Is Rafael Devers the worst player in baseball? How Giants and Red Sox both lost the trade

Right now, I imagine San Francisco Giants “slugger” Rafael Devers as a frustrated Anakin Skywalker about two hours into Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, yelling at Obi-Wan Kenobi:

Anakin (Devers): “You turned her against me!”

Obi-Wan: “You have done that yourself!”

Her, in this situation, are MLB fans, and Obi-Wan is Boston Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow. No matter how much Breslow embarrassed Devers by cutting bait and getting (checks notes) nothing in return, Devers has played so poorly this year that it literally doesn’t matter. He is, right now, probably the single worst hitter in Major League Baseball. Devers is batting .221 with an OPS under .600 a full quarter into the season. He is an indisputably detrimental player and is under contract for eight more years and $226.5 million. I need a glass of water.

Except no, because we don’t use ex post facto analysis to justify indefensible decisions, by Breslow or anyone else. Somehow, someway, the Red Sox and Giants managed to concoct a trade that included a superstar and both teams lost. It’s a genuinely spectacular achievement.

The Red Sox and Giants, somehow, both got worse in the Devers trade

Let’s break it down: after Boston initially traded Devers for prospects James Tibbs III, Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks, they flipped all three for the eventual return of Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler, Dustin May and Gage Ziehl. When I called that “nothing” two paragraphs ago I was perhaps being a bit rude to Monasterio and Durbin, who at least play for the major league team with questionable impact. Jordan Hicks, though, was perhaps the worst pitcher I’ve ever been forced to watch with my own two eyes, and Dustin May was perhaps the second worst. So what I meant was, for trading Devers, the Red Sox got worse than nothing. 

The Giants, however, have figured out how to do even worse, because the 2026 Rafael Devers experience is an absolute calamity. He never walks. He strikes out constantly. He’s on pace for 12 home runs and is straight up just a bad defensive first baseman. He doesn’t run well, he doesn’t even hit the ball all that hard anymore — his one calling card his entire career and the reason the Red Sox gave him 10 years and over $300 million, a contract everyone in Boston rejoiced when it happened. 

Usually when I do a player feature like this, I try to identify if there’s something that the stats aren’t telling me, or if there’s an angle to explain results that might be more interesting than simply “he’s raking” or “he’s striking out a lot of dudes” — you know, like Chris Sale changeup usage.

There is no redeeming statistic for Devers — he’s been bad across the board

With Devers, though, trying to explain what is going on here would be like me trying to explain linear algebra to a first-grader. The problem is not that the first-grader doesn’t know what linear algebra is, it’s that I do not know what linear algebra is. This is an across-the-board falloff, with nothing suggesting it is fluky or unlucky. His physical tools have deteriorated far more than should be possible for a 29-year-old. He can’t hit the ball hard or in the air, and his plate discipline numbers are just plain noncompetitive; he’s always walked a ton, and now he’s not walking at all.

The only thing I have for you is a concerning trend of bat speed numbers, which have been slowing down a consistent rate since 2023. I’m not saying Breslow traded Devers because his bat speed was decreasing slightly for two years, but it isn’t really what you want to see out of a late-20s slugger. Even so, Breslow is not getting off scot-free here.

When the Red Sox traded him, he was a wildly superior player to what he is now, and his value was probably much higher than what they got for him given the secrecy associated with his availability. It was also — and this is important — a slap in the face to Red Sox fans to continuously trade team staples for 30 cents on the dollar, no matter what happens afterward. The Mookie Betts trade remains one of the worst moments in Boston sports history, and even though Devers seems unlikely to repeat the offense, the organization cannot treat fans like they consume the team on a spreadsheet.

I cared about Devers, and do not absolve the embarrassing return for an All-Star just because he is now the furthest thing from the All-Star game. Hilariously, the Giants may now try to trade Devers themselves, which is quite the sunk-cost move if they do; I don’t know if any player in sports history has had a lower trade value relative to when they got him than Devers does right now. He’s the worst hitter of 2026 so far, and being paid like one of the best. Good luck to everyone involved; I’m out.

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