When Buster Posey took over as president of baseball operations for the San Francisco Giants late last year, he promised to rely on his playing pedigree as a three-time World Series-winning catcher to make the Giants relevant again.
Sunday, Posey followed through on that promise. He obtained Rafael Devers in a mega-trade with the Boston Red Sox, giving the Giants a big left-handed power bat in the lineup for the first time since Barry Bonds finished his career with the team in 2007.
Devers, 28, has already hit 215 home runs in his nine-year career – at least 30 homers twice. The Giants haven’t had a 30-homer hitter in a single season since Bonds smacked 45 in 2004. Bonds is the all-time MLB leader with 762.
“We’re obviously excited about adding one of the best hitters in all of Major League Baseball to our lineup,” Posey told writers after Sunday night’s game in Los Angeles, where the Giants lost to the Dodgers, 5-4, at Dodger Stadium. “We’d been in conversations for a few weeks and felt there was some momentum.”
The Giants were tied last week with the Dodgers, if for only one day, before losing the final two games of the series. They are now two games out and the Dodgers have 14 pitchers on the injured list. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is expected to return to the mound to start Monday’s game, a year and nine months after his second Tommy John surgery.
The Giants haven’t been this close to the lead since winning the 2021 NL West by one game over the Dodgers, who wound up defeating their rivals in a tough five-game NL Division Series. Afterwards, battered and beaten, Posey retired from the playing field and later became one of the club’s many minority partners, an equity position he still maintains.
For the Dodgers it was the only time since 2012 they failed to win the division title, and the Giants haven’t made the playoffs since.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, continue to purge high-priced home-grown talent: Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and now Devers, who helped them win the 2018 World Series over the Dodgers. All three players now reside in the NL West, continuing a transfer of power and resources from the American League East.
Betts was traded to the Dodgers, Bogaerts signed with the Padres as a free agent, and Devers is now gone, traded for two Major League pitchers—Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks, and a pair of minor leaguers. Boston got virtually nothing in the 2020 Betts trade, with only catcher Connor Wong remaining on the big-league roster.
By not attempting to re-sign Betts, who has helped the Dodgers to a pair of World Series titles since the trade, they put all their money into Devers, signing him to a 10-year, $313.5 million contract.
The Giants inherit the final eight-plus years of that deal bringing their overall payroll to $210.3 million, 13th in MLB, but about half of the $405.4 million the league-leading Dodgers are spending.
They also inherit the situation that seemingly chased Devers out of Boston—his reluctance to change positions when needed this season. He was the regular Red Sox third baseman until they moved him to DH after signing Alex Bregman in the offseason. But when Tristan Casas injured his left knee and was lost for the season, Devers refused to move again to fill the gap at first base.
In San Francisco, incumbent third baseman Matt Chapman is out for at least a few weeks after jamming three fingers on his right hand sliding headfirst into a base. Thus, Devers can start there and DH, but the Giants have their biggest problem trying to fill a void at first base.
Posey said he’s not worried about what transpired with Devers in Boston, and the Giants, led by veteran manager Bob Melvin, will re-start that discussion.
“The reports I’ve gotten from other people across the industry is that Rafi’s a great teammate,” Posey said. “[He} loves to play the game, and we’re excited to have those conversations with him and figure out how he’s going to best fit into our lineup defensively and offensively.”
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