The San Francisco Giants just won the Major League Baseball trade deadline a month and a half before its arrival.
That’s because on Sunday night, just before first pitch of Sunday Night Baseball, the Giants completed the biggest trade in franchise history.
San Francisco is acquiring Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox.
In return, Boston gets pitchers Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison along with two prospects.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Giants will pay the entire remaining $250 million on Devers’ contract, a big reason the deal got done.
The Athletic’s Eno Sarris wrote, “This trade makes a ton of sense for the Giants, who have trouble landing stud hitters in FA. Giants’ paying big money on the Devers deal meant the prospects Boston gets weren’t huge.”
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Frankly, this deal might define the next decade of San Francisco Giants baseball.
Devers is one of the best hitters on the planet, and he’s still just 28 years old.
Who cares what position he plays?
The Giants should write Devers’ name into the lineup at whatever spot he wants, every single day. His bat is that good.
He’s a charismatic slugger who, at his best, smiles when he’s on the diamond.
There wasn’t a lot of smiling in Boston this season after Devers was moved off his preferred third base position and relegated to DH.
But now with a fresh start, the Giants and Devers can turn his frown upside down.
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Giants fans will certainly smile plenty.
Devers is a career .279 hitter with an .858 OPS. He has 214 MLB home runs in 1,052 games.
Already this season, he has left the yard 14 times, and was leading the American League with 55 walks to give himself a .400 on-base percentage.
Devers has seasons of 38, 33 and 32 homers. He has seasons of 54 and 42 doubles. He has seasons of 115, 113 and 100 RBI.
This is a superstar coming to the Bay Area.
Sure, the Giants will have to shell out a lot of cash, but they don’t mind that.
They managed to hold onto their best prospects in the deal and just give up a few pitchers who are solid at best and league average or worse when they struggle.
In return, they got the new face of the franchise.
If this works out, and it very well might, it’ll be one of the biggest mid-season moments in the incredible history of the Giants.
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