David Ortiz Breaks Silence On Rafael Devers Trade And Red Sox Fans Won

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 17, 2025, 8:37 PM

david ortiz breaks silence on rafael devers trade and red sox fans won

The Rafael Devers trade was the most explosive moment of the Boston Red Sox's 2025 season, and it could take many more years to digest. Devers was meant to be the Red Sox's face of the franchise when he signed a 10-year, $313.5 million extension before the 2023 campaign. Just two and a half years later, he was playing for the San Francisco Giants against the Red Sox, clubbing a home run off former teammate Brayan Bello. A lot of people took the Devers trade hard, but Red Sox legend David Ortiz stands out among that group. Ortiz was vocal in the wake of the trade about his displeasure with the circumstances that led to the trade, particularly with how Devers handled things. If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.

Now that the dust has settled at the end of th season, Ortiz is still bothered by the fact that Devers isn't a Red Sox, but he wants it to be known that it's... The Boston Red Sox’s 2025 campaign was hectic to say the least. Despite trading away their best hitter, Rafael Devers, midway through the season, the Sox still managed to find their way to the playoffs. Looking back at that trade months later, the legendary David Ortiz has mixed feelings on Boston’s decision to cut bait with Devers. While Ortiz and Devers never played together in the majors, the former served as a mentor to the latter during his rise through the Red Sox’s farm system. For much of his career, it seemed like Devers was set to become the heir apparent to Ortiz as the team’s superstar designated hitter.

Devers wasn’t happy when he was moved to designated hitter before the start of the 2025 season, though, and with tensions boiling, the front office eventually decided to send him to the San Francisco... Ortiz admitted that you never want to lose a hitter with Devers, but he agreed with the team deciding to do what it felt like was best for the organization “You don’t want to let go of a batter like him,” Ortiz told Joey Copponi and Scott Neville on the “ITM Podcast” on Friday. “My thing with the situation is that I would expect a guy like Raffy to be one of the faces of this organization … Raffy is a good kid. Don’t get that caught up in the confusion. And that’s what bothers me most … We’re dealing with a good kid.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work for the organization … Sometimes you have to make those moves. I don’t argue that with the owners … They are the ones who ask you how much you want on your contract. They agreed (to Devers’ contract). But remember, you are an employee. You’re not a boss. There are not two bosses.

There’s just one. John Henry.” One of the biggest storylines leading up to the MLB trade deadline was the fractured relationship between the Boston Red Sox organization and Rafael Devers. The situation was messy from start to finish, largely due to Devers feeling misled by the team. “Devers, according to a person familiar with his thinking, felt 'lied to and betrayed' by the Red Sox. Cora, long one of Devers' chief supporters and advocates, supported his expulsion.

Craig Breslow, the Red Sox's chief baseball officer whom Devers publicly badmouthed amid the hostility, played hatchet man,” MLB’s Jeff Passan wrote. As a result, Devers was ultimately traded before the deadline. He landed in the Bay Area, joining the San Francisco Giants. “The Red Sox had just pulled off a three-game sweep of the rival Yankees for their seventh win in the last eight games and were getting ready for a Sunday night West Coast trip... Star slugger Rafael Devers, the lone remaining player from the team’s most recent World Series title squad of 2018, was dealt to the Giants for righty Jordan Hicks, lefty Kyle Harrison and a pair... 4 prospect at the time of the deal) and righty Jose Bello,” MLB.com’s Ian Browne wrote.

During an interview on the ITM Podcast, David Ortiz shared his honest thoughts on the Devers trade. Send this article to your social connections. Send this article to your social connections. David Ortiz said he knew the situation between Rafael Devers and the Red Sox wasn’t going to end well. Devers, who began his career with playing third base for the Sox, initially bristled at the idea of switching to designated hitter. He made the switch and produced at the plate, but the Red Sox asked him to make another position switch to first base after Triston Casas went down with a season-ending injury.

