James Tibbs III Rakes Balls/Packs Bags

SF Giants Minor Lines, June 13-15, 2025

Photo Credit: Kevin Cunningham | Giant Futures

Holy cow! Well, that was a shock, wasn’t it? Things to learn about Buster Posey as President of Baseball Operations: will he be bold and daring?

Well, we have folks to say goodbye to and one big bat to say hello to. Kyle Harrison was There R Giants’ #1 prospect for the Giants’ system before he graduated last year, and maybe the first player in the history of this site who felt like one of “my guys.” James Tibbs III was my #4 prospect this last year, and I was just toying around with a midseason update that was going to move him up to #2. Young Jose Bello was my #29 prospect in the system this winter, and an arm with real big league potential…some day.

One of the very earliest pieces I ever wrote at There R Giants was an interview with Harrison’s high school coach, who told me of Kyle’s fierce competitiveness. In time, I got to see that trait — along with his unique and fearsome fastball — up close and personal. Harry’s always been a favorite of mine, and I hope that the Green Monster treats him very well. At some point, he’ll rejoin former Giants’ Pitching Coach Andrew Bailey (though when exactly that point will be is uncertain, as Boston optioned him immediately to Worcester), and hopefully Boston is going to get the best out of him and get him on track for the excellent career that many of us have long expected of him.

I wasn’t terribly surprised to see Tibbs used as a trade chip. He’s a talented young hitter with a very likely big league future — almost certainly the best hitter in the org after Bryce Eldridge. But I’ve always felt that his bat-first corner profile as a player didn’t fully fit with the vision that Posey and GM Zack Minasian have for this org going forward. Bello is a young pitcher I’ve been pumping up for much of the past year. I really like him, and can see a big league path for him. And I know other clubs have been on him for a while — I heard last summer that the Yankees asked for him in talks for a potential Trent Grisham deal. But I suspect the emergence of other big arms on that talented ACL club made him available as well as desirable.

And for that talent, the Giants are welcoming one of the most accomplished bats in the majors. A hitter who comes with 215 career home runs — despite being less than a year older than Tyler Fitzgerald. Rafael Devers has a career 126 wRC+ — and it’s been over 130 in five of the last seven seasons. He’s also a hitter who has performed best when the stakes have been largest, with a great post-season track record and a long history of bedeviling the finest Yankees’ pitchers (perhaps Brandon Crawford mentioned to his buddy Buster that brother-in-law Gerrit Cole was really sick of facing him).

It seems pretty clear that Devers (who was signed to his long-term deal by the previous head of Boston baseball ops, Chaim Bloom) and current GM Craig Breslow never really saw eye to eye, and with the deal, both parties are getting a clean slate. Whatever disgruntlement has existed hasn’t impacted Devers’ bat however, as he’s in the middle of the best offensive season of his career, despite starting with one of his biggest slumps way back in April.

I really like all of the players the Giants have sent to Boston, but they got the best player in the deal — probably by a substantial margin — and that’s usually a winning move.

For a wider perspective, here was Jeff Passan’s take on the deal last night, after taking the temperature of a shocked industry:

For Posey, the move is a huge swing of the bat, bringing a real offensive presence to a club that badly needed exactly that. Game on!

HITTER of the WEEKEND: James Tibbs III (Eug), 5 for 10, 2b, 3 BB, 1 SB, 1 Big Deal
PITCHER of the WEEKEND: Luis de la Torre (ACLG), 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 9 K

Man, I never even got around to using “They call him Mr. Tibbs!” Never waste your opportunities in this life, folks.