Milwaukee Brewers: 4 Possible Third Base trade targets
By Kenny Jilek
Rafael Devers – Boston Red Sox
Devers had a breakout season for the Red Sox in 2019, leading the American League in doubles and total bases and finishing 12th in MVP voting. This season, like many other stars in the game, he’s gotten off to a slow start, slashing .222/.276/.398 for an OPS of .674 and OPS+ (a stat that regulates OPS to a league average of 100) of 78.
Devers defense is also a concern as he’s been even worse than in the past on defense. He has always been a below-average defender, but this season it’s been a major issue for him. If you’re a fan of traditional stats, his fielding percentage is .855, well below his career number of .931.
If you’re more of an advanced metrics person, his total zone fielding runs above average and defensive runs saved above average are -9 and -7 respectively. During his worst defensive season, in 2018, those numbers were -16 and -14, but that was over 1000 innings. He’s cost the team over half as many runs in only about one-fifth of the innings, 221 1/3 to be exact, this season.
So why all the negativity about a guy who is supposed to be an upgrade at third base? Because this disappointing season he’s having at the plate and in the field is one of two reasons the Red Sox might even consider trading him. He’s still just 23 years old and will enter his first year of arbitration in 2021, giving him three more years of team control. This may be the only time he’s even remotely available, while his value is low.
The other reason the Red Sox could ship him out is that they have a ton of money on their books. This offseason they shipped out former MVP Mookie Betts and former Cy Young winner David Price just to dump their contracts. Devers is still a cheap contract right now, but he’ll be due a big extension that could break the Red Sox bank again while they’re still paying big money to Chris Sale, Xander Bogaerts, and J.D. Martinez.
A bad 27-game stretch to start the season probably won’t be enough to bring the Sox asking price for Devers down enough, but it’s worth making a call to see what they’d want in a deal and getting a young, team-controlled, cheap player who could have a resurgence in the second half would be a big move if David Stearns could pull it off.