It's interesting seeing how they went pre- and post-Devers trade:
Red Sox
Pre-Devers 37-36 .501
Post-Devers 51-36 .586
Giants
Pre-Devers 41-31 .569
Post-Devers 38-50 .431
Looks like the Sox took the right decision to trade Devers....
The Sox won 8 out of 10 games before they shipped him out. Devers finished the season with 35 HRs. Boston received nothing of value in the trade. It was a straight salary dump. I don?t know about you, but I?d prefer having his bat against the Yankees considering all the firepower they have.
He was too much of a distraction, and they have been playing like a team much more since he's been moved. Perfect example of a team where the whole ended up more than the sum of the parts. If I was playing MLB The Show and it was all about stats and I was controlling every player with a controller, yes I would definitely have him but I think they've shown he was becoming a net negative on the team.
The Red Sox were in first place, one-half game ahead of the Yankees, when Rafael Devers was traded to the Giants. Should they have traded Manny Ramirez as well? Was he not a distraction at times.
Obviously a question with no way to answer, but are you suggesting we would have done better with Raffy than without? That our season is actually worse than it could have been if we had kept Raffy?
All I can do is look at the data...the Sox had a better record post-Raffy trade, and the Giants have a worse record post-Raffy trade. Obviously it's more challenging to integrate into a new team than stay on an existing one, so it's not entirely fair to Raffy to blame him for the Giants' struggles, but if I go back to that time the mood around the team was negative, because the perception is they weren't "together", and Raffy's public complaints added to that negativity.
I went back to look at what you wrote back then and I get it, they brought it Bregman to essentially play his spot, probably denting his pride, then they moved him to dH saying he wasn't going to play the field again, then they asked him to play first because of the injury to Triston and his opinion was what I posted above - that he didn't think it was a good move for him, he was just getting used to DH, and it was basically on Breslow to figure out how to cover Tristan's injury, not on him. That's the point I'm making about the team aspect of it. Things happen in a season that you can't expect. Sometimes players have to play odd positions for the good of the team. Yes you can blame the management for short sightedness but end of day you still have to try and do what's best for the team.
My post about Shohei was intended to highlight how I don't feel that Raffy was thinking team first - I think he was p---ed that they signed Bregman to take his spot, and then they were trying to move him again due to unforseen circumstances. Well guess what - you're a team player you play where the team needs you. And I think he realized that, when he moved, because he's played many games for the Giants at first. Shohei is willing to play in the outfield, pitch as a reliever, he could easily have said "nah I'm a starter, you guys have to figure out the bullpen, go trade for someone".
When I look at athletes, the first thing I try and consider is their fit. You can be the world's greatest producer but if you're not fitting in well, and you're not helping the team be the best version it can be, then it's empty calories. That's how I was starting to feel with Raffy. When I think about those scenarios - team of champions vs champion team - the 2019 Celtics will always come to mind as an example of how having malcontented players can damage a team, no matter how individually talented they are.
It's ultimately a hypothetical with no answer. But I feel the vibe around the team changed once he left, and it was probably better for him too, he was probably upset with being here.
Topic: Red Sox 2025 Season (Read 813760 times)