What’s done is done.
Rafael Devers is a member of the San Francisco Giants, set to be introduced Tuesday at Oracle Park. Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks and two prospects are members of the Red Sox. And Boston’s last link to its 2018 World Series nucleus is gone.
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Monday, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and president Sam Kennedy addressed the blockbuster trade with the Giants, one day after it sent shockwaves through Major League Baseball.
Breslow’s comments included a stunning admission: he, like many fans, has second-guessed his own process for how he communicated with Devers throughout the season.
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Breslow called it a “totally fair criticism” to say that the Red Sox should have been more upfront with Devers about a potential position change during the offseason before they signed Alex Bregman, according to Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald.
Breslow says it would be a “totally fair criticism” to say that the Red Sox should have been more upfront with Devers about a potential position change during the offseason before they signed Bregman.
— Gabrielle Starr (@gfstarr1) June 17, 2025
Breslow added that he thinks about his own handling of the communication with Devers “all the time,” according to the Herald’s Mac Cerullo.
Craig Breslow says he thinks about the way he handled his offseason communication with Rafael Devers all the time and whether or not his approach was the right one.
— Mac Cerullo (@MacCerullo) June 17, 2025
The concessions effectively confirmed what many fans concluded for themselves: that the Red Sox bungled the process by which they signed Bregman, the reigning American League Gold Glove Award winner at third base, then asked Devers to move to designated hitter in spring training.
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Two months later, when first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending injury, Breslow reportedly asked Devers if he was willing to move to first base. Devers was taken aback by the request.
Rafael Devers: “It was the GM that I spoke with. I’m not sure what he has with me. He played ball and I would like to think he knows that changing positions like that isn’t easy.”
The conversation happened with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, a former big league reliever
— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) May 8, 2025
“I’m not sure what he has with me,” Devers said of Breslow in May, according to Christopher Smith of the Herald.
Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images
Now, the second-guessing is all that’s left for fans who did not want to see Devers shipped out of town at midseason, and Breslow apparently isn’t above it.
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Neither was Kennedy, who told reporters “there’s blame to go around on all sides when you can’t get to alignment on what’s best for the team.”
Sam Kennedy: “There’s blame to go around on all sides when you can’t get to alignment on what’s best for the team.”
— Gabrielle Starr (@gfstarr1) June 17, 2025
Ostensibly, Devers’ refusal to play first base was the turning point, though Kennedy declined to say specifically what the Red Sox wanted from Devers that he was unwilling or unable to do.
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Considering the Red Sox invested $313.5 million in Devers, in a 10-year contract signed prior to the 2023 season, it’s remarkable they did not sew up what should have been a much smaller detail: Devers’ willingness to change positions if needed.
Had Kennedy and Breslow been clear about that from the outset, signing Bregman to a three-year contract in February might not have been the first domino to fall in a row that led to a shocking midseason trade.
Consider it an expensive lesson learned.
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