Have you ever experienced recurring nightmares and wondered why they keep happening? Or felt that strange sense of déjà vu and questioned why it always feels so familiar. Well that feeling of deja vu is all too familiar for one of the most beloved teams in baseball. It is something that has happened not only once or even twice but three times. A feeling of confusion and rage mixed with the occasional ‘what ifs’ is something this MLB franchise has felt all too well.

This team is none other than the Boston Red Sox, who, after trading their perennial All-Star designated hitter and third baseman Rafael Devers, are left feeling confused about why this keeps happening. From the beginning of Boston baseball to the infamous Babe Ruth trade—one of the most feared power hitters of the 1920s—to cutting ties with Mookie Betts after contract negotiations went south, and now trading Rafael Devers due to internal conflicts, this is by far one of the worst decisions the franchise has made in recent history.

I genuinely cannot understand why an organization would trade a hitter of Rafael Dever’s caliber just because of minuscule clubhouse issues that could have easily been avoided. There are a lot of ways you can look at this horrific trade, maybe this trade was necessary to fix clubhouse problems and that Devers was a clubhouse cancer and how now that he is gone it paves the path for the young prospects who were blocked by Devers but now have the opportunity to flourish. Perhaps these internal problems that started after Alex Bregman was signed to the team under the perception he would play second base and then eventually kicking Devers out of a 3rd base spot as general manage Craig Breslow and the Sox valued defense over offense. But one thing that cannot be overlooked is the return the Red Sox received for Devers from the San Francisco Giants.

The Red Sox got rid of Raffy so quickly instead of testing out the trade market and figuring out which team’s offer was most optimal in terms of production for their team. So instead of waiting out offers from multiple teams, they decided to trade with the Giants and, in return, took back two of their worst pitchers in Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks, alongside two unproven prospects. All while the Giants get a fresh bat to power their top-heavy lineup without giving up anything in their farm.

Reports came out that the Red Sox spoke to the Braves with interest in Marcel Ozuna and Sean Murphy and the Blue Jays with interest in Jose Berrios but both teams declined so they decided to just say ‘fuck it’ and trade him off for hardly anyone of value. There is nothing to do now besides look forward towards the future and see exactly what the Red got in return and why they decided to go through with this particular trade.

Overall the Giants gave up 23 year old LHP Kyle Harrison, 28 year old RHP Jordan Hicks, 22 year old AA player OF prospect James Tibbs III and throw in prospect 20 year old RK pitcher RHP prospect Jose Bello plus they paid $250 million, the remaining balance of the Devers deal. Kyle Harrison used to be one of the Giants top pitching prospects but unfortunately his brief time in the majors has not yet lived up the hype he had as a prospect.

In the eight games he has pitched this season, he is 1-1 with 25 strikeouts in 23.2 innings for an era of 4.56. Harrison’s value the past two seasons has been nearly identical as both seasons saw him score 15 percent below league average for an 85 ERA+. The day the deal went down actually saw Harrison warm up in the bullpen as the expected starter for the nightcap game against the Dodgers.

Harrison’s contributions to this clubhouse in the short span he was here will never go unrecognized for San Francisco. He will be reunited again with Andrew Bailey, Red Sox pitching coach who was the pitching mastermind behind the 2021 Giants success. It will be exciting to see how a change of scenery will be beneficial for the young stud’s development as a pitcher. As for the other players in the deal, the only real notable one is Jordan Hicks. After signing a 4 year $44 million deal with the Giants back in the 2023 offseason as a starting pitcher, Hicks slowly converted back to his old ways as a high leverage reliever after an abysmal 9 game start that gave him a record of 1-5, 6.47 era and whip of 1.541. By all means this a terrible pitcher but for Hick and Harrison to be headliners in the Devers trade is questionable enough and doesn’t really reflect adequate value between the teams.

As for the prospect capital they acquired, it is too soon to tell what type of player both James Tibbs lll and Jose Bello will turn out to be. It’s ironic that this was an offensive trade and yet the only offensive return the Red Sox gained was James Tibbs lll who was nothing short of mediocre. Jose Bello on other hand has looked promising in rookie ball but it is too early to tell as both of them won’t see the call up to the majors for at least three seasons.

Overall this trade is a major fleece on the Giants and after going over the return the Red Sox received it felt like the team didn’t even care to get a semi decent package back for their young slugger. It amazes me that this is how the Red Sox treat their organization and fanbase. Once rooted in loyalty and competition now is a shell of themselves. Hardly do we see a Red Sox team truly try and take the leap forward. This team since the 2018 World Series has been incredibly tight on money but at what point is this team going to give up on this mentality and give back a reason to the fans to have hope and dedication. This franchise has been saving up all they could afford since Betts was traded to LA. The fans figured that extra money would go towards extending Xander so he wouldn’t walk but then they let Xander walk without ever giving him a respectable contract. The fans figured the left over money would then be used to extend Devers and they were right it was. The relief the fanbase felt when their team actually kept one of their franchise icons was beyond them. But now that moment, that chance to keep it altogether has vanished as the Red Sox simply wanted the clubhouse cancer off the team.

All Devers wanted was to be respected and valued as a player. He didn’t want to just be the designated hitter, he wanted to be the third baseman for the team. It was the sole reason he signed an extension with the team. But that is gone now and it has been a week since Devers last game with the Red Sox. The Red Sox didn’t deserve Devers nor did the team but like a classic fitting goodbye it was only right Devers last hit as a Red Sox was an absolute moonshot against the Yankees to cap off a sweep.