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For the second time in just over five years, the Boston Red Sox shocked the MLB world by trading away a superstar player for a similarly paltry return. This time around, the deal involved disgruntled DH Rafael Devers and Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow didn’t make matters any better when explaining his rationale on Monday.
Breslow, a former journeyman reliever, won a pair of World Series rings with the Red Sox in 2007 and 2013. After retiring in 2019, he joined the Cubs’ front office before coming back to Boston in 2023 to replace Chaim Bloom as the team’s CBO.
Breslow: “It’s not that this was the best deal that we could get, because the best deal that we could get may not necessarily be good enough to trade a player like Raffy Devers. But when you consider all the factors here, this is the one that made sense.”
— Deesha (@DeeshaThosar) June 17, 2025
Craig Breslow Says Rafael Devers Trade To Giants Wasn’t The Best Deal He Could Get
Since then, Breslow has become an unpopular figure with Red Sox fans as the club has continued to struggle. That unpopularity reached new heights with the Devers trade, and is only likely to get worse after his latest comments.
When discussing the deal with members of the media on Monday, Breslow stated that “It’s not that this was the best deal that we could get, because the best deal that we could get may not necessarily be good enough to trade a player like Raffy Devers. But when you consider all the factors here, this is the one that made sense.”
That’s using a whole lot of words to not say very much. But one things that Breslow did state clearly is the fact that the trade with San Francisco, which returned right-handed pitcher Jordan Hicks, lefty Kyle Harrison and prospects James Tibbs III (Giants No. 4 prospect at the time of the deal) and Jose Bello, wasn’t the best possible offer.
Which leads to the obvious follow-up question, “Why did you accept the deal?”
Yes, Devers was not the easiest player to work with. Coaches and teammates were reportedly annoyed with the fact that he wouldn’t move to first base in light of the team’s recent injury crisis. But he’s still a damn good baseball player. You don’t trade those players for nothing simply because they upset you. At least, you don’t if you’re a well-run organization.
And the Boston Red Sox appear to be anything but well-run at moment.