For the second time inside this decade, the Boston Red Sox have traded a homegrown star talent and in the prime of their careers. First was Mookie Betts, and now to shock the baseball world, the Red Sox traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. The Red Sox did land pitchers Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison, while also getting the number four prospect in the Giants system and another Bello.

This is a lot to process. The Red Sox finally have momentum for the first time all season long and are coming off a nice sweep against their hated rivals the New York Yankees. The Red Sox sit in the playoff race and crawled back into the thick of things, only to see all the vibes they’ve created shattered to pieces. What’s the plan? Do they even have one?

Life After Rafael Devers

There are two sides of the fence on this entire saga between Devers and the Red Sox front office. The front office signed Bregman and in doing so Alex Cora made it known he would play second base, while seemingly never taking a single rep at the position. The plan was to always move Devers off of third base and then did, but also created a disgruntled star in the process. First baseman Triston Casas blew his knee out and then the Red Sox turned to Devers to ask him to jump back into the field. Phenomenal turn of events after telling him to put the glove away. Oh, and then Devers calling out Breslow publicly which led to owner John Henry flying out to Kansas City for a meeting. To be a fly on the wall in there. That’s basically the back story and the cliff notes version of it.

Devers did eventually settle into his DH role and has done it well. Aside from his historically bad start to the season, Devers has been one of the best hitters in baseball this season. He has been one of the Red Sox biggest bats and is improving on aspects of the game at the plate this season. While this is a great addition for the Giants, who are very much in win now mode and a team who busted their window wide open with this move, this is a puzzling move for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox had the best winter since the 2021 season. They put together a highly stacked prospect package to land Garrett Crochet, who very well could win a CY Young. Alex Bregman was one of the best players in the AL before he got hurt. These are moves that said, “hey we want to be a playoff team.” Now? Trading Devers does quite the opposite and sends the franchise back a few years. So what’s the plan?

It remains to be seen what the future looks like for the Red Sox. But as for the present, the lineup took a notable step backwards. The key thing is, the front office basically is handing the keys to Fenway Park to the Big Three. Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, and Roman Anthony; it is your team now. You guys are the faces of the franchise. Go out there and learn and develop together and build the culture for years to come.

Winning is hard with a very young lineup, as they are all learning how to win at the big league level together. Don’t believe me? Ask the Orioles how that’s going for them. That’s where the Red Sox are at. They are the Orioles, just aren’t as polished and proven yet. This team does have pieces in place to work with alongside the Bug Three. Carlos Narvaez is an elite catcher and then you add in Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu. But the point is; still very young, but building block players.

Pitching remains dicey. Crochet will be an ace but then what? Tanner Houck is a question mark and Lucas Giolito and Walker Buehler are on expiring deals. The hopes is that Kyle Harrison can be a legitimate piece for the rest of this decade and is only 23 years old. Hicks is a project, but is under team control until 2028 and can be useful in the bullpen. But you moved a star and legitimate bat for those guys?

Thibbs will start in Double-A, which that’s nice. But how far away is he? Nobody knows yet.

The Red Sox went from contending in the wide open AL, to setting themselves back and it’s only June. This team can very well still make noise, but time will tell who steps up to the plate and brings the kind of caliber bat that Devers did.

And everyone wants to talk about the money side of things. It remains to be seen if Henry and Co. spend money big in free agency. And if so, what star is going to want to come here given the state of things and the direction of the franchise.

One thing is clear; they really don’t have a plan and have been going day by day. Now time till tell where they go directionally. One thing is for sure; it’s the young guys’ team now.

Buckle Up.