After the Red Sox sent shockwaves through MLB on Sunday night by trading cornerstone Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants for four players, many people began wondering what could be next for Boston, which has been relieved of Devers’ remaining $255 million salary over the next eight-plus years.

But now, after a maddeningly uneven first 73 games and an industry-rattling trade that exported the team’s best hitter to the other league and other side of the country, the Red Sox are staring down the possibility of missing the postseason for a fourth consecutive year — something this franchise hasn’t done since 1991 to ‘94.