One year after landing Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, the San Francisco Giants reportedly would not mind a redo.
The Giants would "love to unload" Devers and other expensive veterans to "start over," according to Bob Nightengale. That is a sharp reversal for a club that shocked baseball last June by sending four players to Boston for Devers, a move meant to give San Francisco a middle-of-the-order anchor for years to come.
Instead, Devers has not yet looked like the player the Giants thought they were getting. He is batting.232/.276/.364 with four strikeouts in 40 games this season, and his minus-0.5 fWAR ties Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar for the National League's worst mark. Devers did put together a 1.049 OPS in May, but that hot stretch has not erased the wider concern around his season or his salary, which calls for $28.5 million in each of the next seven seasons.
The Giants paid a steep price to land him, and the return has become part of the problem. Of the four players sent to Boston, only Jose Bello remains in the Red Sox organization. That detail matters because it underscores how much San Francisco has already committed to the deal, even as the club appears to be reconsidering the rest of its expensive roster construction.
Devers is not the only name in the frame. The report also says the Giants have interest in trading Willy Adames, Matt Chapman and Jung Hoo Lee, though moving any of them may not be simple. Their slumping production and long-term contracts could make it difficult to find eager takers, which is why Nightengale suggested the Giants might instead devote their energy to shopping Robbie Ray, who is a free agent after this season.
Ray has been one of the few bright spots in the rotation, posting a 2.76 ERA in eight starts this season. That gives San Francisco at least one marketable arm if it decides the larger answer is not a tweak but a reset.
The Giants are not just dealing with a bad month or a cold stretch from one hitter. They are staring at the possibility that a high-cost roster built to contend may already be drifting toward another overhaul, with Devers at the center of the question.
