The Boston Red Sox retooled their roster this offseason and upgraded a few areas that were in desperate need for improvements.
For Boston, the biggest focus was on the starting rotation as the Red Sox added multiple arms. However, the organization scrambled to add Caleb Durbin after losing Alex Bregman to the Chicago Cubs. While the past is the past, Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report expects the Rafael Devers trade to still haunt Boston this year.
“Things got so ugly that the Red Sox pounced on a chance to offload Devers last June, sending him to the San Francisco Giants for RHP Jordan Hicks, LHP Kyle Harrison, RHP Jose Bello and outfielder James Tibbs III,” Kelly wrote on Monday. “Hicks has already been traded to the Chicago White Sox, while Kyle Harrison was flipped to the Milwaukee Brewers in the deal that netted Boston their starting third baseman for 2026, Caleb Durbin. … To make matters worse, the Red Sox alienated Devers by moving him off of third base in favor of Bregman. Even if Devers spends the rest of his career as a DH/1B, his bat makes him worth that price. The Red Sox would probably be World Series favorites in the American League if they had Devers slotted in to hit cleanup in Alex Cora’s lineup in 2026.”
It’s clear that the Red Sox wanted to just get rid of Devers after last season’s fallout. Of course, Craig Breslow also expected to keep Alex Bregman for the long haul, which threw a wrench into his long-term vision. However, Boston should not have been so quick to get rid of his bat as previously mentioned.
Had Boston kept Devers, it wouldn’t have needed to add Durbin and cough up the prospects in that trade. Those prospects could have been used to help dump Masataka Yoshida’s salary or acquire another elite reliever. Durbin can get on base, but he certainly isn’t the power threat that Devers is offensively.
The Red Sox, though, have made their bed. They now have to lie in it as spring training games open up and fans get to see how Durbin can play.
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