The Giants are 16-24 and reportedly exploring trades for most of their expensive roster. Rafael Devers — the guy Boston gave away last summer — is apparently available. And the Yankees are watching.
Jon Heyman was clear that a Yankees-Devers deal is “an extreme long shot.” That’s not nothing. That’s still a shot. For Red Sox fans sitting through a 17-23 season, watching their team rank 27th-to-29th in every offensive category that matters, the idea that this whole disaster could end with Devers in pinstripes is the kind of thing that makes you want to throw your laptop into the Charles River.
To be precise about what Heyman actually said: “They are not in the race right now. If they do sell, he is a possibility, at least.” The Yankees speculation is coming from analysts running mock trades, not from any confirmed talks. But the possibility existing at all is the indictment.
The Move That Started This Mess
Here’s the chain of events Boston built for themselves. The Red Sox signed Alex Bregman to play third base. Devers — who had spent his entire career at third, who had a $313 million contract — was asked to move to first. He said no. A stalemate that went on too long ended in a trade.
Boston got Kyle Harrison, Hicks, Tibbs, and Bello. Decent pieces. Not a franchise cornerstone in the group.
Bregman played one year with the Red Sox, then opted out and signed a five-year, $175 million deal with the Cubs in January. So the Red Sox are left with no Devers, no Bregman, a rotation missing Crochet (shoulder, IL since April 29), Sonny Gray (hamstring), and Oviedo (60-day IL), and a record that Yahoo Sports’ Joon Lee described in terms that are tough to sugarcoat — Lee’s investigation found that “the collaborative spirit that once defined Red Sox baseball operations has frayed under the current regime.”
Worst 40-game start since 1997. Last place in the AL East. The Rays are in first at 26-13 after taking two of three from Boston earlier this month.
What a Giants Fire Sale Would Mean
Devers is struggling in 2026 — .232 average, .640 OPS, -0.7 WAR through May. He’s not the player he was in 2025, when he hit 35 homers and drove in 109 runs across both stops in 2025. The $226 million left on his contract is a real obstacle for any trade, Yankees or otherwise. You’re not moving that deal easily.
Rafael Devers' first #OpeningNight with the Giants comes against a familiar foe 👀
Devers' career stats vs. the Yankees (119 games):
.270/.348/.533
31 HR
78 RBI pic.twitter.com/BOvsw3SBWf— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) March 25, 2026
But the scenario doesn’t require the Yankees to actually land him. The damage is in the shape of the story: Boston’s front office manufactured a crisis, traded away a player who had given them everything, watched the guy they brought in to replace him leave after a year, and now they’re staring at the outside possibility — remote, yes, but real enough to name — that the player they discarded ends up in the one place no Red Sox fan could stomach.
The front office didn’t just lose Devers. They built the exact sequence of decisions that makes this nightmare scenario possible in the first place. That’s the part that doesn’t wash off.
