Red Sox could come out winners in Mookie trade
With one bold — and highly unpopular — move, new Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom has officially completed the luxury tax reboot in Boston by trading Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers. But despite the cries of anguish from the Boston media and Red Sox Nation, everyone may eventually come out winners in this deal.
We start with the Red Sox, who are being pilloried by the media in Boston for not using their vast financial resources to try and re-sign Betts before he opts for free agency and — by trading him — essentially writing off the 2020 season and the immediate seasons after. One columnist in Boston actually compared the 27-year-old Betts, the 2018 American League MVP, to Willie Mays at the same age. Another compared the deal to the Red Sox’s trading of Babe Ruth to the Yankees 100 years ago, saying it could be the start of a whole new “Curse of the Bambino” World Series drought in Boston.
Puleeze! Time will tell if Betts — whose first six years in Boston compare very favorably to those of Fred Lynn and Nomar Garciaparra (both of whom declined dramatically thereafter) — will continue to be one of the elite players in the game for the next 7-10 years. For now, he wasn’t re-signing with the Red Sox, no matter what they offered him, until he could test the free agent waters after next season. Instead of getting only a draft pick in return, they got themselves a potential mainstay (albeit with some baggage) 23year-old center fielder in Alex Verdugo, and a legitimate topof-the-rotation right handed starting pitching prospect in 21year-old Brusdar Graterol from the Twins.
At the same time, with the Dodgers eating half of the remaining $96 million on Price’s contract, and all of the $27M owed to Betts this year, the Red Sox successfully shed some $40 million in payroll to easily get under the $208 million luxury tax threshold, giving them renewed financial flexibility beginning in 2021.
The real key to the deal for the Red Sox is the 6-1, 265pound Graterol, who blossomed (6-0, 1.71 ERA, 50K in 52.2 IP) in Double-A last year and earned a year-end promotion to the Twins, who put him on their postseason roster. Multiple scouting reports rate his average 99 mph sinking fastball an 80 (on scale of 20-80) and his slider a 70. To trade Betts, the Red Sox, whose farm system was depleted by previous GM Dave Dombrowski, had to get back at least one legitimate blue chip prospect and, in Verdugo and Graterol, they may have two players who could be Fenway fixtures for years to come.
In Verdugo’s case, however, there will be questions about his past. He was reportedly one of the players involved in a sexual assault incident at the Dodgers’ Arizona spring training complex in February 2015, which then-L.A. farm director, Gabe Kapler, was criticized for covering up. That, no doubt, will be a prime topic of conversation with the Boston media this spring.
As for the Dodgers, even though Betts remains a lame duck for 2020, they certainly have the financial might to keep him, even if the bidding for him next year does approach the $400-plus million he is reportedly seeking. The reason they were able to out-bid the Padres for Betts was because of their willingness to take back Price in
the deal. Though Price has had a number of injury issues in recent years, the Dodgers desperately needed a starting pitcher capable of replacing the 14 wins the departed Hyun-Jin Ryu had for them last year.
The Twins also come out winners (at least temporarily) in the deal in that they got a very necessary starting pitcher from the Dodgers in Kenta Maeda, who helps fill the voids in their rotation from Michael Pineda’s steroids suspension (‘til June) and Rich Hill’s elbow surgery (‘til July).
Finally, there are the peripheral winners from the deal. They would be the Yankees, who benefit from the Red Sox trading off their franchise player and becoming non-contenders in the AL East at least for 2020 and maybe beyond — and the Fox network, which greatly improved its chances of getting that long coveted Yankees-Dodgers ratings dream World Series.