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It has been two days since the Red Sox traded Rafael Devers to the Giants in a five-player blockbuster, yet we’re still working through the fallout. What’s next for the Red Sox? What’s next for the Giants? Who knows? What we do know is the Red Sox won their first game without Devers, and Devers is expected to play his first game for the Giants on Tuesday.
I have no doubt Boston’s AL East rivals are glad to see Devers shipped out to the NL West. He’s been a thorn in their side for years. One player on a division rival, Orioles slugger Ryan O’Hearn, went so far as to thank the Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow for the trade, though not for the reason you’d think.
“Yeah, I just want to shout out Craig Breslow real quick. Appreciate you, man,” O’Hearn said during Tuesday’s appearance on Foul Territory.
With Devers now in the National League, O’Hearn has moved into first place at DH in the fan voting for the All-Star Game starters.
Here are the top vote-getters at DH in the AL. The top two vote-getters in Phase 1 advance to Phase 2, and the All-Star Game starter is selected from those two finalists.
- Ryan O’Hearn, Orioles: 353,029
- Ben Rice, Yankees: 232,331
================================ - Mike Tauchman, White Sox: 177,483
- Yordan Alvarez, Astros: 172,720
- Anthony Santander, Blue Jays: 168,280
In Monday’s voting update, MLB confirmed Devers received 796,382 votes before the trade, which he retains now that he’s an NL player. He was the top vote-getter among American League DHs and not by a little either. With Devers traded, O’Hearn moves up a spot, and is now much more likely to advance to Phase 2 of the voting, and eventually win an All-Star Game starting spot.
Of course, O’Hearn could make his way to the All-Star Game even without the help of the fans. He’s hitting .306/.386/.495 with 10 home runs this season, numbers good enough to make the Midsummer Classic, particularly with Alvarez limited to only 29 games by a hand injury. Alvarez has not played since May 2.
O’Hearn’s Orioles enter play Tuesday with a 30-41 record. They have won 14 of their last 21 games and are 6 ½ games behind the Red Sox for the third wild-card spot.