The San Francisco Giants acquired three-time All-Star Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox on Sunday in a stunning trade that sent a player Boston once considered a franchise cornerstone to a San Francisco team needing an offensive infusion.

Boston received left-handed starter Kyle Harrison, right-hander Jordan Hicks, outfield prospect James Tibbs III and Rookie League right-hander Jose Bello.

The Red Sox announced the deal Sunday evening.

The Giants will cover the remainder of Devers’ contract, which runs through 2033 and will pay him more than $250 million, sources told ESPN.

The trade ends the fractured relationship between Devers and the Red Sox that had degraded since spring training, when Devers balked at moving off third base — the position where he had spent his whole career — after the signing of free agent Alex Bregman. The Red Sox gave no forewarning to Devers, who expressed frustration before relenting and agreeing to be their designated hitter.

After a season-ending injury to first baseman Triston Casas in early May, the Red Sox asked Devers to move to first base. Devers declined, suggesting the front office “should do their jobs” and find another player after the organization told him during spring training he would be the DH for the remainder of the season. The day after Devers’ comments, Red Sox owner John Henry, president Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow flew to Kansas City, where Boston was playing, to talk with Devers.

In the weeks since, Devers’ refusal to play first led to internal tension and helped facilitate the deal, sources said.

San Francisco pounced — and added a force to an offense that ranks 15th in runs scored in Major League Baseball. Devers, 28, is hitting .272/.401/.504 with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs, tied for the third most in MLB. Over his nine-year career, Devers is hitting .279/.349/.509 with 215 home runs and 696 RBIs in 1,053 games.

Boston believed enough in Devers to give him a 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension in January 2023. He rewarded the Red Sox with a Silver Slugger Award that season and made his third All-Star team in 2024.

Whether he slots in at designated hitter or first base with San Francisco — the Giants signed Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman to a six-year, $151 million deal last year — is unknown. But San Francisco sought Devers more for his bat, one that immediately makes the Giants — who are fighting for National League West supremacy with the Los Angeles Dodgers — a better team.

To do so, the Giants gave a package of young talent and took on the contract that multiple teams’ models had as underwater.

Harrison, 23, is the prize of the deal, particularly for a Red Sox team replete with young hitting talent but starving for young pitching. Once considered one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, Harrison has shuttled between San Francisco and Triple-A Sacramento this season.

Harrison, who was scratched from a planned start against the Dodgers on Sunday night, has a 4.48 ERA over 182⅔ innings since debuting with the Giants in 2023. He has struck out 178, walked 62 and allowed 30 home runs. The Red Sox optioned Harrison to Triple-A Worcester after the trade was announced.

Hicks, 28, who has toggled between starter and reliever since signing with the Giants for four years and $44 million before the 2024 season, is on the injured list because of right toe inflammation. One of the hardest-throwing pitchers in baseball, Hicks has a 6.47 ERA over 48⅔ innings this season. He could join the Red Sox’s ailing bullpen, which Breslow has sought to upgrade.

Tibbs, 22, was selected by the Giants with the 13th pick in last year’s draft out of Florida State. A 6-foot, 200-pound corner outfielder, Tibbs has spent the season at High-A, where he has hit .245/.377/.480 with 12 home runs and 32 RBIs in 56 games. Scouts laud his command of the strike zone — he has 41 walks and 45 strikeouts in 252 plate appearances — but question whether his swing will translate at higher levels.

Bello, 20, has spent the season as a reliever for the Giants’ Rookie League affiliate. In 18 innings, he has struck out 28 and walked three while posting a 2.00 ERA.

The deal is the latest in which Boston shipped a player central to the franchise.

Boston traded Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in February 2020, just more than a year after leading Boston to a franchise-record 108 wins and a World Series title and winning the American League MVP Award.

Devers was part of that World Series-winning team in 2018 and led the Red Sox in RBIs each season from 2020 to 2024, garnering AL MVP votes across each of the past four years. Devers had been with the Red Sox since 2013, when he signed as an international amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic. He debuted four years later at age 20.

Boston is banking on its young talent to replace Devers’ production. The Red Sox regularly play four rookies — infielders Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer, outfielder Roman Anthony and catcher Carlos Narvaez — and infielder Franklin Arias and outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia are expected to contribute in the coming years.

Shohei Ohtani will make his long-awaited return to pitching on Monday night in a matchup against the division-rival San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced.

Ohtani, 21 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament, will be used as an opener, likely throwing one inning. Because of his two-way designation, Ohtani qualifies as an extra pitcher on the roster, giving the Dodgers the flexibility to use a piggyback starter behind him.

That is essentially what will take place in his first handful of starts — a byproduct of the progress Ohtani has made in the late stages of his pitching rehab.

Ohtani, 30, initially seemed to be progressing toward a return some time around August. But he made a major step during his third simulated game from San Diego’s Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three simulated innings and compiling six strikeouts against a couple of low-level minor leaguers.

Afterward, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could return before the All-Star break. When he met with reporters prior to Sunday’s game against the San Francisco Giants — an eventual 5-4 victory — Roberts said it was a “possibility” Ohtani could pitch after just one more simulated game.

After the game, Roberts indicated the timeline might have been pushed even further, telling reporters it was a “high possibility” Ohtani would pitch in a big league game this week as an opener, likely during the upcoming four-game series against the Padres.

“He’s ready to pitch in a big league game,” Roberts told reporters. “He let us know.”

