Red Sox's Cora Has 'No Regrets' About Rafael Devers Trade, Team 'Needed' to Make Deal

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora has opened up about the in-season trade that sent Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants.

Appearing on the Section 10 podcast, Cora explained he has "no regrets" about the move because it "needed" to happen "for the benefit of everybody," including Devers.

The deal seemed to come out of nowhere when the Red Sox announced on June 15 they sent Devers to San Francisco in exchange for Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, James Tibbs III and Jose Bello.

Devers signed an 11-year, $331 million extension with Boston in January 2023 that seemed to indicate he was going to be the player the franchise was being built around.

There were indications that the foundation between Devers and the Red Sox had started to crack early in the 2025 season.

After the club signed Alex Bregman in free agency and lost Triston Casas to a ruptured patellar tendon in May, Devers made it clear he wasn't interested in playing first base when the club asked if he could.

"They had the conversation with me," Devers said through Red Sox interpreter Daveson Perez. "I don't think, for me personally, it's the best decision after they asked me to play a different position. And I only had two months playing this position to all of a sudden have me try to play another position. So, from my end, it doesn't seem like a good decision."

A few days after the trade went down, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Devers felt like had been "lied to and betrayed" by the Red Sox for how he was treated.

Passan noted things got so bad with Devers that Cora, who was described as one of the three-time All-Star's "chief supporters and advocates in the organization, wound up supporting the trade.

Any bad feelings that Devers had weren't showing up in his performance. He hit .272/.401/.504 with 15 homers in 73 games with the Red Sox before being moved.

There was some dip in Devers' production after the trade, but he still put together a .236/.347/.460 slash line in 93 games for the Giants.

Boston went 37-36 with Devers and 52-37 without him. The club made the playoffs for the first time since 2021, losing to the New York Yankees in three games in the AL Wild Card series.