To surprise MLB promotion, look at the emotional reactions of baseball players
During a minor league baseball game in Tacoma, Washington, Cole Young was pulled aside and reportedly called to play in the big leagues.
“Broken-hit trade” is a roughly contradiction of major league baseball. In particular, two elite franchises are involved, but both are still competing and trying to chase after their bow sins.
So Rafael Devers is more than a Sunday night Shocker, sending a swap from the Boston Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants. The impact of this contract will likely have an immediate impact, perhaps through both organizations, assemble the final 90 games of both playoff hopes, and will be felt over the next decade.
Let’s take a look at the winners and losers from perhaps the largest and earliest trade since Mike Piazza was shipped from the Los Angeles Dodgers in May 1998.
winner
San Francisco Giants
Ah, what a winner. The Giants have been rejected by the correct fibre of John Leicester, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Shohaiotani and Carlos Correa in both trade and free agent negotiations over the past decade.
Now they don’t have to worry about being used as stalking horses next winter.
Devers has signed a contract for $238.5 million for eight more seasons. Plus, this year there will be a reallocation bonus of around $15 million and $2 million for the rest of the year.
If you ask the Giants if they can score around $250 million over eight years, how quickly would a silver slugger average 32 home runs and .873 OPS twice over the last four seasons, at just 28, say yes?
Certainly, the Giants have given up on young left-handed Kyle Harrison, and veteran Jordan Hicks, who has struggled to switch rotations and relief in recent years, and first-round pick James Tibbs in the 2024 round have a 0.857 OPS at High A but not young on that circuit at 22.
All of these elements are interchangeable. It has proven that seducing an elite bat to San Francisco is almost impossible. And one fell on the Giants’ lap.
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Buster Posey
It was eye-opening when he promoted himself from the arena to a baseball job for just four years with the blessing of ownership. Certainly he is a smart and passionate baseball guy, but how does this executive onboarding go?
Now, Posey proves that he is not afraid to roll the dice and burn the money of ownership.
The Giants went from Dark Horse to legal competitors this year. Their 41-30 recorded a mix of Farhan Zaidi Holdover, Posey tweaks, and perhaps a greater clarity and purpose that could become a future Hall of Fame pushing forward.
Posey has resolved the issue of “Superstar Slugger Missing”. He also bought a lot of goodwill from San Francisco fans. San Francisco fans were already idolizing him and were ready to deify him when he returned to the World Series.
Willie Adams
From Milwaukee’s batsman-friendly park to San Francisco, it was a struggle. The adjusted ops averaged .202 and 81 were difficult bags to carry on with the recently signed $182 million contract.
Now, all of the Adams suddenly are no longer the most risky huge gains, even at the best wages. Plus, the lineup’s shelter and perhaps a healthy Matt Chapman will remove a lot of heat and improve the quality of the pitch he sees.
Alex Bregman
The guy who started all this would probably be very rich. Bregman signed a three-year, $120 million contract with the opt-out pair, creating the Logjam that brought Devers’ hurt feelings, groping out the Red Sox situation and the ultimate trade of old men to the Giants.
And since joining Boston, he has created a playground at Fenway Park with 11 Homer, .938 OPS and 3.0 wars in just 51 games, but Quad’s injuries keep him out until almost the end of this month.
Now, imagine the Red Sox taking dever if the Red Sox don’t keep Bregman. The Red Sox had just opened up lots of cash to award Bregman, and also increased the need to keep him. ka-ching!
Raphael Dever
So after a spring training flap about moving to DH and an in-season flap about moving to first base after a seasonal injury at Triston Casus, it may never have worked out. However, after a slow start, Devers did nothing but Red Sox’s Mash with 15 Homer, .905 OPS and a lovely farewell gift. They missed Max Fried to secure a 2-0 victory for the Red Sox and a sweep for the Yankees.
Now he has the opportunity to press the update button and start a new relationship with another regime. The Red Sox were not worried about hurting Spring emotions when manager Alex Cora pointed out that Devers’ $313.5 million had been signed under another general manager. He is facing a strange situation in San Francisco. Great Matt Chapman is free for 3 bases, coming out around the All-Star break with a hand injury.
The club simply loosened its first baseman Lamonte Wade, and long-term vacancy is still over there.
Will Devers consider bounce back from 3 base to DH, or will they consider learning a new position at 1 base with a new club? The Red Sox certainly laugh at killing themselves if he does, but this is a fresh start. The ball is on his court.
loser
Boston Red Sox
Elite batters are not simply easy to swap. In a sarcastic sense, the Red Sox harvested what they needed from the shelter. He signed him from the Dominican Republic at the age of 16, and won the World Series with him five years later, and after embarrassment in the Mookie Betts Trade, he held him in a nine-figure deal, then moved in.
But even if you’re a highly rated prospect who hoards, there’s no substitute for a grown-up slugger who falls out of bed and hits 30 home runs. Boston will suffer from the pain of new core nonlinear growth over the next few years. Like bets, they may try to waste to replace Raffy in the next few years.
Craig Breslow
Certainly, the second year president of the baseball business has to own this. Like his predecessor, Chaim Bloom, he will be the one who has exchanged Mookies forever.
The nature of this stealth attack on the deal – literally, the whole industry was blind until just a few minutes before 7pm on Sunday, meaning Breslow pulled it apart in silence, but it didn’t bring about an overwhelming return to remove the Red Sox and his contract.
The Red Sox traded cornerstones for swingman left-handed (Harrison), flamethrower (Hicks) and minor league lottery tickets. Tibbs is probably key from a return perspective. He has 0.857 OPS and only 45 strikeouts on the High-A, but turns 23 in October and has some hurdles before bringing the left-handed bat to Fenway.
A year or two would be a good overall reading of Breslow’s tenure. If the deal buyer fails to pop and the Socks brawl in Devers’ absence, the tote board doesn’t look that good for Breslow.
The core of that great young Red Sox is credited to his predecessor, Bloom, but the Breslow administration is known as a group that failed to coexist with the superstar despite a highly publicized appearance in Kansas City.
Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Christian Campbell
Ah, yes, that amazing young core. This is exactly what they didn’t need as they embark on what all three should be a great career.
Now it’s all in a big club, and it shows the bouts of brilliance and frustration that come with a brilliant career. The game’s biggest batting prospects, Anthony was 17-17 years old in his first week.
A great infielder, Mayer has a game of two homers, but also has a strikeout rate of 31.5% on the appearance of 54 plates. Having signed an eight-year, $60 million contract in his first week in the majors, Campbell looked like the All-Star for the first month, but has the .157/.239/.223 line in his final 134 plate appearance.
Hey, it’s all fine. Children will develop in time and need some on-ramp to achieve the best version of themselves.
But do you know that they didn’t need it? Just like when the club got hot, the lineup anchors escaped, turning the fanbase glare into this young trio that is expected to become the future and more and more present.
They certainly are what they are, and in all three cases, it could be very great. However, challenging major league assimilation has become much more difficult.