Boston Red Sox: Will trading Mookie Betts doom the franchise?

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Will trading Mookie Betts set the Boston Red Sox back for years to come or will it usher in a new era of Red Sox baseball? Let’s take a closer look.

In a move that was a long time coming, the Boston Red Sox finally decided to cut ties with Mookie Betts and trade him to the Los Angeles Dodgers along with David Price in return for outfielder Alex Verdugo and two prospects.

This was the second try at a Betts trade since the first one involving the Minnesota Twins fell through due to the Red Sox backing out after viewing incoming prospect, Brusdar Graterol‘s medical records.

The Twins were to send Graterol to Boston in a three-team trade that would also send Betts and Price to LA, Alex Verdugo to Boston, and pitcher, Kenta Maeda, to Minnesota. But that deal was cut down by the Red Sox.

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Now, the second try at this Betts trade is now straight-up with the Dodgers in an exchange of Betts and Price for Verdugo and prospects, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong.

The biggest takeaway from all of this, however, is that Mookie Betts is no longer a member of the Boston Red Sox and that rightfully has the fans in an uproar.

After all, Betts was the best player on a Red Sox team that just won the 2018 World Series and had a great system in place for success throughout the next several years.

Unfortunately, the situation changed and not only did the Sox have to move on from Betts, they also lost their manager, Alex Cora, due to his involvement in the 2017 Houston Astros‘ sign-stealing scandal.

A once-prosperous Red Sox team with the world in front of them has now taken a step back and has to start from scratch.

This isn’t the worst thing, though. It may seem like the sky is falling in Boston right now, but the truth of the matter is Mookie’s contract was coming up after this season and he was looking at big money in upwards of $400 million.

We just saw Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, and Mike Trout sign huge contracts this past offseason and none of them made the playoffs in 2019.

So, even though Mookie is one of the best players in baseball right now, was it really the smart thing to do to hold on to him if you’re the Red Sox? Probably not.

As tough a pill as it is to swallow as Boston Red Sox fans, I think the front office did the right thing here in pulling the plug because now they have a lot more room to work with. The Red Sox are now players in the 2021 free agency pool.

(Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) /

Boston Red Sox: Will trading Mookie Betts doom the franchise?

What should bother Boston Red Sox fans more is the return they got for Mookie. This is a top ten player in the game right now and the Red Sox failed to reel in a pitching prospect when we all know the farm system is thin right now, especially in the pitching department.

Listening to Chaim Bloom and Brian O’Halloran’s press conference on the Mookie trade, they and the rest of the front office seem to be keen on some of their younger guys having the ability to make it up to the big leagues and help out the team very soon.

Jay Groome and Darwinzon Hernandez are at the top of the Red Sox pitching prospects list, and Hernandez even got some work last year in the Sox’s bullpen.

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Groome, on the other hand, is coming off Tommy John surgery and made just three starts in 2019, so that road might have some blocks in it for the time being until he’s back at 100%. Plus, Groome is still in A-ball.

Then, there’s also Mike Shawaryn, who got some bullpen work for the Sox in 2019, and Durbin Feltman down at Double-A, who may have the best stuff of all the Red Sox prospects. Tanner Houck and Daniel McGrath are two interesting prospects who spent a good amount of time last year in Triple-A racking up starts as well as relief work.

There are definitely options for the Red Sox in their farm system, but those options may still have some time left to go before they can help the Red Sox.

They passed up on Brusdar Graterol in dealing with the Twins, and Dustin May, Mitchell White, and Julio Urias while dealing with the Dodgers. They did get a top 100 prospect in Jeter Downs on their second try at the Mookie trade, but Downs is a shortstop, to which they have Xander Bogaerts already locked down for the foreseeable future, and they’re still clambering for pitching help in their farm system.

On the other hand, Alex Verdugo is a great fit for this Boston Red Sox team and a very similar player to Andrew Benintendi in his ability to find the gaps to all fields and play all three outfield positions at a Gold Glove-caliber. And having both of those guys in your outfield and at the top of your lineup is going to be incredibly beneficial to your 3-4-5 hitters.

Verdugo just feels like Boston guy, and I think he’s going to be a great find for this Red Sox team that’s taking a step back in 2020 to reevaluate their assets.

Moving Mookie had to be done. If it didn’t happen this year, he would’ve walked and the Red Sox would’ve gotten nothing for him. The timing just wasn’t there for the team to keep him on and contend for championships for the next several years. He was too good a player coming up on his contract year.

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Of course, he was going to want a big contract and, unfortunately, the Boston Red Sox were not a team that could handle that kind of commitment with the weak farm system they have. It doesn’t feel like it now, but the Red Sox are going to recuperate for the time being and come back strong with a lot more cap space to work with the next couple of years.

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