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Buster Posey likes to check boxes. Before he hired his top lieutenants, before he solidified his Opening Day roster, before he shook up his roster two weeks ago, he made sure to check boxes to confirm everyone was the right fit.
And the Giants’ president of baseball operations certainly checked plenty of boxes when trading for Rafael Devers on Sunday, the most significant in-his-prime superstar the Giants have acquired since Barry Bonds 32 years earlier.
Left-handed power bat? Check. He averaged 32 homers the past four years.
Durability? Check. He averaged 147 games in the same span.
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Gets on base? Check. A .349 career clip, .401 on the season, American League leader in walks.
Winner? Check. In 26 postseason games, he’s a .303 hitter with eight homers, 26 RBIs and a .955 OPS with a World Series ring from 2018.
We could go on and on, but the point is, Posey did his due diligence before checking the final box on Devers and sending Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, and two minor-leaguers to Boston. Now it’s about penciling Devers into the lineup every day and seeing how far he can take the Giants the rest of the season — and through his career.
Meantime, now that Devers is in orange and black, we have a few more boxes that need checking:
What position does he play?
Devers is a third baseman by trade, playing 951 games at the hot corner compared to 94 as a designated hitter and two each at shortstop and second base. But third base is Matt Chapman’s position, at least when the five-time Gold Glover isn’t on the injured list with a hand injury.
Devers has been exclusively a DH this season, all 73 games, after losing his position to Alex Bregman, whom Boston signed as a free agent. Devers didn’t appreciate moving off third base and also took exception to being asked to move to first base when Triston Casas sustained a season-ending knee injury in early May.
Devers has been taking grounders pregame just in case, and perhaps he could play some third in Chapman’s absence — Casey Schmitt has been there in the interim — but first base is not a position he has played at all in pro ball. Dominic Smith has been a solid asset at first since arriving June 4.
“That’s a conversation that we’re going to have to have with him,” Posey said. “I want to do my best to be upfront and transparent with these guys and make sure we’re on the same page. So that’s a conversation for myself, Zack (Minasian), and Bob (Melvin) to have with him.”
Designated hitter makes the most sense in the short term. Obviously, Devers is comfortable with it, based on his 2025 numbers. Wilmer Flores has been the Giants’ primary DH and has 51 RBIs, sixth-most in the National League. But Flores can play first base to create an opening for Devers. On the flip side, the Giants realize Flores is best served as a DH, where he’s less prone to injury.
Then again, this is Devers. He needs to play somewhere. First base could be the long-term solution if he’s cool with the position change, though Bryce Eldridge is the Giants’ top prospect and supposedly their first baseman of the future.
Where does he hit in the lineup?
The simple answer is anywhere he wants. Posey and Melvin like to put their players in comfortable spots, and let it be known Devers has more reps and more success as a No. 2 hitter, where he has hit .288 with an .896 OPS as opposed to No. 3 (.246, .701) and cleanup (.276, .874).
Analytics folks like the best hitter at No. 2, especially if he gets on base a lot like Devers, but that would mean two left-handed batters at the top of the order, beginning with Jung Hoo Lee. The Giants have shown they like to stagger the lefties and righties in their lineups, but with a hitter as significant as Devers, you adjust accordingly.
As Posey said, “We’re just all obviously very excited about adding one of the best hitters in all of Major League Baseball to our lineup.”
One easy option is for a 1-2-3 alignment of Lee-Willy Adames-Devers. Remember, Adames hit second at the season’s outset, but his cold bat warranted a drop in the lineup. He hinted at a resurgence over a four-game stretch in Colorado and Los Angeles when he went 6-for-16 with three homers, but he went 0-for-8 his last two days at Dodger Stadium.
If Adames keeps slumping, Heliot Ramos could also assume the No. 2 spot. The fact is, wherever Devers bats, two things are a given: 1) the Giants are far better with him and 2) he’s such an impactful hitter that he tends to make others in the lineup better, one of Bonds’ great strengths.
Will the drama go away?
The Giants hope they can take a page out of the book of Jimmy Butler and enjoy a rejuvenated Devers who’s thrilled to leave behind a toxic environment and flourish with a positive change of scenery. Butler helped turn the Warriors around, and if Devers’ impact is anything close, the Giants are playoff bound.
Here’s the question: Can Devers dramatically change his mood and mindset and be all in on Posey’s and Melvin’s plans after pooh-poohing the Red Sox’s front office all season? Posey’s optimistic.
