The day the Giants changed

Buster Posey, Rafael Devers, and a defining decision.

The first text buzzed my phone at 3:58 pm.

"Holy shit."

Then again. And again. And again.

Finally, someone actually shared what I wasn't able to see as my train zoomed toward New York.

Rafael Devers is a Giant. Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks are Red Sox, along with prospects James Tibbs and Jose Bello.

There are so many questions we can't answer right now. What we know is that the Giants struggle to score. They've scored the fewest runs in the National League over the last 30 days. Devers, a .272 hitter with 15 home runs and a .905 OPS, instantly becomes the Giants’ best hitter. He's owed about $250 million through the 2033 season.

We also know—the whole baseball world knows—the Giants have struggled to sign great hitters. Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper, and Shohei Ohtani will all go to Cooperstown and none of them as Giants. Buster Posey forced a 28-year-old slugger into his lineup.

The beauty of the baseball season is that most of the days blend together. Rare is the game you remember at the end of the journey and feel like it meant a little bit more.

Rarer is the day you'll remember years from now. The day that might define a generation of Giants baseball. The day that will shape the legacy of one of the franchise's great players, who also happens to be running the team.

At the end, the money doesn't matter. The prospects don't matter.

What matters is the players, the wins and losses, and a team that the fans want to root for.

Posey understands this deeply, and did he ever deliver.

Up next: If today were any other day, I'd write a postcard about Ryan Walker watching Andy Pages hit a foul ball home run, then throwing the same pitch again for an actual home run. Alas.

The Giants fall two games behind the Dodgers after losing Sunday night. They're off today before welcoming the Guardians and—get ready—the Red Sox to San Francisco. It's hard to believe any of this is real.