Hall of Famer David Ortiz works for the Boston Red Sox as a special assistant to the Fenway Sports Group. But he said his opinion of the Rafael Devers trade is informed more by his 14 years as a player with the Red Sox than his current role with the club. “I played for the Red Sox a long time,” Ortiz said Monday. “You think everything with me and the Red Sox was roses and flowers? I went through some tough times also. But I was mature enough to understand and keep things internal.

Even in the best families, between the best brothers, s— happens. You need to have the maturity to resolve the problems and move on.” Ortiz, 49, experienced occasional turbulence in his contract negotiations with the Red Sox. Some of the squabbles went public, but he ultimately finished his career with the team. In 2017, one year after he retired, the Red Sox signed him to what they described as a “forever” contract, enabling him to play a variety of roles with the club. Devers, 28, did not resolve his problems with Boston’s front office.

And on Sunday, the Red Sox made one of the most stunning baseball trades in recent memory, sending Devers to the San Francisco Giants for right-hander Jordan Hicks, left-hander Kyle Harrison, outfield prospect James... Ortiz, a colleague of mine at Fox Sports, does not consider the Red Sox blameless in the breakdown of their relationship with their best hitter, a homegrown slugger who was in the second year... But after Devers’ initial resistance to becoming a DH and subsequent refusal to play first base, Ortiz said, “I knew it wasn’t going to end well. There was too much going on, you know?” Speaking to Hector Gomez on Monday about the abrupt departure of superstar Rafael Devers, the two Boston Red Sox legends offered pointed takes about Sunday's shocking trade. MORE: Red Sox GM fired high-ranking team employee for obscene insult during Zoom meeting: report

"Devers was humiliated (by the Red Sox)," Ramirez told Gomez, via Twitter/X. "It's not about pride or ego. I think the team didn't respect him or communicate with him properly. I'm sure they didn't do that to (Roger) Clemens. I can't imagine the Yankees telling (Aaron) Judge, 'Now we're moving you to catcher.' " Devers signed a 10-year, $313.5 million contract prior to the 2024 season.

Far from bringing security, the contract invited scrutiny when Devers initially refused to move from third base to designated hitter in spring training to accommodate free agent newcomer Alex Bregman. MORE: Red Sox rookie, accused of lying by New York tabloid, addresses dad's Yankees claims The Boston Red Sox traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants in a shocking move on Sunday night. The trade ends a long saga between Devers and the front office in Boston. When the Red Sox originally signed Alex Bregman, Devers pushed back, noting that he would keep playing third base. Eventually, he was made the everyday designated hitter.

However, things took another turn when Devers was asked by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to play first base in the wake of Triston Casas' season-ending knee injury. "They told me that they didn't want to allow me to play any other position," Devers said in a rant to the media. "And now I think they should do their job essentially and hit the market and look for another player (to play first base). I'm not sure why they want me to be in between, the way they have me now." "Here in the clubhouse, thankfully, the relationship that I have with my teammates is great," Devers continued. "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. I think I know the kind of player I am. And yeah, that's just where I stand." His public comments against Breslow were likely the tipping point in the relationship. While the organization is not completely free of fault, Red Sox legend David Ortiz called out Devers. Red Sox Legend David Ortiz Breaks Silence on Rafael Devers Trade originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Boston Red Sox shocked the baseball world Sunday afternoon when they sent their franchise player, Rafael Devers, to the San Francisco Giants in a blockbuster trade. Both sides hadn't been on the best of terms since spring training when Boston signed third baseman Alex Bregman and told Devers he wouldn't be playing third base anymore, but nobody expected it to... Devers began the season at DH with Bregman playing at third base. However, when both Bregman and Tristan Casas, Boston's first baseman, went out injured, Devers refused to play third base and remained the DH. This only heightened tempers, and after calling up young prospects to fill positions of need, the Red Sox decided to pull the plug on Devers. The Red Rox star had just signed a 10-year, $313 million contract in 2023, and now he's gone.

David Ortiz Breaks Silence On Rafael Devers Trade And Red Sox Fans Won

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