Within a week of the blockbuster Rafael Devers trade, his ex-team rolls into town…
Tributaries will branch their way out from the headwaters of the Rafael Devers trade for years to come, and over that time, the San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox organizations will be linked.
The transaction shocked the baseball world, drawing ire, praise, skepticism from both fanbases. From those in the industry, the trade to seemed to favor the Giants in the present, but has the potential to swing for the Red Sox dependent on how prospects develop, the addition of a third pitch by Kyle Harrison, and how Boston’s front office invests all the money they just freed up by unloading a multi-million dollar contract.
But right now, we are in the present. No one in the quartet of traded Giants will suit up and play in the away-grays of Boston over the weekend. After his acquisition, Harrison was immediately sent down to Triple-A Worcester. The injured Jordan Hicks threw a live BP session on Thursday, will pitch on a rehab assignment next week, and eventually join Boston’s bullpen. Outfielder James Tibbs was assigned to Double-A Portland, and starting pitcher Jose Bello is playing rookie ball.
That just leaves Devers as the only present and physical representative of what went down. All eyes will be on him, and the fact that he is playing, contributing to the Giants at a Major League level, is a victory, no matter how small. So put on our rose-colored and extremely myopic lenses and celebrate, we won the trade by a landslide! Maybe over the weekend we can all forget about the talent lost, the salary burden gained, and just pretend Boston let us have Devers for free. It wouldn’t be the craziest thing that franchise has done.
It’s always an effective strategy to eliminate an opposing team’s best hitter from their line-up, and it’s an even better trick when you can magic that bat into your own line-up. A nifty sleight of hand pulled by Buster, now will it buy the Giants a sweep? a series win?
San Francisco has dropped two series in a row while Boston has won the last four. They won 5 of 6 games against the Yankees including a sweep at Fenway. The Red Sox are hot, winning 8 of their last ten. Now again, the majority of those wins were with Devers cementing the center of their line-up, but the Sox haven’t cracked or fallen apart in his absence. Three games into this post-trade reality, and they’ve won two of them (@ Seattle); the Giants, with Devers, won only one!
Is Devers a barrel of toxic waste…or has not enough time passed to weigh the true consequences of the move? Probably the latter…
The Red Sox have been finding offensive production elsewhere, and not from who’d you expect. 2024 All-Star Jarren Duran isn’t doing much (97 wRC+), nor is MLB’s number-1 ranked prospect Roman Anthony, who has been hitting exclusively against right-handers for platoon advantage, yet still owns just a .074 BA with a 14 wRC+ in 31 PA. The hot hands are a more peripheral bunch. Carlos Narváez, Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro have all logged an .800-plus OPS with a 130+ wRC+ in June. Then there’s Trevor Story, who is finally having a Boston moment in his fourth year on the team. His Red Sox tenure has been an injury-riddled disaster. His max number of games played in a season is 94. He made just 274 trips to the plate over the 2023 and 2024 seasons. After managing a major slump in May (.158 BA, 13 wRC+), Story is hitting .283 (60 AB) with a 127 wRC+ so far this month.
All in all, none of these numbers are ascendent, nor should they strike fear in any of San Francisco’s arms. What should worry the Giants is Boston’s starting pitching, which is a bit surprising considering how poorly their rotation has performed overall in 2025. Their rotation ERA and WHIP both rank 23rd in the Majors, their H/9 ranks 26th, their BB/9 18th and HR/9 16th.
Their only truly dominant arm, southpaw Garrett Crochet, pitched on Wednesday — lucky for the Giants. Unlucky for the Giants — projected starter Hunter Dobbins has been just as solid in his last handful of starts. He limited the New York offense to just two Aaron Judge homers over two games and 11 IP. Batters have struggled to become baserunners against Dobbins, hitting just .170 with a 0.75 WHIP in June. His low K-rate is balanced out with a low BB-rate, and an elevated ground ball rate that has helped produce a .159 BABIP (note: home runs are not considered “balls in play”).
Brayan Bello, with his Webb-like mix of sinker-sweeper-change, has also generated ground ball after ground ball. His season’s 53% GB-percentage is in the 89th percentile and in June, that number is flirting with 60%. The 26-year old is known to get in his own way. The walk rate is high, and he doesn’t often go deep in games. He went five consecutive starts in May without pitching through the 5th inning. But in June, Bello has turned things around, logging three quality starts, including seven scoreless innings against New York.
Based on how the Giants are hitting and the Sox’s projected starters are pitching, this series will probably play out like many others. We’ve watched the same game over and over again, with the same basic questions hanging over their heads. Can the Giants string together some hits? Will Wilmer Flores’s clutch double inspire them to put together some more productive at-bats with runners in scoring position, or will Willy Adames’ struggles, who hasn’t had a hit with a runner in scoring position since May 23rd, win out? Imagine the delicious communal schadenfreude we’d experience if Devers lashed out at the plate against his former team. Emotions tend to elevate in these kinds of match-ups, especially with the feelings so fresh. No better time than the present to launch his first homer in his new duds. A splash hit would be a nice cherry…
I hope he plays first base in every game.
Series Overview
Boston Red Sox
39 – 37, W1, Last 10: 8 – 2
Away: 17 – 20, .500>: 22 – 21, RS – RA: 358 – 340
San Francisco Giants
42 – 33, W1, Last 10: 5 – 5
Home: 23 – 13, .500>: 23 – 24, RS – RA: 315 – 272
Schedule & Projected Starters
Friday, June 20th @ 7:15 PM (PT)
Hunter Dobbins, RHP – 3.74 ERA (11 GS, 55.1 IP)
vs.
Hayden Birdsong, RHP – 2.79 ERA (16 G, 5 GS, 48.1 IP)
Saturday, June 21st @ 1:05 PM (PT)
Brayan Bello, RHP – 3.49 ERA (11 GS, 59.1 IP)
vs.
Landen Roupp, RHP – 3.99 ERA (14 GS, 70 IP)
Sunday, June 22nd @ 1:05 PM (PT)
Lucas Giolito, RHP – 4.73 ERA (9 GS, 45.2 IP)
vs.
Robbie Ray, LHP – 2.68 ERA (15 GS, 87.1 IP)