Devers Signed To 10-year, $313.5 Million Deal With Red Sox In MLB's Continued Spending Spree
Three years after Red Sox fans were flustered at the team’s trade of Mookie Betts, the best player at the time, to the Dodgers, and a month after Boston fans saw Xander Bogaerts sign an 11-year, $280 million deal with San Diego, the Red Sox felt the need to do something to calm the ticket-buying public.
A day after avoiding arbitration with third baseman Rafael Devers for what would be his final year of league-mandated team-control, the Red Sox came to terms with Devers on an 10 years and $313.5 million with a full no-trade clause and no opt-outs.
Devers will be 36 in 2033, the final year of the extension.
Devers’ guarantee is the 10th largest in major-league history and far and exceeds the $280 million Bogaerts got from the Padres. The debate as to whether the Red Sox paid the right player will rage on for years. Devers is four years younger than Bogaerts, has more power, and still may not have maxed out his potential at the plate despite having equaled or surpassed Bogaerts’ production over the last two seasons. Bogaerts, however, who plays a more valuable defensive position at shortstop, is less likely to slip over to the right side of the defensive spectrum, and has been more consistent at the plate, posting a 128 OPS+ or better in each of the last five years.
Devers’ youth and the possibility of still-untapped potential at the plate carried the day for Boston. No one thinks Devers is going to be the next Nolan Arenado, so if he winds up being the next David Ortiz, the Red Sox will be more than satisfied by that. Devers certainly has that potential at the plate.
Over the last two years, his age-24 and -25 seasons, he has hit .287 while averaging 32 home runs, 40 doubles, 56 walks, 100 RBI, and 304 total bases per season. He put up a similar season at the age of 22 in 2019, when he hit .311 and led the AL with 54 doubles and the majors with 359 total bases.
Devers picked up MVP votes in all three of those seasons, was an All-Star the last two years, and has emerged as one of the premier hitters in the American League. Among those with at least 800 plate appearances in the AL over the last two seasons, the only hitters to post a higher OPS+ than Devers have been (in order) Yordan Alvarez, Shohei Ohtani, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., José Ramírez, Jose Altuve, and Kyle Tucker.
Things have been trending in the wrong direction for the Red Sox of late. It will be interesting to see if locking up Devers can serve as a turning point for the franchise.