One day after agreeing to a 1-year contract for 2013, Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers agreed to a 11-year deal worth $331 million that will run through the 2034 season. Charles Krupa/Associated Press
After trading Mookie Betts and letting Xander Bogaerts walk in free agency, the Red Sox will not allow history repeat itself by letting a third homegrown star get away.
Boston has reached an 11-year, $331 million contract with star third baseman Rafael Devers, a source confirmed to MassLive late Wednesday afternoon. The agreement was first reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and former MLB player Carlos Baerga (on Instagram). Devers’ deal, which runs from 2023 to 2033, is not yet finalized, as the physical process has not yet begun, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Devers’ contract is the largest in Red Sox history. The $331 million guarantee includes Devers’ agreed-upon $17.5 million salary for 2023, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. The deal, which will take Devers through his age-36 season, is not expected to include any opt-out clauses or a no-trade clause.
Devers will earn just over $30 million on an annual basis over the course of the deal. It’s the sixth-largest in major-league history by total value.
The Red Sox entered the winter with the futures of its two best players hanging in the balance. Bogaerts, the franchise’s star shortstop for the last decade, opted out of his contract and eventually signed an 11-year, $280 million deal with the Padres. Once Bogaerts departed, there was even more urgency on chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom to make sure Devers didn’t follow a similar path in a year’s time. At that point, Bloom vowed that the club would do everything in its power to retain Devers.
“We will probably, I think, go beyond reason to try to get this done,” Bloom told ESPN’s Joon Lee late last month. “Hopefully we can get this done. There are always going to be limitations, like people can just put something plain out of reach. Some people love to bet on themselves and I hope he hits 63 homers if he does that.”
The Red Sox and Devers first began discussing an extension last spring but were unable to come close to an agreement before Opening Day. Once Devers made it clear he was not willing to negotiate during the season, attention turned to the winter.
Devers’ contract is by far the largest deal that Bloom has handed out since taking over in Oct. 2019. It’s the latest big move in a busy Red Sox offseason that has seen the departures of stalwarts Bogaerts, Nathan Eovaldi and J.D. Martinez, and the short-term additions of veterans like Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner and Corey Kluber. Devers’ contract locks him in as the cornerstone piece of the franchise for the next decade-plus and secures at least two infield pieces for the foreseeable future. Trevor Story has five years remaining on the contract he signed last March, and Triston Casas will assume the full-time role at first base in 2023.
Devers, a veteran of six major league seasons, has established himself as one of the best third basemen in the game since debuting in 2017. He owns a career .283 average while hitting 139 home runs and driving in 455 runs over 689 games.
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