What is it about the Boston Red Sox and their penchant for blockbuster trades that often feel — bigger?
It could be across the team’s 125-year history, their deals have had huge impacts. The infamous deal that sent Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920 and sparked an 86-year drought. Or more recently, when the team tempted fate again when trading Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in 2018.
Now, Rafael Devers joins that list of superstar players after Boston traded him to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. Devers was only in the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million extension and is arguably one of the top 10 hitters in baseball. The 28-year-old will likely be named an All-Star for the fourth time in his career in the coming weeks.
A decision that didn’t exactly warm Red Sox fans about the direction of the team. And to cap off the chaotic week, Devers will welcome his former teammates to his new digs ahead of a three-game series at Oracle Park, starting Friday.
Ahead of Devers’ reunion with the Red Sox, let’s take an all-time look at how each major trade in the team’s history has panned out:
[Related: Giants vs. Red Sox Odds: Will We See a Devers Dinger Against Former Team?]
The setup and reaction: The transition from a star left-handed pitcher to one of the game’s best sluggers would set up a showdown between Ruth and Red Sox owner Harry Frazee. At age 24, having already won three World Series in Boston and having set the season record with 29 home runs, Ruth wanted a deal that would double his salary to $20,000. Frazee balked at the idea and made a deal that sold Ruth’s contract to the Yankees for $100,000 that was finalized on Jan. 5, 1920.
The verdict: Fail!
The amount of money made it an unparalleled move in sports at the time and was splashed on headlines across the country. Frazee got out of a financial pickle and moved from a player that frequently clashed with the organization.
The actual cost? A unique place in American lore as one of the biggest blunders in the history of blunders. Ruth won four World Series titles with the Yankees and hammered 659 of 714 home runs in pinstripes. And of course, the “Curse of the Bambino” became one of the most ubiquitous descriptions for prolonged sports misery.
The Curse of the Bambino, before and after. (Getty Images)
1997: Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek from Seattle Mariners for Heathcliff Slocumb
The setup and reaction: It was the July 31 trade deadline, and the Mariners needed relievers. Desperately. They were 60-46 after losing both games of a two-game series to the Red Sox, the second of those on a walk-off. Willing to pay just about anything for anyone, they sent a pair of prospects for Heathcliff Slocumb, Boston’s closer who had walked 6.6 batters per nine and had the ERA to show for it. Those prospects were former first-round pick Jason Varitek, and right-hander Derek Lowe.
Given Slocumb’s struggles and that the Sox were mediocre in ‘97, Boston media generally felt the deal was the kind the team needed to be making. Varitek hadn’t delivered on his promise yet, and Lowe had struggled in a brief stint in the majors as a starter, but the potential was as obvious as Slocumb’s control issues.
The verdict: Pass!
Varitek and Lowe both broke out in 1999, and eventually became vital to their 2004 championship team — the franchise’s first since 1918. Lowe ended up in the majors for 17 seasons, was named an All-Star as both a closer and a starter, threw a no-hitter in 2002 and was on the mound for all three of Boston’s series-clinching wins in 2004. Varitek played his entire 15-year career with the Sox, was named the third captain in team history and is now their Game Planning and Run Prevention coach on Alex Cora’s staff.
1997: Pedro Martinez from Montreal Expos
The setup and reaction: The Red Sox rotation was a mess. Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was a quality arm, but Aaron Sele, Jeff Suppan and Steve Avery had all disappointed, while Tom Gordon had shifted to the bullpen and thrived. Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette had joined the team in 1994, and had let ace Roger Clemens walk as a free agent, thinking his time as that level of pitcher was behind him. (It was not.) Boston needed a new ace before ‘98, and they got one in reigning NL Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez, whom Duquette had already brought to the Expos in 1993 in what ended up one of the most lopsided deals in MLB history.
The Sox gave up promising pitching prospects Carl Pavano and Tony Armas in the trade, and with Martinez set to be a free agent in a year, there was genuine concern alongside the excitement. Was this a high-price rental? Even if Martinez was just as good as he had been for another year, what if he then walked like Clemens had, and now the Sox were out some prospects, too?
Pedro Martinez would eventually help break that curse for Boston. (Getty Images)
The verdict: Pass!
Weeks later, Martinez signed a then-record $90 million contract, beginning a legendary run in Boston. Over a seven-year span Pedro’s ERA was 2.52, and at the height of MLB’s steroid era: that figure translates to an adjusted ERA+ of 190, which is to say that he was basically the best season of Clayton Kershaw’s career for his entire stint with the Sox. Martinez’s “worst” full season in Boston produced 5.5 wins above replacement and the 2004 World Series championship, he led the majors in ERA in four of the six seasons he qualified while in town and ended up in a Boston cap in Cooperstown, to boot.
No offense to Pavano or Armas’ careers, but they didn’t do any of that.
