The Yankees have been waiting on Giancarlo Stanton all season. He went down with a calf strain back in April, tried to come back in June, reinjured it running the bases, and has been stuck on a treadmill ever since with no real timetable. Aaron Boone still says he expects him back this year, but 'expects' is doing a lot of work there. That limbo is exactly what pushed Eric Hubbs to float the idea that's been bouncing around Yankees Twitter for a full day now: go get Rafael Devers.
Hubbs laid out the pitch plainly: an admittedly desperate move, but one worth making with the season on the line.
Devers isn't sitting in Boston anymore. The Red Sox shipped him to the Giants last year, and San Francisco has reportedly been listening on him with roughly $211 million left on that deal. He's hitting just .243 since the trade, and there's a real fit question with Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt already splitting first base and DH duties in the Bronx. None of that is a secret, and Hubbs isn't pretending otherwise -- he's called it an admittedly desperate idea with a contract that's an eyesore.
Hubbs ran through the pros and cons himself, while conceding there's basically no chance the Yankees actually pull the trigger.
Detailing the pros and cons for the move. There are legitimate detractors here, but they really need a splash here before Judge's window runs out. Also there's no chance they do this. https://t.co/JOsPZ5xIR4
But the case isn't really about whether Devers is a clean roster fit. It's about the calendar. Aaron Judge doesn't have infinite prime years left, and the Yankees have spent this season building around a return that keeps getting pushed back. Hubbs' whole argument is that treating the deadline like Stanton is walking back through that clubhouse door is the real mistake, not the size of Devers' contract.
Hubbs doubled down on the idea that banking on Stanton's return is the actual gamble here.
Again, approaching the deadline like Stanton is coming back would be a giant mistake.
Barstool Baseball picked up the blog and framed it even more bluntly: the Yankees' season is taking on water, and a swing at Devers is the kind of jolt that could keep it afloat instead of watching things quietly sink before August 3.
Barstool Baseball's writeup pushed the same case for a Devers move to give the Yankees' season some life.
There's still a mountain of reasons this doesn't happen -- the money, the position logjam, the fact that his production has cooled off since he left Boston. Hubbs knows it too, which is why he's already conceding no chance the Yankees actually do this even while making the case for it. But with the deadline landing on August 3 and Stanton's calf still not cooperating, the Yankees front office is going to have to decide soon whether standing pat counts as patience or just running out the clock on Judge's window.