The Boston Red Sox fought their way back into the postseason race, but then traded away their best hitter. They could swing a trade to land his replacement.

This question hovered around the team as last year’s trade deadline approached, too. In 2024, a middling Red Sox team to start the year found its groove in June, going 21-14 from June 1 through July 14 to close out the first half. That convinced chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to buy.

In layman’s terms for basketball fans, the Rafael Devers trade from the Boston Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants may just be the baseball equivalent of Luka Dončić being shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers at the NBA trade deadline.