As John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group are the owners of both clubs, a conspiracy theory immediately circulated that the Red Sox were forced to trade Devers because Liverpool had landed Wirtz. On WEEI’s Greg Hill Show Monday morning, Boston’s Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow shot that idea down emphatically.

The Boston Red Sox have already traded away one key player in Rafael Devers. They could cut ties with an elite pitcher if they fall out of contention.

For the Boston Red Sox, the first day of the post-Rafael Devers era ended the same way as the last five days of the Devers era: with a win. The Red Sox shut out out the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Monday night (BOS 2,