Devers a gift to Sox fans that will keep on giving

There are so many ways to look at this big deal -- $331 million for 11 years -- that Rafael Devers is about to sign with the Red Sox, per a source, starting with the obvious one: With Mookie Betts playing in Southern California now with the Dodgers and Xander Bogaerts about to do the same with the Padres, the Red Sox simply could not let their best player, somebody who is poised to succeed David Ortiz as the face of the franchise, also leave as a free agent after next season.

The Red Sox could not put themselves in a position to lose Devers at the age of 26 the way the Yankees simply could not lose Aaron Judge as a free agent.

This isn’t to say that Devers has ever had a year like Judge just had, because only a handful of players in baseball history ever have. But in light of everything that has happened to the Red Sox in the 15 months since they were two victories away from another World Series, Devers suddenly had as much leverage with the Sox as Judge did with the Yankees, leverage that appears to be paying off for him with a similar contract.

But there is something else that is in play here, and it is about Red Sox fans:

The people in charge of the team listened to them.

The members of Red Sox Nation, who had no say in Betts being traded away and watched Bogaerts, a two-time World Series champ who was one of the most popular players in modern Red Sox history, leave as a free agent, were finally heard, loud and clear.

Maybe this deal was always going to happen. And maybe John Henry, the owner of the Sox who also happens to be the owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, was finally moved to close the deal when he heard boos at Fenway Park on Monday when the Penguins played the Bruins in the Winter Classic, along with signs telling him not to lose Raffy Devers.

Hal Steinbrenner heard some boos last August at Yankee Stadium on the day when Paul O’Neill’s number was retired. The voices of Yankees fans telling him not to let Judge get away, to the Giants or anybody else, built to a roar between the end of the season and Steinbrenner signing Judge to the biggest contract in team history.

This was a business decision, of course, for the Yankees, about the face of their franchise. The Red Sox are making the exact same business decision, for just about the same amount of money, with the face of their own franchise. Devers now becomes as important a signing as Judge was, as Trea Turner was for the Phillies, as Bogaerts was with the Padres. The difference with Devers is that he is younger than all of them.

But the roar of the Red Sox crowd has absolutely been building since Bogaerts left, as Sox fans have watched what happened with other stars during as crazy a free agency period as baseball has ever seen. Their team listened.

My friend Jonathan Lemire, who hosts “Way Too Early” on MSNBC and is a regular on “Morning Joe” there, is a huge, lifelong Red Sox fan. I asked him on Thursday how much keeping Devers means to him.

“Oh, it matters,” he said. “But I really think about it via my kids, who are 11 and 8. They’re already massive Red Sox fans and live and die with them. They were crushed losing Mookie and Xander. But now they have a guy whose jersey they can own, and cheer on, for a long time.”

Back in 2018, when the Red Sox had the best season in the history of the franchise, Betts was young and in right field and Bogaerts was young at shortstop and Devers was the hot new kid at the hot corner. Andrew Benintendi, who made one of the great game-saving catches in postseason history in ’18 (bottom of the ninth against the Astros, bases loaded in Game 4, chance for Houston to even the American League Championship Series), was still in left field. He was a kid, too.

Soon, the Killer B’s -- Betts, Bogaerts, Benintendi -- were playing somewhere else. Red Sox fans were afraid the same thing might happen with Devers. But now it appears Devers is not just going to be around, but for a long time. He stays and just like that, it felt as if the Red Sox, who finished last in the AL East last season, have gotten themselves back into the game.

Red Sox fans have been speaking up for months about Devers. Now John Henry and Chaim Bloom, who runs baseball operations for the Red Sox, have responded, in a very big way. They’re set to do it because Devers matters as much as he does to the Red Sox. But today, their fans feel as if they matter again, too.