Atlanta Braves fans were reeling from an embarrassing blowout loss to the Rockies when the news that the Red Sox had traded Rafael Devers broke. The entire baseball world froze in disbelief that Boston had willingly traded the face of their franchise with so much left on his contract and that the drama between Devers and the Red Sox had gone this far. As it turns out, the Braves were in the running to make the headlines alongside Boston on Sunday.
Now that Devers actually got traded, the odds that the Giants were the only team vying to acquire him are basically zero. If Boston was willing to trade a player of Devers caliber, they were going to at least talk to a few bidders to try and identify the best deal possible instead of just hoping San Francisco would blow them away.
The Red Sox did indeed have conversations with other teams about Devers and the Braves just happened to be one of them in a bit of a surprise twist.
The Braves, Padres, and Blue Jays inquired about Rafael Devers' availability, but weren't as motivated as the Giants.
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) June 16, 2025
(Via: @Sean_McAdam) pic.twitter.com/b6J3ZexicX
Braves were among teams looking into trade for Rafael Devers before Sunday's blockbuster trade
While MassLive reporter Sean McAdam's report does include the Braves alongside the Padres and Blue Jays as interested in Devers, there is no indication that anything was particularly close. Atlanta obviously has had issues on offense this season, so doing their due diligence on a player that clearly was not happy with his role with the Red Sox who can absolutely mash at the plate was the smart thing to do.
It is a little curious that the Braves would even kick the tires on Devers, though. Austin Riley, despite his struggles, is pretty firmly installed at third base and Marcell Ozuna is going to be the Braves' designated hitter this year unless Atlanta trades him at the trade deadline which could happen. It doesn't seem like Atlanta pushed too hard to make a deal, so perhaps they didn't think beyond "hey, this guy can hit" in those early talks.
While the Giants ended up being the team that landed Devers, it is at least heartening to see the Braves' front office entertaining a bold move to get this team back in contention. Atlanta has won back to back series and a strong end to the month of June could have them in the hunt for a wild card spot. It looks like the front office still believes the Braves could turn things around and are looking for novel ways to give this roster a boost.