Boston Red Sox fans have seen this movie before.
The Red Sox traded their franchise player to another marquee MLB team for a relatively meager return. The statement applies just as well in February 2020, when Boston traded Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers, as it does in June 2025, when Boston agreed to send Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants.
Full details on the Devers trade can be found here.
Red Sox supporters went through the full gamut of emotions after news of the Devers deal became public. Many had flashbacks to when the team dealt Betts over five years ago.
Red Sox may have just made two of the worst trades in baseball the last 10 years
— Jake (@D1SCHER) June 15, 2025
Mookie and Devers for actual bags of chips
The Red Sox really said to themselves, “I know it’s been five years and everyone already hates us for it and thinks we’re complete idiots, but how do we make the Mookie Betts trade look even worse? I got it. Let’s trade Rafael Devers a year and a half into his 10-year deal.”
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) June 16, 2025
Thinking Devers was a Sox lifer after experiencing the Mookie trade pic.twitter.com/5CO4NrkS9U
— Z 🇯🇲 (@FinsAreFrauds) June 15, 2025
Others considered the future rather than the past, with fans lamenting the middling pitchers meant to replace Devers’ immense value to the team.
You traded 2 hall of famers in the span of 5 years for Alex verdugo, Connor Wong, Jeter downs, Jordan hicks, and Kyle Harrison
— KutterIsKing (@KutterIsKing) June 15, 2025
One of the main pieces of the Rafael Devers trade
— AT (@YankeeWRLD) June 15, 2025
Actual tears streaming down my face pic.twitter.com/EhhrFDyfJd
Jordan Hicks is 5-12 with a 4.83 ERA and 1.478 WHIP since the start of the 2024 season.
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) June 15, 2025
Kyle Harrison has a 4.48 ERA in 39 career MLB outings. A 4.32 ERA in Triple-A.
Tibbs is an outfield prospect in high-A ball.
Jose Bello is in rookie ball.
Crazy trade. https://t.co/815TYl2Cyd
Devers spent his first nine MLB seasons with the Red Sox. He earned three All-Star nods and received MVP votes in five different campaigns. The 28-year-old .279 with a career OPS of .858 across over a thousand games in a Red Sox uniform.
The Dominican slugger was in the second year of the 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed with Boston in 2023. At the time, Red Sox fans would have never predicted Devers to be gone before even reaching a fifth of his deal.
Devers had been feuding with the Red Sox brass since the offseason over the team’s decision to move him from third base to DH. The strain caused by the internal disagreements likely had a hand in Devers being put on the trading block.
