When the Boston Red Sox traded right-hander Jordan Hicks to the Chicago White Sox, that left the Red Sox with only left-handed starter Kyle Harrison and minor-league right-hander Jose Bello still with the team following the shocking trade of star Rafael Devers last season.
For those Red Sox fans stunned at the lack of return chief baseball officer Craig Breslow received for Hicks, don’t be. Just like the Devers deal, this was a cash dump.
That doesn’t mean the Red Sox are being cheap. I will call it restructuring on the fly. Devers, the Red Sox’s highest-paid player, was an early-season drama that was certainly not going to end well. As a quick recap, Devers was upset in spring training that he was no longer going to play third base after the Red Sox signed free agent Alex Bregman. So Devers became the full-time designated hitter. When first baseman Triston Casas sustained a ruptured left patellar tendon that ended his season, Devers refused to consider learning how to play the position.
A meeting with ownership to begin a road trip didn’t smooth much over, which led to Devers being dealt June 15 to the San Francisco Giants for Harrison, Hicks, Bello and prospect outfielder James Tibbs III.
The trade was like telling the soulmate you thought was the one that it wasn’t going to work out. You saw a side of that person you knew you would grow to dislike.
It was Tibbs who left Boston next as he was dealt at the trade deadline to the Los Angeles Dodgers for right-handed starter Dustin May, who lasted just six games before right elbow neuritis shelved him for the remainder of the year. May was a free agent and is now with the St. Louis Cardinals. Tibbs had been the No. 13 overall pick by the Giants in 2024 out of Florida State and is currently ranked as the No. 8 prospect in a good Dodgers farm system by MLB Pipeline. Tibbs was the Giants’ No. 4 prospect when he went to Boston and the Red Sox’s No. 5 prospect when he went to L.A.
Hicks was struggling with the Giants when he was included in the Devers deal, the highest-paid of the players coming to Boston at $12 million a year through 2027. Harrison’s 2025 was mostly spent at Triple-A, although he did appear in three games, starting twice. Harrison will be battling for a role on the Red Sox’s Opening Day roster, likely as a long reliever unless he wins the No. 5 starting role. He had been only so-so for the Giants in eight games (four starts) before the trade.
At the time of the Devers trade, Red Sox fans had to realize this was a talent-for-talent trade. There is no way that the struggling Hicks, the inconsistent Harrison, Tibbs with 83 games of pro experience and a 20-year-old unproven Bello added up as a proper return for Devers, who was off to a good start with the Red Sox, on track for perhaps his best power year.
No, this trade was about dumping the person, not the player. Devers, a three-time All-Star who had received down-ballot AL MVP votes five times, was just in the second year of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension. With the bad vibes all around and Devers’ defense at third already being questioned, the Red Sox cut bait.
At the time, the Red Sox were 37-36, fourth in the AL East. The Red Sox played better from then on, finishing third in the East with an 89-73 record and earning a wild-card berth. The Giants, meanwhile, were 41-31 and second in the NL West, but finished 81-81 and did not make the postseason.
That brings us back to Hicks, who has two years and $24 million left on his contract. In exchange for Hicks, right-hander David Sandlin (Boston’s No. 8 prospect), two players to be named later and $8 million, the Red Sox acquired right-hander Gage Ziehl (Chicago’s No. 14 prospect) and a player to be named later. Again, talent-for-talent, a lopsided deal. But Hicks wasn’t expected to play a key role in the Boston bullpen and certainly wasn’t going to crack the rotation. So Hicks was off to the White Sox.
The Devers deal, while stemming from an unfortunate situation, sliced between $27 million and $29 million off the Red Sox’s payroll annually for the remainder of his deal, which now is the Giants’ burden. Shipping out Hicks chopped another $12 million for this year and 2027 (really $8 million when you count the cash included in the trade spread over both years).
Some of that money has been reinvested in the starting rotation by adding free-agent left-hander Ranger Suárez, who signed a five-year, $130 million contract ($26 million average annual value). With plenty of time before Opening Day, another move or two could be in the offing for the Red Sox, including at second or third base.
Sure, Harrison could turn into something useful, he is after all just entering his age-24 season. It is too soon to say what Bello will be.
Time will tell if Devers rights his ship on the shores of McCovey Cove, but the Red Sox will be sailing smoother in 2026 without having to navigate those choppy waters.
