Red Sox, Rafael Devers hit inflection point before shocking trade

The Red Sox front office insisted the shocking trade of Rafael Devers to the Giants on Sunday night was a “baseball trade” made in the best interest of the team, while describing the breakdown between the star player and organization as hitting an “inflection point.”The rift between Devers and the Red Sox had been growing this season, dating back to spring training, when he initially refused to move from third base to designated hitter before eventually softening his stance.But the issue flared up again when chief baseball officer Craig Breslow approached Devers about playing first base last month.Breslow and Red Sox president Sam Kennedy both insisted that the two sides had hit an “inflection point” without giving specific reasons as to what led to the surprising breakup, simply saying that they couldn’t “find alignment.”“We all worked at it over the last several months, going back to the offseason,” Kennedy said Monday.

“Starting with Alex Cora and [Breslow] and the staff, and then up to me and all the way up to [owner] John Henry.We worked at it.

We had a different vision for him going forward than he had and we couldn’t get there.We couldn’t find alignment and we reached that inflection point and made the decision to make a big move.”The Red Sox made the deal on Sunday night after they swept the Yankees, shipping the $313 million ballplayer to the Giants in exchange for Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and a pair of prospects.The Giants will pay out the rest of the contract with Devers only in the second year of the 10-year contract he signed in 2023.This season, the three-time All-Star is hitting .272/.401/.504 with 15 home runs, 58 RBIs and a .905 OPS.While the decision to trade Devers has been an inflection point of its own with Red Sox fans, Breslow insisted several times that the move was made in the best interest of the club and that the organization was in “no way a signifying of the waving of the white flag on 2025.”“I a...