Category: Sports News

Giants' Devers trade receives mixed reviews from MLB execs, scouts originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Many executives from around the MLB had mixed reactions to the Giants’ shocking trade with the Boston Red Sox for slugger Rafael Devers.

The trade provided San Francisco with a serious offensive upgrade, but many American League scouts were less than enthused about the Giants picking up such a hefty contract.

“The ‘Hey, since we can’t get a good deal on a free agent, let’s get a questionable one so that we have one’ logic is suspect to me,” an AL executive told The Athletic. “(The) Red Sox unloaded an arguably underwater contract of a disgruntled DH for a whole lot of value. They did good. Really good. I am not happy.”

After months of offensive struggles, San Francisco president of baseball operations Buster Posey decided it was time for a big shakeup, sending pitchers Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and prospects James Tibbs III and Jose Bello to Boston.

The Devers trade gives the Giants a legitimate home run threat, though the team will take on the remainder of his massive 10-year, $313.5 million contract that he signed in January of 2023.

“Is it possible to not like this for either side?” an AL evaluator said to The Athletic. “San Francisco is taking on an awful contract that will age poorly, while Boston has to move on from a homegrown star because they mangled the relationship.”

With San Francisco expected to pay more than $250 million remaining on the Devers contract, the franchise is hoping his clutch power hitting can make an immediate difference. While the Giants have had a great start to the year, to keep pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers, another power bat was needed.

“Buster is in it to win it. He said he was getting a bat, (and) he did,” an AL scout told The Athletic. “Boston did the best they could. But the fact that they are in this position is mind-boggling. I hope they fall hard. A club like that should not be in the business of trading stars on a habitual level. Do they just love drama?”

The 28-year-old hit .272 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI in 73 games for the Red Sox during the 2025 MLB season and is expected to be the designated hitter for the Giants.

Devers was one of the key pieces to Boston’s 2018 World Series championship team, but dysfunction within the organization paved the way for the Red Sox to ship him to the West Coast.

With Devers set to make his Giants debut against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday at Oracle Park, it won’t be immediately apparent who won the trade. Still, Posey and the San Francisco front office believe he is the missing piece that will unlock a deep playoff run this season and beyond.

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How Devers said goodbye to Red Sox after stunning Giants trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• Editor’s Note: Watch Rafael Devers’ Giants introductory press conference from Oracle Park at 2:30 p.m. PT on NBC Sports Bay Area and streaming here.

Rafael Devers did not have much time to say goodbye to his Boston Red Sox teammates and coaches after he found out he was traded to the Giants in a stunning blockbuster move.

In fact, Devers found out as the team boarded a plane to Seattle on Sunday before the team pulled him off the flight.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora spoke to reporters on Monday and revealed what took place during Devers’ final moments with the team after he found out about the trade.

“He shook our hands and took off,” Cora said. (h/t MassLive’s Christopher Smith)

Devers spent eight-plus seasons with the Red Sox and established himself as a beloved franchise icon before the shocking trade to San Francisco. However, the 28-year-old’s relationship with the team soured this season after he was asked to transition from third base to designated hitter, and then to first base, which he reportedly refused.

“There’s some reasons that it didn’t work out, right?” Cora added. “And I don’t want to pinpoint stuff, whatever. But the last few months hasn’t been easy, right? We made decisions in the offseason. Circumstances have changed the last month. And that’s a decision we made as an organization. Now Raffy’s gonna be with the Giants. And like I said, we have to turn the page and be ready for this team.

“Obviously the guy means so much to that group. He means so much to the organization, to the city of Boston. I’m not gonna hide it. But at the same time, we gotta show up. We’re playing good baseball.”

Cora took to Instagram to share one final parting message for Devers, a player he grew close with over the years.

Devers now will begin the next chapter of his already impressive MLB career with the Giants, and could make his San Francisco debut as soon as Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians at Oracle Park before his former team comes to town for a three-game series beginning Friday.

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Amid the Devers fallout, Red Sox keep winning and climb into playoff spot originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The most interesting storylines involving the Boston Red Sox are off the field, specifically the stunning Rafael Devers trade and what it means for the team going forward.

The Red Sox traded the face of their franchise to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday for a package of four players deemed by many experts to be a bit underwhelming. However, they did manage to offload the entirety of the $254 million remaining on Devers’ contract, which gives the Red Sox some financial flexibility to make other roster upgrades.

Despite all the drama and reports of dysfunction surrounding the Devers story, on the field the Red Sox just keep winning.

The Red Sox’s first game post-Devers trade was Monday night in Seattle, where they beat the Mariners 2-0 in an outing highlighted by top prospect Roman Anthony’s first career home run. Boston now has a season-high six-game win streak and eight wins in its last 10 games.

As a result, the Red Sox woke up Tuesday morning in a playoff spot with a 38-36 record. They currently occupy the third and final American League wild card berth, but their lead over the Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins is just a half-game.