The setup and reaction: In need of starting pitching following their loss to the Yankees in the 2003 ALCS, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein immediately set his sights on Schilling, who was the Arizona Diamondbacks’ ace at the time. Schilling, however, wanted to pitch for the Yankees (or the “Evil Empire,” as Red Sox brass called them at the time).
During Thanksgiving weekend in 2003, Epstein successfully made the pitch to Schilling at the pitcher’s Arizona home to get him to go to Boston. Schilling, who was the World Series MVP in 2001, waived his no-trade clause and agreed to a three-year, $37.5 million extension (Epstein later said Schilling was reading the book, “Negotiating for Dummies,” in between negotiating sessions).
The Red Sox sent pitchers Casey Fossum and Brandon Lyon, along with then-minor leaguers Jorge De La Rosa and Michael Goss, to the Diamondbacks for Schilling. At the time of the deal, many experts lauded Boston for landing Schilling, especially as New York was closing in on a deal to acquire Gary Sheffield in the arms race at the height of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.
The verdict: Pass!
Whatever effort Epstein put in to land Schilling ended up being well worth it for the Red Sox. He arguably had the most iconic pitching performance in Red Sox history 11 months after the trade, giving up just one run in seven innings to help Boston win Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against New York. Schilling pitched that game as blood soaked through his sock, getting his ankle worked on prior to the game to help stabilize the tendon. Schilling’s outing helped the Red Sox become the first team in MLB history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit and win en route to winning their first World Series title in 86 years a week later. Schilling also helped the Red Sox win it all again in 2007.
Curt Schilling and his bloody sock at Game 6 of the ALCS would go down in baseball lore. (Getty Images)
2004: Nomar Garciaparra to Chicago Cubs in 4-team trade
The setup and reaction: Theo Epstein’s tenure in Boston was full of bold moves. Arguably, his boldest came at the 2004 trade deadline, when he opted to move fan favorite Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs as part of the four-team deal.
Reasons for the Red Sox to trade Garciaparra had mounted in the months prior to the deal. He expressed dissatisfaction with his contract situation in spring training after the team had agreed to a deal to move him for Alex Rodriguez that winter, which fell through at the 11th hour. He was also dealing with an Achilles injury that caused him to miss the first two months of the year, hurting his defense and causing him to miss games even after he made his season debut. Some had even wondered if he quit on the Red Sox when he didn’t enter a game against the Yankees earlier in July.
Still, the trade was largely viewed as a surprise. Epstein even acknowledged at the time of the deal that it was “with mixed emotions” to let a player whose name had become synonymous with the Boston accent go, calling Garciaparra “one of the greatest Red Sox of all time.”
Nomar Garciaparra’s departure from Boston in 2004 fueled the World Series title later that season. (Getty Images)
The verdict: Pass!
While the Red Sox needed to land Schilling to win the World Series in 2004, they needed to move off Garciappara in order to win it all that year, too. Both Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz proved to be pivotal additions at the deadline that year, with the former being a fine replacement for Garciappara at short (.294/.320/.465 slashline in 58 regular season games with Red Sox; .288/.377/.356 slashline in 2004 postseason). Mientkiewicz, meanwhile, helped shore up the Red Sox’ infield defense as they struggled during the first half of that season, often being used as a late-game defensive replacement at first.
As for Garciaparra, he continued to hit well for a few seasons following the trade. But Epstein’s bold move to let him go paid dividends when Cabrera and Mientkiewicz helped the Red Sox win the World Series three months after the trade.
The setup and reaction: The Red Sox were supposedly the team to beat in 2011 … until they weren’t. A September collapse completely changed the franchise: they lost 18 of their final 24 games, and were eliminated on the last day of the season thanks to a blown save against the Orioles. Longtime general manager Theo Epstein departed for the Cubs, and Terry Francona, who had managed the Red Sox since 2004 and through two World Series, was replaced by Bobby Valentine. Ben Cherington took over for Epstein, with little financial wiggle room to improve the roster. The Sox continued to disappoint despite the changes and fresh start, and on August 25, through a complicated waiver trade, Cherington decided to boldly blow the whole thing up.
Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Nick Punto were shipped out west to the Dodgers, in exchange for… a few lottery tickets and James Loney, whom the Dodgers did not need around at first base with Gonzalez coming in. The point wasn’t the return, though, but to clear a quarter-billion dollars in future obligations from the ledger, so Cherington would have the financial freedom to bring in the players he wanted to, rather than the ones he’d inherited from Epstein, who had disappointed now in consecutive years. Punto’s inclusion was solely to get the Sox under the luxury tax threshold and reset the penalties, giving Cherington just a little bit more room to work with — this trade was calculated out to the dollar. The reaction? Pure shock. What were the Red Sox doing? Why were they doing it? What was next?
The verdict: Pass!
