Every trade deadline the Yankees have a version of the same conversation: are they buyers, sellers, or just standing pat and hoping health shows up like a rescue boat. This year the twist is that the guy they're being pushed to chase, Rafael Devers, isn't even property of a division rival anymore. Boston shipped him to San Francisco earlier this year in a deal that stunned both fanbases, and now the Giants are reportedly listening on offers for him again, along with Willy Adames and Matt Chapman. That's the opening BarstoolHubbs is trying to kick down.
I've had the epiphany that the Yankees should trade for Rafael Devers. He's not a perfect fit and the contract is an eyesore, but they need to go all in right now and not worry about 4 years from now. Blog below (This admittedly comes from a place of desperation)
The obvious problem is the money and the fit. Devers is still owed a massive chunk of that 10-year, $313.5 million deal he originally signed in Boston, and the Yankees would be taking on roughly $211 million of it. He's also, historically, a DH-or-third-base guy in a lineup that already has a very expensive DH problem sitting on the injured list. That's Giancarlo Stanton, who's been out since late April with a calf strain that just will not cooperate. Aaron Boone told reporters this week there's still no timeline for even a minor-league rehab assignment, months after the initial injury and a setback that hit while Stanton was running the bases in June.
That's the crux of the argument. BarstoolHubbs isn't saying Devers is a clean roster fit — he's saying the Yankees can't keep building the second half around a Stanton return that keeps sliding further out of reach. Wait for Stanton, and you're betting the stretch run on a guy who hasn't played a live game in months. Go get Devers, and you've got a middle-of-the-order bat who's been scorching the ball since May, and you stop pretending health is a plan.
If The Yankees Want To Give Their Season Some Life, Instead Of Watching Their Ship Continue To Sink, They Should Trade For Rafael Devers @BarstoolHubbs
It's not a popular take, and Hubbs knows it. He's flagged more than once that this take comes "from a place of desperation" and that there's basically no chance the front office actually pulls the trigger given the money and the roster crunch. But the underlying frustration is real: Aaron Judge doesn't have infinite prime years left, and the Yankees have made a habit of half-measures at the deadline — a rental bat here, a bullpen arm there — instead of the kind of aggressive, uncomfortable swing that actually changes a season.
Again, approaching the deadline like Stanton is coming back would be a giant mistake.
Whether the front office agrees is a different question entirely. Taking on $211 million for a player who doesn't have an obvious position, while still paying Stanton, is the kind of move that gets a front office fired if it doesn't work. But the debate itself says something about where this Yankees season sits right now — good enough to still believe, shaky enough that fans and bloggers alike are done waiting around for the injury report to save them.