Despite being in a playoff spot, FanGraphs’ model gives the Red Sox just a 34 percent chance of reaching the playoffs. The Red Sox’s remaining schedule is the fifth-hardest of the 15 AL teams, based on their opponents’ .506 combined win percentage, per Tankathon.

The two teams ahead of the Red Sox in the wild card race are a pair of division rivals — the Tampa Bay Rays (first wild card) and Toronto Blue Jays (second wild card). The Red Sox have seven games left against the Rays and six games left against the Blue Jays, so they’ll get plenty of chances to pick up ground on those teams.

Losing Devers’ bat is a tough setback for the Red Sox lineup. He’s a top 20 hitter and came up clutch in important moments. That said, the Red Sox should have enough offense to remain in the playoff race the rest of the season. They rank No. 2 among AL teams in runs scored and No. 5 in batting average.

Whether the Red Sox end their playoff drought likely will come down to starting pitching. Will someone join Garrett Crochet and become a consistent performer every five days. If the Red Sox are serious about playing meaningful games in October, adding another quality starter would be an impactful move.

Stott hyperextends right elbow in Phillies' win originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Bryson Stott hyperextended his right elbow on his second-to-last swing of Monday’s 5-2 Phillies win over the Marlins and it sounds like he will be out of the lineup Tuesday.

Stott twisted himself onto a knee swinging hard at an 85 mph, low-and-in Cade Gibson slider and needed a few minutes, walking around in circles trying to shake the discomfort out of the arm. He was visited by manager Rob Thomson and a trainer but stayed in the game, grounding out on the next pitch and playing the final half-inning in the field.

Edmundo Sosa will likely start at second base Tuesday against Marlins right-hander Cal Quantrill.

Stott dealt with a nagging nerve injury in his right elbow throughout 2024. He suffered that injury last May, also in Miami, and felt it hindered his performance the rest of the season. Manager Rob Thomson told reporters postgame he was unsure if the hyperextension was related to that issue, which hadn’t visibly affected Stott so far this season.

The 27-year-old is still playing elite defense at second base but is the Phillies’ coldest hitter. Stott is at .236/.300/.329, numbers even lower than last year’s disappointing .245/.315/.356. In 2023, his best season, he hit .280/.329/.419, and that is the range where Stott needs to be. His selectivity and ability to work a count are positives but he has a .313 career on-base percentage in 1,948 plate appearances, slightly below the league average of .315 over that four-year period.

Sosa, too, has slumped over the last month. He was hitting .386 through May 20 but is 4-for-38 (.105) without an extra-base hit since.

These are three more highly winnable games in Miami even if the Phillies have to play a man short for a couple of days. The Phils have their three lefties — Jesus Luzardo, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez — going Thursday through Sunday against a Marlins team that has homered just once every 66 plate appearances vs. southpaws.

The Phillies have won five in a row since losing 10 of 12, scoring nearly seven runs a night during the streak.

Giants made difficult decision to part with Harrison in Devers trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

LOS ANGELES — Buster Posey has made no secret of the fact that he believes there’s a way to win consistently at Oracle Park. He grew up in this game with Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, and he has talked repeatedly in recent months about the depth of young starting pitching that the Giants once again have.

On a seven-minute call with beat reporters on Sunday night, Posey brought it up again. He believes in building around pitching, and he believed in left-hander Kyle Harrison. But he also saw an opportunity that was too good to pass up. 

It was going to hurt in some way to acquire Rafael Devers, and the Giants had to part with a 23-year-old who is about 15 months removed from being widely considered the best left-handed pitching prospect in the game.

“Kyle Harrison is a guy that has tremendous upside,” Posey said. “He’s shown this year that he’s 95-98 (mph). I’ve been very outspoken about what I believe the foundation of success is for an organization: It’s pitching and defense, so to give up a guy like that is not an easy thing for us. Obviously, the Red Sox and (lead executive) Craig Breslow value that type of arm, as well.”

Harrison was pulled off the field just minutes before what would have been his fifth start in place of the injured Justin Verlander. The right-hander will be back from pec discomfort on Wednesday, but there was no guarantee that it would have been Harrison who would have returned to the bullpen. Behind closed doors, the Giants were discussing whether he should stick in the rotation and another young starter should be removed. 

The discussion now will be about how to get through the second half, when Landen Roupp likely will hit an innings limit. The Giants figure to lean on left-hander Carson Whisenhunt, and his strong year in Triple-A made it easier to pull the trigger on parting with Harrison. 

Whisenhunt is a top-100 prospect as well, but few Giants in recent memory have reached the level of hype that accompanied Harrison. He was a top-25 prospect in the minors and twice pitched in the Futures Game, and for a while, the Giants thought he would be the long-term partner for Logan Webb. 

Webb and Harrison are close, with the ace becoming a mentor for the young lefty. On Sunday, Webb said he was excited to add a top-10 hitter to the lineup, but admitted the trade was bittersweet. He spoke with Harrison in the clubhouse and later said he relayed a simple message: “Go be a star over there.”