“The reports that I’ve gotten from other people across the industry,” he said, “is that Raffy is a great teammate and loves to play the game, and (we’re) excited to be able to have those conversations with him and figure out how he’s going to best fit into our lineup defensively and offensively.”
Devers might quickly learn that Posey and co. are far better communicators than Craig Breslow and co., which take a heavy analytics approach with apparently limited regard for the human element. Posey, who replaced analytics-driven Farhan Zaidi, has been far more appealing to the fan base and ownership with how he conducts business, treats people, and promotes camaraderie.
Through it all, Devers’ frustration seemed to carry onto the field, at least at the start. He opened the season 0-for-19 with a whopping 15 strikeouts but has been back to his old self ever since. Not that it mattered to owner John Henry, who flew to Kansas City last month to meet with Devers and tried convincing him to play first base — it had zero impact, which didn’t go over well with the decision-makers and led to the willingness to discuss a trade. Posey phoned Breslow a few weeks ago, and Minasian got involved with Breslow’s assistants, leading to the consummation of the Posey administration’s biggest move.
Posey loves that Devers shows up and plays. Like Chapman and Adames, Devers doesn’t like sitting out and sees his job as a daily commitment. Granted, he was seen jaking it when running to first base recently after hitting a slow grounder, but it was revealed he had a mild groin strain. Anyway, both Bonds and Posey didn’t always sprint to first base, realizing their value in the long run superseded the risk of pulling a muscle legging out a grounder.
In the end, Posey and Melvin would love to be as satisfied with Devers as Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Steve Kerr are with Butler.
What about the ballpark factors?
Lefties not named Bonds don’t hit at Oracle Park. We’ve heard it for years, and it’s true to an extent. Bonds is the only lefty swinger with more than 13 homers at Second and King in any season since the park’s opening in 2000, and he did it five times including 37 in 2001. When Brandon Belt hit 29 homers in 2021, 13 were at home.
Devers is a special hitter who could change the narrative, able to barrel up against most any pitcher at most any time. He has 15 homers this year, three more than Giants leader Matt Chapman and the same amount of all Giants lefties combined. His opposite-field power will definitely play in San Francisco, and it’ll help that fans and teammates will fully embrace him.
“We feel really good about it,” Posey said. “It’s a group of guys who are proven, that have been there. They have a track record. My hope is that these guys feed off of one another, they make each other better. I believe that adding a guy like Rafael Devers to the lineup not only gives you a boost from his own personal production, but just the ability for guys to talk to that elite type of hitter, watch that elite type of hitter.
“With the commitments, it’s going to be on us as an organization going forward to do really well in the draft and other avenues, as far as being able to develop talent through our system.”
Devers is in the 97th percentile in the majors in hard-hit rate and 96th percentile in exit velocity. Weirdly, Baseball Savant suggests he’d have hit 17 homers if he played all his games at pitching-friendly Oracle Park, a sign he should be able to take advantage of the facility’s quirkiness.
On the other hand, it’s sometimes ridiculous to make those comparisons because of the cold, wind, and other nutty and unpredictable San Francisco elements. Suffice to say Devers figures to be a splendid gap-to-gap hitter at Oracle and hit enough homers, some into McCovey Cove, to continue his career path as a legitimate superstar.
What about the money?
Giants fans should have one response: Who cares? Ownership has the dough to spend, and it does no good not spending it. Devers makes $27.5 million this year and next, $31 million in 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030 and $29 million in 2031, 2032, and 2033. He’s owed about $250 million through his age-36 season, which exceeds Adames’ deal as the biggest in franchise history.
It might prove to be a bargain.
Under Zaidi, when he wasn’t finding players on the margins, he tried and failed to sign Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Once Posey took over, he was wise enough to take a pass on Juan Soto, refusing to partake in driving up the price so Soto could get what he wanted elsewhere. With Sunday’s trade, Devers had no choice but to report to San Francisco, which he probably embraced considering the alternative.
Throughout the talks, Posey communicated with chairman Greg Johnson and received full support. Why not? Johnson and other owners hired Posey to do Posey things, and they’re smart enough to know they need to do what he says.
The Giants’ payroll sits comfortably below Major League Baseball’s first tax threshold of $241 million, meaning Posey still can enhance the roster leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.
“A ton of appreciation for him and the rest of the ownership group to be behind this,” Posey said of Johnson. “We are obviously taking on a lot of dollars, but … we feel it puts us in a good position to go out and keep winning ballgames and ultimately get in the playoffs and try to win a World Series, which is our ultimate goal.”