Philly Front Office

On Saturday, the Boston Red Sox traded their best player to the NL West…AGAIN. Instead of Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers for nothing, this time it was Rafael Devers going to the San Francsico Giants for basically nothing (Jordan Hicks, former top prospect Kyle Harrison, outfield/first base prospect James Tibbs and pitching prospect Jose Bello). This is a bullshit trade that the Red Sox will say was for both baseball and locker room reasons. It was for money reasons. That’s what Boston does. Let’s take a look.

The Money

With one year of team control remaining, on January 4, 2023 the Boston Red Sox signed then 26 year old Rafael Devers to a 10/$313.5m contract. This includes $75m in deferred money, showing that Devers was loyal to the cause in Boston. He signed a below market deal with team friendly terms in order to build a Red Sox winner.

After paying about 1.5 years of this contract (plus his final arb year), the Red Sox are cutting bait. The Giants have been attempting to throw their money at players for years now, losing out on Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge, only to come up short. They took the decision out of the player’s hands by trading for the money instead. They finally got the bat they have been missing since…Barry Bonds?

There is still 8.5 years and $276.5(ish)m left on the contract including deferrals. For that pretty solid contract, the Giants are getting a guy who has already racked up 2.3 WAR without fielding so far this season in what has turned out to be his best year at the plate so far. His 153 OPS+ is a personal best and right around top 10 in baseball. He is currently 2nd in the majors in walks, 6th in doubles, 3rd in RBIs, and 6th in OBP. The guy can hit and hits when he needs to.

The Bullshit

The Red Sox ownership group is rich as all hell. Fenway sports group owns the team, the stadium, the Pittsburgh Penguins, a NASCAR team, Liverpool, their stadium, and most of the regional sports network NESN. Don’t take them as a fun loving sports collective, these enterprises are all run at a profit. Sure, competing is good for business, but not at the expense of losing any bit of money. They have no feelings and do not care about the fans even a little bit. This is not opinion.

Let’s go back to the offseason before 2011. The Red Sox traded for and extended first baseman Adrian Gonzalez with a 7/$154m contract. They also signed Carl Crawford to a 7/$142m contract and Josh Beckett to a 4/$68m contract. After a damn near MVP first season in Boston (6.9 WAR, .338 avg.), Gonzalez was dealt to the Dodgers midseason the next year along with the underperforming Crawford and Beckett for practically nothing. Yup, they sold their MVP candidate to ditch the other two salaries.

Nine years after the Gonzalez debacle, it was time for an extension for superstar and one of the top players of his generation, Mookie Betts. Betts’ 2018 season is one of the best of all time. In the last 75 years, his 10.7 WAR that season ranks only behind Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Aaron Judge, Cal Ripken, and Joe Morgan for position players. Instead of paying him, the Red Sox traded him to the Dodgers again along with David Price for basically nothing. Price had signed a 7/$217m contract with Boston a few years earlier but his production had recently fallen off a cliff due to injuries. Yup, again, to get rid of the bad Price contract and avoid paying Betts, they threw away one of the two best players of his generation (Trout).

In a very weird move, the Red Sox basically took the money that they could have given Betts and gave it to Devers. They couldn’t face their fans after getting rid of both of them could they? Well, not all at once apparently. This season started by Boston giving third baseman Alex Bregman too much money. Devers was their third baseman, but after a down year offensively and basically no market, they gave Bregman 3/$120m. Astounding. Wait, why on Earth would they do that?

Only the Astros were rumored to be in on Bregman at the time, but even they had basically moved on. Still, Boston gave him that contract that includes a crazy $20m in deferred money each season. He basically signed a 1/$40m contract with 2 player option years. I’m not saying this is a bad contract (it is kind of awesome), but it seems like the seed to get rid of Devers had been planted.

The Red Sox famously never discussed moving their best player off the hot corner before signing the better fielding Bregman. They had to know this would cause an issue. He reluctantly moved to DH where he was told he would stay. Then they told him to move to 1st base when Tristan Casas went down. Again, the team was moving him without asking and no discussion. Not doing what is necessary for your team is the easiest way for fans to turn against you. He was instantly labeled a “malcontent” and gave the team cover to move him. All too easy.

How did he go from signing a team friendly deal that allowed Boston to spend less in tax money AND save face following the Betts trade to being a malcontent in 2 years? Is it more likely that he completely changed his personality in that time or that he was promised something by Boston’s old GM and that promise was not honored by the new GM? The whole situation reeks of you doing a great job at work, then new leadership comes in and wants to bring in their own people. There is no doubt you are getting fired and there is nothing you can do about it. The minute the Red Sox signed Bregman, it was the end for Devers.

I’m not saying Boston doesn’t know what they are doing, considering they won a championship in 2013 and another with Betts in 2018, but this team should still have Betts right now! The Dodgers won two titles with him since the trade. They act like a mid-market team because they can, not because they have to. Ask any Red Sox fan if they

The Phillies

Now that I got that off my chest, let’s talk about how this affects the Phillies.

First, Dave Dombrowski had to be in on this move in some way. If the Phillies were in on Yamamoto last year for $300m+ then they would have made it work for Devers. Alec Bohm would have gone to the Dodgers probably with Justin Crawford and maybe Ranger Suarez. I think the Phillies do that deal no problem and it is already better than what the Giants gave up. There’s just one big issue, the Red Sox hate Dombrowski. Even though he built the 2018 championship team, he was run out of town the next season. I’m sure the whole Noah Song thing didn’t help matters. If you are wondering why the Phillies weren’t in on Devers, it might be because of the money but it was probably because of the lingering grudge.

Second, are the Giants better than us? SF is kind of improbably one of the better teams in baseball. They are currently 2.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West at 10 games over .500. Still, they rank 9th in the NL in runs scored. Their lineup, even after signing Willie Adames, is frankly putrid. If not for their insane bullpen and solid pitching staff, they wouldn’t be able to win any games. Yes, they now have Devers, but there isn’t anyone else in the lineup who puts any fear in you. Matt Chapman is solid, Adames has struggled, and Heliot Ramos has been a surprise. They definitely needed a star, but they still can’t hit.

The addition tightens up the NL West race, but SF was already playing above their means. I still see the Phillies in the top 3 in the NL along with the Mets and Dodgers. I guess that is the real silver lining of this deal, at least he isn’t in LA (or NY) like all the rest of Boston’s stars.