Red Sox: Chaim Bloom passed the test in Betts, Dodgers trade
It is an unpopular opinion among baseball fans, but the Boston Red Sox did very well in all aspects of their three-team trade headlined by Mookie Betts and David Price.
Mookie Betts was going to get traded. I hope that Boston Red Sox fans were not surprised when alerts popped up on their phones on Tuesday evening that their former MVP was finally traded. But the only question was if the Red Sox would be able to get back a justifiable haul in return and save money in the process.
They passed the test.
Yes, it is nearly impossible to replace a potential Hall of Famer in Mookie Betts. In fact, it is impossible to replace Mookie Betts unless you acquire Mike Trout because he is arguably the only player that is better than Mookie Betts.
But the main point here was that Betts wanted to be a free agent and after 2020 he will earn that right, so Chaim Bloom needed to get something back that was more impactful than a compensation pick.
Not only did he and the rest of the front office need to get a good return, but they also wanted to get under the luxury tax threshold and have some flexibility heading into Bloom’s first season as the Chief Baseball Officer of the Boston Red Sox.
And while it might be overlooked right now, Chaim Bloom got a solid return and he created a lot of flexibility for his front office at the same time.
Breaking down the Red Sox’s return
Let’s first start off with the return Boston got. Red Sox fans might think that they should get a haul back if they are relinquishing a former MVP and All-Star starter–and they did if you factor in the money.
David Price doesn’t have a team-friendly contract by any means and Betts is getting paid $27 million this season, so in order for the Dodgers to take on both of the contracts, the Red Sox needed to be ok with getting a smaller return.
But let’s not act like the Red Sox got a small return.
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Brusdar Graterol is not a name that will get Boston fans excited, but he is a top-100 prospect that has a well-above-average fastball and above-average slider coming out of the bullpen in the future. He was the Minnesota Twins top pitching prospect and has already debuted in the majors.
Alex Verdugo was the centerpiece in this deal and rightfully so. The Dodgers have resisted trading him in numerous deals over the years because they knew how talented he is. But this was the right deal to pull the trigger. So Bloom turned one year of Betts into five years of Verdugo.
He is a 2-win player that could sit in the middle of the Boston Red Sox lineup in what will be his first real chance to be an impact player at the big league level. In over 100 games last season he hit .296 with a .475 slugging percentage and 12 home runs.
He will be added to an outfield that already includes Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi.
The most important aspect of the trade
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Now, let’s get to what I believe was a very important aspect in order for this blockbuster deal to be completed: The Boston Red Sox saving money and gaining a ton of payroll flexibility.
As I mentioned Mookie Betts will be paid $27 million in 2020 along with David Price being paid $96 million over the course of the next three seasons before he hits free agency–Boston eats half of that. So, they will be sending $48 million to the Dodgers as a part of the trade.
The Red Sox will then take on Verdugo’s contract which is a mere $583,500 for the 2020 season.
According to Ken Rosenthal, that all adds up to Chaim Bloom and the Boston Red Sox saving a total of $40-50 million and getting well under the luxury tax threshold (only counting Betts/Price’s 2020 salaries).
In total, Boston will save more than $74 million when you take into affect Betts’ 2020 salary and $48 million of David Price’s salary that they would’ve had to pay over the next three seasons.
In addition to getting under the $208 million threshold, the Red Sox also are going to have the ability to reset the luxury tax penalty to the minimum, which is 20% for every dollar spent.
Another win for the Red Sox is by working out a deal with the Dodgers and Twins means they weren’t cornered into a deal with the Padres. Why is that significant?
Because a deal with the Friars would’ve likely included Wil Myers. He is earning $61 million for the remainder of his contract with San Diego, and he is not worth the $20 million AAV he is making.
Last season he struck out 34% of the time, which is a career-high. According to Fan Graph’s dollar metric (a tool that converts WAR to a dollar scale based on what a player would earn in free agency), Wil Myers was only worth $4.2 million in 2019 which is just over a quarter of his salary last season.
But take out the contract–I am more than sure that trading Mookie Betts (a top-5 player in baseball) in favor of Wil Myers would not have gone over well with Boston Red Sox fans.
Red Sox Trade Mookie Betts to the Dodgers. light. Related Story
So, with all of this said, it was evident Mookie Betts and David Price needed to be traded and Chaim Bloom turned it into five years of Alex Verdugo, a top pitching prospect in Brusdar Gaterol, and saved over $40 million while he was at it.
Yes, he passed the test.