The baseball gods certainly have one wicked sense of humor.
The Boston Red Sox made the staggering move on Sunday of trading away star slugger Rafael Devers. He was sent to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for a fairly underwhelming return package.
Boston had just played earlier in the day against the New York Yankees, winning by a 2-0 final score. One of those Red Sox runs came on a solo home run in the fifth inning by (who else?) Devers.
To celebrate the homer at the time, the Red Sox posted to their official X page with the message, “That is… GONE!” to go along with a graphic of Devers.
That is… GONE! pic.twitter.com/mi4lwcU65y
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 15, 2025
Absurdly enough though, it was Devers who was himself gone within just a few hours of that post. He homered at just after 3 PM EST, and the trade news broke at just before 7 PM EST.
A Devers trade might not have been entirely unpredictable, especially given the recent issues between the three-time All-Star and the Red Sox organization (culminating a few months ago with Devers publicly calling out the team). But the timing of the trade, especially with Devers still signed through the 2033 season, certainly caught many off-guard.
Ultimately, Boston will be hoping to benefit by getting off the over $250 million still remaining on Devers’ contract, which San Francisco is assuming in full. They also now no longer have the distraction of an unhappy franchise player (though that will likely come at the cost of true postseason contention for the 37-36 Red Sox).
