Rafael Devers’ $331M deal is largest in Red Sox history, runs through his age-36 season in 2033

Rafael Devers’ new contract with the Red Sox — a monstrous 11-year, $331 million agreement — is a historic one. And it comes with some intricate details that show the commitment both sides made to each other.

Devers’ deal is a little bit complicated because it’s either an 11-year, $331 million deal from 2023-2033 or a 10-year, $313.5 million deal from 2024-2033, depending on how you look at it. Earlier this week, the Red Sox announced they had agreed to terms on a one-year, $17.5 million deal with Devers to avoid arbitration in 2023. That deal can either be folded into the longer contract (and viewed as $331 million over 11 years) or counted as separate. The difference largely lies in the semantics but there are some tangible effects as well.

Here are some details of Devers’ deal, according to industry sources and multiple reports:

* Devers’ deal goes through 2033, which is his age-36 season. No other Red Sox player is under contract past 2029.

* No matter if it’s counted as $331 million or $313.5 million, the contract is the largest in Red Sox history in terms of total value. The previous largest was David Price’s seven-year, $217 million contract from 2015.

* Devers’ deal is the longest in Red Sox history. Previously, Boston’s longest contract was eight years in length (Manny Ramírez in 2000).

* The average annual value of Devers’ deal would be the largest in franchise history ($31.35 million) if considered a 10-year deal and the second-largest in franchise history ($30.09 million) if considered an 11-year deal. Price’s deal came with a $31 million AAV.

Devers’ deal is in the range of Mookie Betts’ $30,416,667 average annual value with the Dodgers and eclipses Xander Bogaerts’ $25,454,545 AAV with the Padres.

* Devers’ deal does not include any opt-outs or a no-trade clause, according to reports. So the Red Sox will have full control over his rights through 2033.

Devers will receive a full no-trade clause when he reaches 10 years of service time. That should happen sometime in the early part of the 2027 season.

* In terms of the competitive bargaining tax threshold, the Red Sox can proceed in two ways. First, they could separate the two deals (into a one-year deal and a 10-year deal) and keep Devers’ 2023 hit at $17.5M while taking on a $31.35 million CBT hit for 10 years between 2024 and 2033. The other options is folding it all in together and taking on a $30.09 million hit for the next 11 seasons.

It’s unclear at this point what the team will do but the guess here is that the first option makes more sense. That would allow the Red Sox, who were projected to be at around $216-217 million in payroll after signing Devers to a one-year deal, to have about $16-17 million left to spend under the first CBT threshold of $233 million. Splitting the CBT hit over 11 years would bring Boston’s projected 2023 payroll to about $230 million, meaning they’d be getting close to hitting the luxury tax.

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