Betts trade looking worse as

When the Red Sox traded franchise player Mookie Betts and pitcher David Price to the Dodgers, the team's new GM argued his unnecessary homage to Babe Ruth set them up for their “long-term future.”

“We felt like where this trade positions us in terms of the big picture,” said Chaim Bloom, tasked with building a sustainable winner. (Emphasis on sustainable.) “In terms of the long-term future, it was a large step.”

But what if the future is now? Or at least, it could have been.

Since the Betts and David Price trade, the Yankees' have suffered numerous injuries to key players, opening a hole in their division title defense. Luis Severino's upcoming Tommy John surgery is the worst: He'll be out until next year. James Paxton underwent back surgery and might be back as early as mid-May. On Wednesday, Giancarlo Stanton strained his right calf and may miss opening day as a result.

Each injury is an obvious disappointment, given the trio's ability to dominate at their best, healthiest selves. But none of their maladies are shockers. Severino threw 20 total frames in the 2019 regular season and postseason, while Paxton has never thrown more than 169.2 innings in any of his nine seasons as a professional. Last year, Stanton played in 18 regular-season games after dealing with numerous strains to the 6'6”, 245 lb. outfielder's other large muscles.

The Yankees are still dominant when at full strength. But they aren't inevitable. ZiPS, a projection tool that uses past performance, injury history, and historical comparisons to simulate player and team performance, pegged the Yankees with an 82% chance of winning the East when Spring Training started. After Severino's injury, that's down to 69%. By virtue of staying in it the mix, ZiPS believes the Rays have a one-in-four shot of capitalizing on the Yankees' injury issues.

Wouldn't it be nice to have all the key players from your 2018 championship run for at