Former MLB GM thinks Red Sox could bail out SF Giants in the most ironic way

The SF Giants have been open about their willingness to trade their big contracts ahead of the trade deadline. Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, and Rafael Devers all seem to be on the table in trade talks. Whether anyone actually wants them is a much different story.

Adames may be the toughest to trade of the three since he has a no-trade clause and is underperforming both at the plate and in the field. Yet, a former general manager sees him as a potential fit with the Boston Red Sox.

Jim Bowden used to be the GM of the Cincinnati Reds but now he is a columnist for The Athletic. In a recent article previewing the trade deadline, he writes, “I do think Adames would be a good fit with the Red Sox.” He doesn’t elaborate at all, but it would be incredibly ironic if San Francisco dealt Adames to Boston.

Last year the Red Sox offloaded Devers’ bad contract onto San Francisco in a blockbuster trade. If the Giants returned the favor and offloaded Adames’ bad contract onto Boston maybe the two teams would be even.

Adames' decline started earlier than Giants anticipated

Adames is owed over $150 million over the next five seasons and will not be a free agent until after the 2031 season. When the Giants inked him to that record-breaking seven-year $182 million deal they were probably hoping he’d be his usual self for at least the first three or four years of that deal.

Instead, he’s declining in year two of the deal which does not inspire a lot of confidence that he will turn things around going forward. He’s hitting .230/.281/.420 with 15 home runs and 37 runs batted in and he is making poor swing decisions. He grades out as the worst defensive shortstop in MLB.

What would a deal between the Red Sox and Giants even look like? The Giants would probably have to kick in at least $50 million in any deal that involved Adames but maybe they could try to get pitchers like Jake Bennett and Hayden Mullins who are the No. 6 and No. 14 prospects in Boston’s organization. That would at least allow San Francisco to continue to fill the farm system with pitchers after a MLB Draft that leaned heavily on pitching.

A trade still seems very unlikely but it’s interesting to think how funny it would be for the Giants to offload Adames to Boston when they did the same with Devers. Maybe every year they can just swap bad contracts with one another. 

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