Los Angeles Dodgers: breaking down the blockbuster Red Sox deal

The Mookie Betts and David Price trade between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox has happened. How will it affect all four teams involved?

Now former Boston Red Sox players Mookie Betts and David Price have been rumored to be traded as a package deal since the December Winter Meetings in San Diego. Now with Spring Training camps a week from opening for most teams the big deal has finally happened, and its ramifications will have a significant effect on the Los Angeles Dodgers and the other three teams.

First and foremost the Dodgers have improved significantly in their quest to break their now 32-year championship drought.  The Red Sox have given themselves some payroll flexibility while also acquiring some major league ready prospects and the Minnesota Twins also acquired a proven veteran pitcher who will bolster their already much-improved rotation.

A fourth team also benefited from this blockbuster deal and that is the Los Angeles Angels, who another much-needed starting pitcher as well a versatile outfielder who has a proven track record. All in all, it was a wild and crazy day that will improve all four teams involved.

In case you missed it here is the deals that were made Tuesday evening.

The first deal went down at approximately 9 pm Eastern time Tuesday night. Outfielder Mookie Betts and Left-Handed Pitcher David Price were traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for young outfielder Alex Verdugo.

A third team, the Minnesota Twins were also involved as the Dodgers traded starter/reliever Kenta Maeda to the Twins, who then shipped one of their top pitching prospects Brusdar Graterol to Boston to complete this blockbuster three-team trade.

A few hours later the Dodgers made another deal with the Los Angeles Angels that was done to make room for Betts and Price. The Dodgers sent power-hitting outfielder Joc Pederson and hard-throwing starting pitcher Ross Stripling to their Southern California neighbors the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for versatile infielder Luis Rengifo.  There are possibly some prospects involved as well on both sides, but their names have not been released as of yet.

So let’s breakdown the deals and look at it from each team’s perspective.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Receiving Betts and Price; sending Alex Verdugo and Kenta Maeda. 

It seems so long ago now that the Boston Red Sox broke their 86-year World Series Championship drought.  Now the Los Angeles Dodgers are trying to break a now 32-year World Championship drought and they turned to the Red Sox for help. The Dodgers have been so close in recent years to win the World Series they could taste the champagne.

The Boys in Blue made the World Series in both 2017 and 2018, but were denied by the Houston Astros and then the Red Sox, from completing their quest.  All sign-stealing aside, the Dodgers only got two consecutive NL Pennants for their work which last happened in 1977 and 1978 (also both World Series defeats to the New York Yankees).

Many have said the Dodgers window of opportunity is slowing closing and the Dodgers front office seems to feel the same way.  This trade definitely shows more of a win-now mentality than keeping the future intact.

So now the Dodgers outfield looks amazing with Cody Bellinger, A.J. Pollock, and Betts in the fold.  The Dodgers rotation looks even more formidable as well with a top 3 Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, and David Price.  The Nationals still have an edge with their top three pitchers of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Patrick Corbin, but the gap is considerably smaller than it was.

Betts was widely considered the second-best player in the American League behind the Angels Mike Trout and he is only one season removed from being the AL MVP in 2018.  He will now fight with Christian Yelich and now-teammate Cody Bellinger for NL MVP honors in 2020.

Betts has a career batting average of .301 with 139 homers and 470 RBIs with a .374 OBP, and oh by the way 126 stolen bases in five full seasons. Betts has won four Gold Gloves in right field and has finished in the Top 8 of the MVP voting in each of the last four seasons.

David Price, on the other hand, has been an enigma since the Red Sox signed him as a free agent before the 2016 season.  The contract Price got was 7 years for 217 million dollars (average of 31 million dollars per season).  In return, Boston got 46 wins and a 3.84 ERA, hardly a good return on their investment.

Price has neither been an all-star or a Cy Young candidate in any of those four seasons in Beantown.  He did win 16 games in the 2018 World Championship season going 3-1 in the playoffs for the Red Sox, but this is still not enough to justify the money that was spent on him.

However, for the Dodgers’ sake they will only have to pay about half of the 96 million dollars still owed to Price by the Red Sox (16 million dollars for each of the next three seasons).  He has a plethora of playoff experience pitching in 23 games in October pitching in two World Series and three ALCS.  However, his overall postseason numbers are also very pedestrian going 5-9 with a 4.62 ERA. Price’s World Series numbers have been impressive going 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA.

The deal still looks good for the Los Angeles Dodgers as all they had to give up with Kenta Maeda, who has been very valuable as a starter and a reliever for LA but was expendable and an outfield prospect Alex Verdugo, who has good numbers so far in his career, but is not a proven commodity like Mookie Betts. They did not have to give up any of their top prospects such as Gavin Lux or Dustin May who should both be key contributors in 2020. Despite David Price’s declining numbers, it was still a good risk for the Dodgers as the cost was minimal (Verdugo and Maeda).

