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Giants swing stunning blockbuster trade for Red Sox All-Star Rafael Devers

Buster Posey's first major trade as the Giants' president of baseball operations landed the team a powerful left-handed slugger.

A baseball player in a white Red Sox uniform is batting. He has just swung his bat, and spectators are visible in the blurred stadium background.
Rafael Devers is joining the Giants in a massive trade that shakes up the race for the National League West. | Source: Winslow Townson/Associated Press

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LOS ANGELES — Rafael Devers, one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball, is coming to San Francisco.

About 20 minutes before the first pitch of the Giants’ series finale against the Dodgers, Fansided reporter Robert Murray broke the news on social media. Kyle Harrison, who was supposed to start the series finale, was warming up in the bullpen at the time. Harrison, pitcher Jordan Hicks, 2024 first-round pick James Tibbs and rookie-ball pitcher Jose Bello are reportedly heading to Boston in the blockbuster.

The move is a heat check for Buster Posey, as his reign as president of baseball operations has gotten off to a magnificent start. Bucking external expectations, the Giants are contending with the Dodgers in the National League West.

Posey noted the power of a win-now, midseason trade can have on a clubhouse last week in an interview with The Standard’s Tim Kawakami. Then he delivered.

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“I feel like it sends a message out there that we’re gonna compete,” shortstop Willy Adames said during an in-game interview with ESPN. “That we’re gonna do whatever it takes to try to come over here and win the division.”

Devers, 28, is in his physical prime but transitioned from third base to a full-time designated hitter role with Boston during spring training — an uncomfortable saga within that club.

With the Giants, Devers won’t need to play third base, either, as Matt Chapman is one of San Francisco’s most productive players.

Devers provides an immediate lift to a Giants lineup that needs one and gives the franchise the superstar-caliber bat it has coveted for years. Devers won the World Series with the Red Sox in 2018 and has been an All-Star in three of the past four seasons. He has also won two Silver Slugger awards.

This season, Devers is hitting .272 with a .401 on-base percentage and 15 home runs. He homered hours before the trade, helping the Red Sox sweep the Yankees.

Devers’ 145 wRC+ ranks 18th in MLB. If you exclude his 0-for-19 spell to start the season, that number rises to 159 (eighth).

Devers has 214 career home runs and is poised to become the best left-handed Giants hitter since Barry Bonds. He is in year two of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract that runs through 2033.

Harrison, a former top prospect, is one of the jewels of the transaction. The left-handed pitcher has a 4.48 ERA in 39 career games. Former Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey is with the Red Sox, a point of familiarity he’ll work with.

The Giants host the Red Sox next weekend at Oracle Park, so Devers won’t have to wait long to face his former team.