The day after the Red Sox shockingly booted Rafael Devers from the team plane and re-routed him to San Francisco, the Yankees welcomed back Giancarlo Stanton from elbow-injury oblivion, batting him fifth in Monday night’s lineup.

How each of those seismic transactions affects the balance of power in the AL East remains to be seen. On paper, however, Sunday night probably marked the first time in the century-old rivalry the Yankees could manage a smile after being swept at Fenway Park. In the big picture, what was three frustrating losses compared to having Devers, a noted Yankee killer, exiled from the division?

Still, Stanton’s encouraging return (2-for-4, double) was unable to remedy the Yankees’ prolonged offensive funk in Monday’s 1-0 loss to the Angels (in 11 innings). Incredibly, their scoreless streak now stands at 20 innings as the Yankees have lost four straight, totaling five runs in their past five games.

“Obviously want to win, but it’s good to be back out there,” said Stanton, who ripped a 111.1-mph single and 102.9-mph double. “Solid first day.”

Aside from another mind-numbing defeat (1-for-18 with RISP), the Yankees had a decent 24 hours, with Devers bounced from Boston followed by Stanton flexing at the plate. Other than Alex Bregman, the despised former Astro, Devers was the only member of Boston’s current roster who truly aggravated the defending AL champs.

How fitting that Devers’ final meaningful swing at Fenway was a home run off Max Fried — the Yankees’ de facto ace in Gerrit Cole’s absence — that snuck over the top edge of the Green Monster during the fifth inning of the Red Sox’s sweep-sealing 2-0 victory. All told, Devers finished his Boston Era with 31 homers and an .880 OPS against the Yankees over a total of 119 games. The previous weekend, in the Bronx, Devers homered twice to help fuel Boston’s series win, giving him 18 homers in 64 career games at the Stadium.

Devers obviously had become an unbearable headache for Red Sox management, who apparently grew tired of the position-switch drama. But he also was a major pain for the Yankees.

“I think certainly it caught the baseball world a little off guard,” manager Aaron Boone said Monday afternoon. “Everyone’s a little bit stunned. But when the dust settles, you’re also not stunned, just with all the noise around that the last couple of months. Obviously it’s a great player and a big-time bat leaving our division, so we’ll see how it works out.”

Boone was referring to the very public commotion around Devers, who grew increasingly annoyed with the Red Sox ever since his third-base position was handed to Bregman after signing him to a three-year, $120 million contract this winter. And once the initial controversy cooled, it went nuclear again when the season-ending injury to first baseman Triston Casas led to Devers’ refusal to try the position for the good of the team.

Six weeks later, Devers was being dumped on the tarmac at Logan Airport. However the Red Sox choose to spin it, the bottom line is they shipped their homegrown franchise player and a three-time All-Star to the Giants in a deal that amounted to a salary dump and culture cleanse. Getting back a pair of marginal pitchers — Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison — and two minor-leaguers (No. 4 prospect James Tibbs III, reliever Jose Bello) in order to rid themselves of the remaining $254 million (on the 10-year, $313M contract) says everything you need to know about Boston’s motivation.

“There was something amiss here,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said Monday night on a Zoom call, “and it was something that we needed to act decisively to course correct.”

While the Red Sox clearly were aiming for addition by subtraction, the Yankees activating Stanton presents a different sort of challenge. Stanton, despite a lethal bat, has saddled the Yankees with an immovable bloated contract and limited their lineup flexibility, at least in the few extended stretches he’s been healthy during the regular season.

Stanton, who is earning $32 million this year, already has missed the first 10 weeks with severe tendinitis in both elbows, and Monday’s return at DH sent former MVP Paul Goldschmidt — one of the Yankees’ most consistent hitters (.311 BA, .826 OPS) — to the bench in favor of using the lefty-swinging Ben Rice at first base. Boone said Monday that Stanton will be part of a six-player rotation that will also involve Rice seeing some time behind the plate.

“Whatever is best for us to win, that’s the most important thing,” Stanton said. “And the guys that aren’t going to be starting, they’re going to come in for huge pinch-hit spots, and in that opportunity, it’s usually a chance to win the game anyway. We’ll work with it.”

As of now, Boone has no plans to deploy the fragile Stanton in the outfield. So the DH gig — occasionally used to give Aaron Judge a day (mostly) off his feet — will be clogged up with Stanton, who after this season is owed another $34 million through 2027, thanks to money kicked in by the Marlins.

“I expect him to play regularly,” Boone said. “But he’ll have his days [off], too and we’ll let this thing kind of shake out.”

Compare Stanton’s team-first mentality with Devers’ me-first attitude that got him shipped to San Francisco. As for Devers leaving the rivalry, and what that means for the Red Sox as a future threat, Boone wasn’t celebrating just yet.

“Be careful what you wish for,” the manager said.