The saga between Rafael Devers and the Red Sox has come to an end.
Boston traded the superstar to the Giants in exchange for Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and more in a stunning blockbuster on Sunday night, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed.
The move came after the Red Sox completed a weekend sweep over the rival Yankees. Devers had spent the first eight-plus years of his career in Boston.
Devers, 28, is in the second year of a 10-year, $313.5 million extension. The Giants will pay out the rest of the deal.
The three-time All-Star owns a .272/.401/.504 slash line this year, along with 15 homers, 58 RBIs and a .905 OPS.
A rift between him and team brass had been growing throughout the season.
In spring training, Devers initially refused to move out of third base and become a designated hitter for Alex Bregman, whom the team signed to a three-year, $120 million deal this past offseason.
“Third base is my position,’’ Devers said through an interpreter in February. “That’s what I’ve played. I don’t know what their plans are. I know we had a conversation. I made it clear what my desires were, and yeah, whatever happens from here, I don’t know.”
Devers later softened his stance and accepted the DH role. But then recently, he was angry that Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow approached him to play first base after Triston Casas’ season-ending injury.
“I know I’m a ballplayer, but at the same time, they can’t expect me to play every single position out there,” Devers said last month. “In spring training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove, that I wasn’t going to play any other position but DH. So right now, I just feel like it’s not an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position.”
Devers did not pull punches in regards to Breslow and the rest of Boston’s front office.
“I’m not certain what [issue] he has with me,” Devers said at the time. “He played ball, and I would like to think that he knows that changing positions like that isn’t easy. … I don’t understand some of the decisions that the GM makes. Next thing you know, someone in the outfield gets hurt and they want me to play in the outfield.”
Now, he’s been shipped across the country to the 41-30 Giants, who trying to win the NL West.
It’s unlikely Devers will go back to third base, though, as the Giants have a four-time Gold Glove winner – including the past two seasons – in Matt Chapman at the position.
But from a Yankees perspective, their rival appears to have just gotten a whole lot weaker.