The trade: The San Francisco Giants acquire DH Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox for LHP Kyle Harrison, RHP Jordan Hicks, OF prospect James Tibbs and minor league RHP Jose Bello.

It’s rare we get an out-of-the-blue trade featuring one of the game’s best hitters, and it’s even more rare when it happens in the middle of June involving teams in playoff contention. Given everything Devers and the Red Sox have battled throughout this season — his initial anger at being moved off third base when the team signed Alex Bregman and later his refusal to move to first base when Triston Casas went down because of an injury — maybe it’s not as surprising as it first appears.

The Red Sox aren’t immune to controversial moves, having traded Mookie Betts in 2020, but this one certainly will be a fun one to argue about on social media, with enough hot takes to burn off the late summer fog in San Francisco.

Let’s grade it.

San Francisco Giants: For the Giants and new top executive Buster Posey, the impact of this trade is obvious: They get their best hitter since Posey himself was at his peak and certainly their best power hitter since Barry Bonds, the last Giants player to hit 30 home runs (2004), a figure Devers has reached three times. After beginning the season with five hitless games, Devers is now hitting .272/.401/.504 after hitting his 15th home run in Boston’s 2-0 win on Sunday over the New York Yankees. He has seen a huge spike in his walk rate, boosting his OBP well above his career mark of .349. If that walk rate holds (he’s second to Juan Soto in walks drawn), it raises Devers’ offensive game to a new level.

Of course, Devers has his issues. The Red Sox moved him off third base for good reason. The Giants have Gold Glover Matt Chapman there, so a return to third remains out of the equation for Devers. Giants first basemen have been among the worst in the majors, ranking 26th in OPS, with Dominic Smith getting most of the action lately after LaMonte Wade Jr. was traded to the Angels. But the most likely scenario is Devers remaining at DH with Wilmer Flores shifting over to share first.

The other issue is Devers’ contract: He’s 28 years old and signed through 2033, making this the second year of a 10-year deal that will run through his age-36 season. That puts some degree of risk on his long-term value, but Devers has been a consistent hitter throughout his career — his top 10 similarity scores on Baseball-Reference include three Hall of Famers in Scott Rolen, Adrian Beltre and Ron Santo, plus a couple of likely future Hall of Famers in Nolan Arenado and Manny Machado. Granted, those guys were or are much superior defenders, but Devers compares to them as a hitter.

He does move from Fenway to Oracle Park — and San Francisco’s ballpark is part of the reason no Giants player has hit 30 home runs since Bonds. Devers’ career splits are interesting: He has hit for a higher average at home (.292 versus .267) but with more home runs on the road (120 to 95). He’s going to lose some of those cheap doubles he hit off the Green Monster, so maybe his average dips a little, but I think his power will translate just fine.

Bottom line: The Giants have been looking for that big middle-of-the-order hitter for years, from Bryce Harper to Aaron Judge to Shohei Ohtani. Now they have one and didn’t surrender any of the pitchers on a staff that ranks third in the majors in ERA. The National League West race — and the Giants were just a game back of the Dodgers at trade time — just got a lot more interesting.

Grade: A-

Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox have been hard to understand for years now, since the Betts trade, operating more like a mid-major market than the team that had the highest payroll in the majors in 2018 and 2019. Under that lens, this trade is not only the dealing of a disgruntled star with a ruptured relationship with the organization, but coincidentally enough, moving on from a player with a huge salary.

The timing will also create minor shockwaves: The Red Sox just swept the Yankees and have won seven of their past eight games, getting back into the playoff picture after a disappointing first two months. The spin from Boston will be interesting, focusing on Devers not stepping up and putting the team first. And that’s not an inaccurate spin, even if the Red Sox have clearly mishandled this situation from the start.

They also have all of their top prospects playing for the big league team now, from recent call-up Roman Anthony to Marcelo Mayer to Kristian Campbell. Manager Alex Cora has been platooning Anthony and Mayer, which is silly; they need to be playing every day, even if they get exposed a bit against left-handers. Trading Devers opens up at-bats for everyone and helps clear the outfield logjam of Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Rob Refsnyder — but they’re not going to be able to replace Devers’ production just yet.

Harrison is a talented left-hander, once a top pitching prospect in the minors who hasn’t quite put it all together in the majors — but he’s also still only 23 years old. He had a 4.56 ERA in 24 starts as a rookie last season and has a 4.56 ERA in 23⅔ innings so far in 2025. Boston has optioned Harrison to Triple-A Worcester, but with Tanner Houck injured and Walker Buehler and Lucas Giolito both fighting ERAs on the wrong side of 5.00, Harrison could be a potential rotation option later in the season. As for Hicks, the Giants tried the hard-throwing right-hander as a starter, but it never really worked, so he’ll be in the bullpen.

Tibbs was the Giants’ first-round pick last June out of Florida State, an outfielder hitting .245/.377/.480 in High-A. He might be something, although let’s see what happens when he’s bumped up to Double-A.

Given Harrison’s potential upside, it’s not fair to completely slam the Red Sox. Devers has a big contract, but it doesn’t feel out of line with some other recent deals — such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s $500 million contract. Maybe the Red Sox will take those savings and go after some more pitching help, either at the trade deadline or in the offseason.

Still, when you’re looking to trade a player because of a broken relationship, it’s hard to get fair value in return — and it feels as if the Red Sox came up short here. Maybe this will prove to be the best move for the organization in the long run, but their playoff hopes for 2025 take a hit.

Grade: C