Uh-oh: Dodgers reportedly acquiring Mookie Betts, David Price from Boston
Feb 4, 2020, 7:43 PM | Updated: Feb 5, 2020, 9:59 am
Mookie Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox runs to the dugout during the fifth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park on September 29, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Tuesday was not a good day for Arizona Diamondbacks fans.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will reportedly be acquiring outfielder Mookie Betts and starting pitcher David Price from the Boston Red Sox pending medical reviews, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Betts, 27, is one of the best players in baseball. His 33.8 WAR since 2016 is the second-highest to only Mike Trout. The American League MVP in 2018 and both four-time All-Star and Gold Glover hit .295 last year with 29 homers and 80 RBIs for a .915 OPS.
Betts will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the upcoming season and the buzz is that the Red Sox bizarrely do not want to sign Betts to a lucrative contract extension, with reporting on the team’s desires to get under the luxury tax for 2020.
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That becomes far easier to do for Boston by getting off Price’s contract that has three years and $96 million remaining.
The big-money signing for Price as the Red Sox’s ace has flopped. With that in mind, he’s still a useful part of a rotation. The 34-year-old left-hander has a 3.84 ERA in 98 career starts for the Red Sox.
Alex Verdugo will be the key piece of the deal going back to Boston from the Dodgers, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The 23-year-old outfielder is coming off a promising first full season in the majors, hitting .294 with 12 home runs and 44 RBIs.
Full details on the trade packages have yet to arrive, but the Minnesota Twins are involved to make it a three-team deal and will be acquiring pitcher Kenta Maeda from the Dodgers and sending pitcher Brusdar Graterol to Boston as well, per Rosenthal.
The Dodgers were already the prohibitive favorites in not only the National League West, but the NL as a whole before the trade. The Dodgers had a wins over/under of 97.5 on DraftKings prior to the news. That will certainly go up to triple digits with the trade.
That’s bad news for the D-backs, who were fresh off the momentum of a strong offseason and looking to potentially challenge the Dodgers for the top of the division. Even after adding names like Madison Bumgarner and Starling Marte, that mission became a whole lot harder, borderline impossible with the team Los Angeles now fields.