“You guys have heard me talk about Kyle before. I’m the biggest believer in him,” Webb said. “He gets to go learn from some really good pitchers. You’ve got (Walker) Buehler over there, (Garrett) Crochet, (Brayan) Bello. You’ve got (pitching coach) Andrew Bailey over there.

“I think it’s a good landing spot for him and I think he’s going to be great. I told him I’ll be a friend for life.”

As Harrison departed, Webb asked if he would still be a neighbor in the Scottsdale area. Harrison moved there as a prospect so he could train near the team’s facility all winter, but his future now is up in the air. He told Webb he wasn’t sure what’s ahead of him, but the immediate move from the Red Sox was to option him to Triple-A, which will prevent him from facing the Giants this weekend at Oracle Park. 

At some point soon, though, the Red Sox will slide him into their rotation. Harrison was said by those close to him to be happy with the opportunity to grow with a young core of talented position players, and short-term, the trade will come with an unexpected perk. His younger brother, Bear, is a talented Texas A&M catcher who will spend the summer in the Cape Cod League, playing only about 90 minutes from Fenway Park.

It’s been a chaotic few months for Harrison, who got a late start to camp, but the Red Sox are hopeful he can build off his recent success. He had a 4.56 ERA for the Giants, but there were flashes of his past dominance in May, and his fastball was back into the mid-to-upper nineties. 

If Harrison can develop a consistent breaking ball, that part of the trade might come back to sting the Giants. They based just about their entire 2020 draft around Harrison, a De La Salle alum who was taken in the third round but signed well over slot as a way to keep him in the Bay Area and away from UCLA. 

Farhan Zaidi thought Harrison would be a star, and it was easy to see that path when he debuted as a 22-year-old in 2023 and struck out 11 Cincinnati Reds in his first start at Oracle Park. The Red Sox had been eyeing Harrison for a while, too, and while the Giants didn’t want to part with him, there was no way to acquire Devers without including a marquee young pitcher along with Jordan Hicks, prospect Jose Bello and 2024 first-rounder James Tibbs III.

The deal brings a franchise cornerstone back to San Francisco, but leaves the Giants without much hitting depth in the minors behind top prospect Bryce Eldridge. And it leaves them without Harrison, who had hoped to partner with Webb, Hayden Birdsong, Roupp, Whisenhunt and others for years to come.

“I think there was a shock factor to it,” Webb said. “He grew up in the Bay Area and it sucks when you’re with a team for your entire career, close to family, and you’re getting ready to go face the best team in baseball, the best lineup in baseball, and you get pulled off the mound right before. But he handled it well.”

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The Yankees' bats continued to come up short Monday night in a 1-0, 11-inning loss to the Los Angeles Angels, as they were shutout for the second straight game.

They've now lost four straight games after being swept by the Red Sox in Boston over the weekend and have scored just five runs over the last five games. Manager Aaron Boone was asked after Monday's loss what's preventing the team from scoring, saying there's multiple factors while acknowledging the team's struggles to come through with a big hit.

"Yeah, a little bit of everything," Boone. "I mean, right now, when you're not scoring runs, they're keeping us in the ballpark. Tonight was a little bit of both, you know, where I thought we had a number of balls on the screws, even there late. Cody [Bellinger] just misses a couple to right, Goldie [Paul Goldschmidt] stepped on that ball to left center, so we were barreling some balls up.

"But then, but that said, we're not punching any across, not hitting the home run, you know. And we had a couple situations where we could have produced a run there late and weren't able to take advantage of it."

New York has gone 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position and have left 12 men on base during this losing streak. Their last run came in the top of the ninth inning of Saturday's 4-3 loss with Anthony Volpe driving in one on a groundout.

Boone went on to credit Angels starter Jose Soriano and his "bowling ball sinker", as the right-hander allowed six hits over seven scoreless innings. Although, he knows the team needed to "take advantage of situational things that come up" when they can't rely on the home run.

The Yanks had a scoring chance in the 11th with the bases loaded, but Volpe swung on the first pitch and grounded into the force out at third base for the game's final out. Boone defended the choice to not take a pitch against the new reliever Hunter Strickland, saying the hitter needs "to be ready to go" in those types of situations.

"Not necessarily, first pitch is the best one to hit sometimes," Boone said. "I didn't see if it was off the plate, not a good pitch to go after, that might be the case, but we got to be ready to go there."

New York is now 42-29 on the season and holds only a 2.5 game lead in the AL East over the Tampa Bay Rays, who've won 19 of their last 25 games. They'll look to get back on track Tuesday when Will Warren takes the mound against the Angels.

Aaron Boone was asked if he would've preferred for Anthony Volpe to take a pitch in the 11th inning (he grounded out on one pitch with the bases loaded)

"Not necessarily. The first pitch is the best one to hit sometimes" pic.twitter.com/23K0Mx0QfR

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) June 17, 2025