Win-now Giants made a win-now trade for Rafael Devers: Why San Francisco needed to make the deal to compete
The Giants have famously struggled to lure free-agent hitters for years
When the opportunity arose, the San Francisco Giants pounced. The Giants have a deal in place to acquire star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox for a four-player package, and they're taking on the $260 million or so owed to Devers through 2033. Rather than wait to see how the trade market would develop leading into the deadline, the Giants acted now.
"I think there's pressure to put this team in a position to win ball games because, as you mentioned, the pitching staff is really good and I believe that's going to continue through the year," Giants POBO Buster Posey said a few weeks ago on Giants Talk. "Yeah, I think there's urgency from everybody to provide these guys with run support."
For the Giants, the trade was a no-brainer, and that's even while acknowledging they're taking on a ton of money for a player who is essentially a DH, even if San Francisco puts him back on the infield at some point. Devers has 15 home runs this year, one more than all Giants' lefty hitters combined. Their offense has been sorely lacking:
| Giants | MLB rank | |
|---|---|---|
Runs per game | 4.30 | 14th |
Batting average | .233 | 25th |
On-base percentage | .311 | 21st |
Slugging percentage | .376 | 23rd |
Home runs | 69 | 21st |
Devers started the season very slowly. Slowly as in 0 for 19 with 15 strikeouts in his first five games. Since then, Devers is hitting .292/.417/.532 with 18 doubles and 14 homers in 68 games, and the underlying numbers (exit velocity, barrel rate, etc.) are elite. Very few hitters can produce this loudly, and those who can rarely become available. They're franchise building blocks.
There are three reasons the Giants couldn't say no to Devers. First and foremost, the Giants are in the postseason race this season and they badly needed a bat. They came into Sunday one game behind the heavily favored Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West (+700 to win the division, per DraftKings), and they're sitting in the wild-card spot. To get a postseason berth, never mind jump the Dodgers, they needed more offense.
Secondly, the Giants do have to win right now. This is not an especially young team built to win over the long haul. Robbie Ray is 33. Matt Chapman is 32. Willy Adames and Ryan Walker are 29. Logan Webb is 28. San Francisco's core is in its prime and ready to win right now. Devers will turn 29 later this year. He's a star player in his prime joining other prime-aged players.
Winning the World Series is really, really hard. You don't just need the best players. You need the best players and you need them to stay healthy, and you need them performing at their best at the same time. The prime years of your core players have to be aligned and Devers fits San Francisco's timeline perfectly. He's a ready-to-win player on a ready-to-win team.
And third, the Giants have had an awfully hard time attracting star players to San Francisco, at least in part due to spacious Oracle Park. Hitters don't like playing there. Years ago, Giancarlo Stanton used his no-trade clause to block a deal to the Giants. Bryce Harper said no when he was a free agent. Aaron Judge flirted with the Giants, but ultimately just used them as leverage.
The Adames and Jung Hoo Lee contracts were widely considered overpays, but that's what it took to lure them to San Francisco. Either the Giants could overpay and get the player, or they could offer market value and watch him go elsewhere. Signing elite free-agent hitters just isn't something the Giants are able to do. They've thrown money at countless guys over the years.
With Devers, it was a perfect storm of a player and his team at odds, a contract few teams would want, and the player not having any say in the matter. There was no no-trade clause to navigate. The Red Sox were reportedly unhappy with Devers after all the fuss about moving from third base to DH, and then not moving from DH to first base. Without that, do they move him? Probably not.
The stars aligned for the Giants to nab Devers, an imperfect but excellent player, and they simply couldn't pass it up. They need offense right now, in 2025, and luring top hitters to Oracle Park is never easy. The Giants were able to add an impact hitter who matches up with their contention window, and they did it without giving up anything off their current roster they'll miss.
Down the line, there will probably be pain as the salaries climb and Devers enters his 30s, but the Giants can't wait around. Webb is an ace now, Adames and Chapman are two-way contributors now, and a postseason berth is there for the taking now. The win-now Giants added a win-now player, the kind of player who has said no to San Francisco too many times in recent years.