The Red Sox reinvested the savings in free agents Mike Napoli (one year, $5 million, up to $13 million with incentives), Stephen Drew (one year, $9.5 million), Jonny Gomes (two years, $10 million), Shane Victorino (three years, $37.5 million), Ryan Dempster (two years, $26.5 million), David Ross (two years, $6.2 million) and Koji Uehara (one year, $4.25 million). They then were able to add Jake Peavy and the rest of his $14.5 million salary at the trade deadline, rather than bargain-bin shopping for damaged rotation goods like they had in the recent past. Every one of those players played a significant role in the Red Sox going not just from worst-to-first, but also winning the 2013 World Series.
The 2012 megatrade that sent Josh Beckett and Adrian Gonzalez to the Dodgers would help clear the payroll and led Boston winning it all in 2013.
2020: Mookie Betts to Dodgers
The setup and reaction: In 2018, the Red Sox won their fourth World Series of the century with a set of core players that seemingly extended the dynasty embodied by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Betts was already a star player by 2018, but capping off a season in which he won the AL MVP and led the league in batting average and runs scored with a ring? Seeing him walk would be unfathomable.
But the seeds of change had been planted even prior to that season. After an arbitration year in 2018 and a 2019 season that barely avoided it, it was obvious Betts was rightfully holding out for a big payday. The Red Sox were uneasy about committing to a long-term deal in an attempt to stay under the $208 million tax threshold. Enter the title-hungry Dodgers, who Boston had beaten in the 2018 Fall Classic. By February 2020, Betts and pitcher David Price were in Dodger blue as part of a three-team deal with Minnesota that netted Jeter Downs, Alex Verdugo, and Connor Wong.
The verdict: Fail!
A risky move by the Dodgers to essentially take on Price’s bloated salary and risk having Betts for just one season ahead of free agency. But Betts signed his 12-year, $365 million deal in Los Angeles ahead of the COVID-19 season and has since led the Dodgers to two World Series titles. A farm product of Boston’s system, it’ll now be certain Betts finishes his career having played more games for the Dodgers.
Verdugo and Downs are gone, and the departure of Devers (after Betts and then two-time champion Xander Bogaerts) now leaves Boston as the clear loser of this deal. Trying to keep Betts, Bogaerts, and pitcher Chris Sale would have been prohibitively expensive, but each of those moves (add Devers to this list now) has hardly brought Boston any success. There likely won’t ever be another Bambino-style curse, but the Betts trade sure is beginning to feel like it.
Mookie Betts helped the Red Sox win one World Series trophy, but he’s led the Dodgers to two. (Getty Images)
BONUS!
- Landing Rollie Fingers from Athletics (1976): The Red Sox acquired the future Hall of Famer in June 1976, straight-up buying him from the Athletics for $1 million because then-owner Charlie Finley was … doing Charlie Finley things, mostly. Fingers never suited up, though, as commissioner Bowie Kuhn vetoed the transaction — and Oakland’s $1.5 million sale of Vida Blue to the Yankees — using his best interest of baseball powers.
- Manny Ramirez to Dodgers (2008): After years of trade rumors, the Red Sox pulled the trigger on moving Ramirez at the 2008 trade deadline, sending him to the Dodgers in a three-team trade. The move wasn’t too surprising at the time, with calls for him to be traded growing in the weeks leading up to it as some thought he wasn’t hustling on ground balls. While Ramirez played so well in his two months with the Dodgers that season that he finished fourth in NL MVP voting, the Red Sox emerged from the trade relatively unscathed. Jason Bay was more than a viable replacement for Ramirez, helping the Red Sox reach the ALCS in 2008 before being named an All-Star in 2009.
- Fred Lynn to Angels (1981): The Red Sox learned that deadlines matter in a painful way during the 1980-81 offseason. Their failure to send contracts to Lynn and Carlton Fisk ahead of the Dec. 20 deadline in 1980 cost them two franchise legends. They got ahead of the Lynn situation by trading him to the Angels shortly later, but accepting a relatively modest deal for a nine-time All-Star in his prime. Fisk, meanwhile, won his arbitration case and became a free agent, later signing with the White Sox. Future MLB commissioner Bart Giammati later called the situation “the worst moment for Red Sox fans since the team sold Babe Ruth.”
- Jeff Bagwell to Astros (1990): Bagwell wasn’t in the majors when the Red Sox traded him in 1990, but the move wound up being one of the most consequential in franchise history. They traded the New England native and lifelong Red Sox fan to the Astros for reliever Larry Anderson. Anderson only spent one month with the Red Sox while Bagwell began his Hall of Fame career a year later. Then-Red Sox general manager Lou Gorman defended the trade years later, saying Bagwell’s path to playing was blocked by Wade Boggs, Mo Vaughn and other highly-touted prospects in the organization at the time.
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