The move came as a shock to Red Sox fans still salty over the salary dump of Mookie Betts in 2020 – a year after he won the AL MVP – in a trade that yielded little in return. The team also let Xander Bogaerts leave as a free agent before deciding that Devers was the player they were willing to invest in.

Rosenthal said the Giants’ history of swinging and missing on high-profile sluggers — specifically naming the missed trade for Giancarlo Stanton and the failed free agent pursuits of Bryce Harper, Carlos Correa, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani — made this deal worth the risk.

During an appearance on the Foul Territory podcast, Geoff Pontes of Baseball America revealed that the Red Sox had another Devers deal in place, but owner John Henry vetoed it because Boston would've had to eat some of his massive contract.