This move is the one that many Dodger fans have been waiting for this off-season that should make a huge impact in the drive to end the World Series title drought at 32 years. The subsequent deal of trading Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling will be analyzed in a later slide.

Boston Red Sox

Sending Betts and Price; receiving Verdugo and Grusado Graterol

The Boston Red Sox knew what All-Star Outfielder Mookie Betts wanted after the 2020 season, and they decided that they were not going to be the team that would give it to him.  Betts will be just 27-years old when the 2020 season begins which is what is considered to be the beginning of his prime seasons.  Betts will be a free agent after the 2020 season and is reportedly looking for a long-term deal similar to Mike Trout’s 12-year 426.5 million dollar deal somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 years for somewhere close to 400 million dollars.

The Red Sox knew in order to compete in the future and possibly get under the luxury tax threshold they could not afford that deal. They also wanted to get rid of David Price and his albatross contract that still has three years at 32 million dollars per season left on it.  That gave them an idea: Use Betts to entice another team to take on David Price and pay for at least some of his big contract which would further help them to get under the luxury tax.

In return, the Red Sox hoped to get some prospects in return from whatever team would take Price and Betts.  With that goal in mind, the Red Sox shopped Betts and Price and finally found a taker in the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers sent highly-regarded outfielder Alex Verdugo and a top pitching prospect they acquired from Minnesota in Brusdar Graterol. Verdugo hit .294 with 12 homers and 44 RBIs in 106 games in 2019 for the Dodgers and can play all three outfield spots.  He was drafted in the second round of 2014 draft and has been highly-regarded ever since and he will be close to 24 years old when the season starts.

Graterol has minimal major league experience pitching only 9.2 innings in 2019 for the Twins with a 4.56 ERA.  However, his stuff is said to be electric as he routinely has hit 100 mph on the radar gun. Graterol is the Twins fourth-ranked prospect and top pitching prospect in the organization, who is ranked 83rd overall in MLB’s top 100 prospects.

Verdugo and Graterol could replace Betts and Price immediately for the Red Sox at a fraction of the cost that probably would be in the 1.5 million dollar range for 2020.  They are also both under club control until 2023 for Verdugo and at least 2024 for Graterol at a reasonable cost.

Will Verdugo ever reach the level of Mookie Betts is debatable and how will Graterol pan out in a major league rotation is anything, but a sure thing.  However, with the situation the Red Sox were in financially this move gives them a chance to go out and spend money in the off-season over the next couple of years that could make this rebuilding process a very short one.

Overall this trade should benefit both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Red Sox.

Minnesota Twins

Sending Brusdar Graterol; receiving Kenta Maeda

The Minnesota Twins part in the Mookie Betts and David Price deal was small, but yet important in getting the deal done.  The Twins sent their top pitching prospect to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Brusdar Graterol and received Dodger starter Kenta Maeda in return.

The 31-year old Maeda has been a solid major league starter since 2016 going 47-35 with a 3.85 ERA with a 1.15 WHIP.  He also has been very good in the post-season both as a starter, but more out of the bullpen going 2-1 with a 3.31 ERA in 32.2 innings of work over 24 games.

Maeda’s desire to be a full-time starter is what precipitated this deal as the Dodgers used him mostly out of the bullpen down the stretch of the season and in the playoffs as well. He does relatively cheap as he is under contract for only three million dollars per year until 2024 which the Twins like.

Giving up Graterol to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Maeda might seem like a bit much to some being that Graterol is so highly-regarded, but with the Twins making a lot of moves this off-season it seems like they are primed to make a playoff run and Maeda fits more in that plan than Graterol at least this season.

Graterol has only 9.2 innings of major league experience with a 4.56 ERA which is not enough of a sample size to determine if he will be able to effectively contribute in 2020.

The Twins already added Homer Bailey and Rich Hill to their rotation and now add Maeda to go along with Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, and Michael Pineda.  They also added Sergio Romo and Tyler Clippard to fortify their bullpen. The Twins’ biggest move was signing free-agent third baseman Josh Donaldson to a four-year 92 million dollar contract.

This team could be asleep in the American League and don’t forget the Twins won 101 games in 2019 before being swept out the playoffs by the Yankees.  With the new additions including Maeda, the Twins could be a force to be reckoned with in the post-season.

This move could end up not looking so good if Graterol realizes his potential with the Red Sox and Maeda starts declining as he grows a little older in the next couple of seasons. But for now, it doesn’t look bad from where I’m sitting. Time will tell.