Devers' Oracle arrival leads to surreal day for Giants organization originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — The scene was a familiar one in a lot of ways, but also absolutely surreal.
When new Giants star Rafael Devers walked into Oracle Park, he was accompanied by smoke machines and a camera crew. Every video board around him, along with the $10 million scoreboard, included his face and a message welcoming him to a new city. The team officials who followed his every step had traded quarter-zips for suits and ties.
The press conference was held on the club level at Oracle Park in the exact same spot where, last year, the Giants introduced Buster Posey as president of baseball operations and Willy Adames as their shortstop and — briefly — the highest-paid player in franchise history. It was attended by dozens of reporters, some of whom had not covered a Giants game since Posey was in the squat. There also were multiple reporters who had flown in from Boston three days ahead of the Red Sox.
The scene, in many ways, resembled exactly what the Giants had planned for Carlos Correa two and a half years earlier. Except this time, it was another MLB All-Star coming over from the American League. And there was one other crucial detail that was different.
It was June 17.
A lot of Tuesday afternoon’s festivities at Oracle Park fit in with the way the Giants traditionally have welcomed their stars, but there was nothing normal about this. You’re not supposed to be able to acquire a hitter like Devers in June, and if you’re the Giants, you’re not really supposed to be able to acquire a hitter like him, period.
But there he was, sitting alongside Posey, with Barry Bonds watching from the front row.
“San Francisco Giants fans love great players,” Posey said in prepared remarks. “Great players have the ability to transcend generations, and Rafael Devers is one of those players.”
In introducing Devers, Posey talked of the organization’s Hall of Famers but also informal conversations that scouts often have. They try to figure out if a guy is a dude or “A Dude.” Devers, Posey said, is clearly in the camp of guys you build a franchise around.
“Rafael Devers is A Dude,” Posey said. “He’s been to the top, he has won it all, and we can’t wait to watch him help us bring a World Series back to San Francisco.”
Devers had one in Boston, but his run there ended poorly. The situation became so untenable earlier this season that the Red Sox were willing to play along with the Giants, who pushed for a resolution to talks well before others might get involved at the MLB trade deadline. The deal was finalized minutes before Sunday’s game at Dodger Stadium, and on Monday, Devers flew to San Francisco. A day later, he walked into the ballpark with a huge smile on his face.
The theme from Devers’ end was that he’s thrilled with how this all played out. He shrugged off questions about his time in Boston and the way it ended, saying his preference is to focus on what’s ahead. He told manager Bob Melvin that he’ll play anywhere after refusing to move to first base for Red Sox manager Alex Cora. Shortly after 4 p.m., he walked across the infield to take grounders at a new position.
All of it, every moment of his first day, included a crowd. The cameras surrounded the cage as he started taking BP, with Bonds coming out to take a glimpse and offer some advice. Devers plans to take advantage of that perk often.
“I went to say hi to him and then I got really nervous,” he told NBC Sports Bay Area. “I know that eventually I’ll get comfortable and I’ll start asking questions. He’s the greatest hitter in the big leagues so you have to take advantage and ask questions.”
Logan Webb, Hayden Birdsong and Landen Roupp lingered after their own workouts to watch Devers hit for the first time. Even after others had departed, Webb stood on the edge of the grass, a glove and football in his hand as he studied his new teammate.
It never looks like this at the ballpark on June 17, but this day became a celebration. The first question about Boston during the press conference was met with some booing from team employees who stood in packs at the back of the room. Devers’ more fan-friendly answers were met with applause, and when he skirted one question, some team employees cheered enthusiastically. At one point, an answer was interrupted by an excited team employee who was talking loudly on a balcony located a level above.
This certainly is what it would have looked and sounded like with Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, although there was a key difference Tuesday. Because the transaction happened in-season, all of Devers’ new teammates took an elevator up to the club level to watch from tables set 50 feet from the stage.
The stage was exactly where the Giants once had expected to introduce Correa, and had that happened, none of Tuesday would have been possible. Devers sat behind a podium with owner Greg Johnson, Posey, general manager Zack Minasian and Melvin. The latter three almost certainly would not be in those positions had Correa passed his physical. The Giants ultimately committed about $100 million less to Devers than they had planned to with Correa.
In recent years, the Giants have held more huge press gatherings to hire and fire execs and managers than to introduce marquee players, but things are changing. Among that crowd on the club level sat Jung Hoo Lee, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, all of whom have agreed to spend their primes hitting at Oracle Park.
Since the Bonds press conference three decades ago — likely the last for the Giants that had this sort of atmosphere — the organization has had trouble convincing stars to play in San Francisco. Devers had no choice because it was a trade, but that didn’t matter at all Tuesday.
The surreal day for the organization was his first as a Giant, and it wasn’t hard to read his emotions about all that has happened. After 72 hours that reshaped two franchises and altered the course of his career, Devers was all smiles.
“It was really crazy, it happened so fast,” Devers said. “I’m just happy to be here.”
