Yankees Trade Buzz Includes Former Red Sox Star Rafael Devers

San Francisco Giants slugger Rafael Devers is an unlikely name to enter New York Yankees trade rumors — but as Boston Red Sox fans know, stranger things have happened.

In a recent New York Post column, national baseball writer Jon Heyman listed Devers among the “extreme long shots” in the Yankees’ search for a new third baseman via trade.

Devers is still owed a hefty sum and still appears unwilling to return to the field defensively, making any deal difficult to justify. Still, no one thought the Red Sox would trade the slugger — or that the Giants were suitors — until the moment the trade was announced.

Heyman pointed out the financial weight of the player’s contract as the main sticking point: “Devers still has $250 million to go.” Few teams are likely to take on that kind of money for anyone at the trade deadline, but especially for a player who has very publicly refused to return to the field since spring training.

Devers has not done much to repair his reputation for indecisiveness since joining San Francisco. He is batting .240 with two home runs, nine RBI and 28 strikeouts in 75 at-bats. And despite his initial willingness to play anywhere the Giants asked him to, that enthusiasm appears to have waned dramatically in the weeks since his introductory press conference in San Francisco.

According to reports, Devers skipped a scheduled workout with Giants legend Will Clark, who had offered to assist him in a transition to first base. Like much of the final months of his Red Sox tenure, the optics were not ideal.

Devers has said he has no regrets about his time in Boston and felt he gave everything he had to the organization. His Red Sox chapter may be closed, but his future remains uncertain.

While a move to the Bronx feels improbable, the Yankees are still exploring several other names at third — with Devers a distant blip on the radar.