of the city of Boston, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

 To the Fenway Sports Group and John Henry, sell the team. This isn’t coming from a place of outrage, it’s coming from one of pain.


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