3 frustrating reasons Rafael Devers was never on the Rangers' radar

It appears that the MLB Trade Deadline is officially here. No, the Texas Rangers haven’t started buying or selling. Instead, the Boston Redsox kicked things off with a shocking trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants.

The trade is shocking because it’s only June 15, and it’s not clear that Devers's position situation will be any better in San Fran than it was in Beantown.

The return for Devers, right-hander Jordan Hicks, left-hander Kyle Harrison, outfield/infield prospect James Tibbs, and minor-league right-hander Jose Bello. Is decent, but not insane. Because of that, plenty of Texas Rangers fans will wonder why Chris Young wasn’t pursuing the Red Sox star. There are at least three reasons why. The question is whether any of the answers are satisfying ones.

The Rangers believe they are set at third base and couldn’t use Rafael Devers

The Rangers already have a young third baseman handling the hot corner. And it’s clear that when Josh Jung is healthy, he’s a decent piece of the offensive pie. It doesn’t help, however, that Jung is currently in a long slump and was benched today as a result.

Even if he weren’t in a slump, plenty of people would argue that you do it when you can get Devers. But it’s clear Young feels the team is set there, and their resources are not endless. It’s clear that even if Devers were shopped to a team that has needed offense, they would almost certainly say no without Boston paying some of his salary, something they won’t do with San Francisco.

Rafael Devers is a headache the Rangers want no part of

This is both tied to Jung and not. They saw firsthand that Devers is not exactly a guy that looks like a fantastic clubhouse dude. Pair that with the fact that Devers would likely have to move positions (he’s horrendous on defense and Jung is a plus defender) in Texas, and it would have essentially just been a repeat of the circus in Boston.

Considering he’s under contract for a long time, that’s a headache Young, Bochy and the rest wanted to stay away from.

The Rangers are already weighed down by massive long-term contracts, Rafael Devers was one too many

Jacob DeGrom, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and others have the Texas Rangers with the 8th highest payroll in baseball. A lot of that money will be on the books for a long time, too. It’s entirely possible the team simply couldn’t take on his payroll and years.