Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Hot Stove Update: Another Red Sox/Dodgers Blockbuster
In 2012, the Boston Red Sox had a bloated, underproducing payroll, but managed to dig themselves out of that hole by trading Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to the Dodgers for a package of low impact players. It's now 2020 and the Red Sox were again saddled with a bloated, underperforming payroll as well as a superstar who is 1 year away from free agency. History kind of repeated itself today as the Red Sox sent that superstar, Mookie Betts along with LHP David Price and the last 3 years of his enormous contract to the Dodgers for young OF Alex Verdugo. In addition, the Dodgers sent disgruntled RHP Kenta Maeda to the Twins while the Twins forwarded RHP prospect, Brusdar Graterol, to the BoSox. In a secondary trade, the Dodgers sent OF Joc Pederson to the Angels for IF Luis Rengifo. Those two teams are reportedly also exchanging an additional prospect each in the deal.
To be honest, I'm not sure how much this deal helps the Dodgers. They gain 1 year of a great player in Betts who racked up 6.8 WAR last year, but they also let go of a combined 6.4 WAR by trading away Verdugo and Pederson. In the process, they give up 5 years of salary control with Verdugo. On the pitching side, Price could mount a comeback, but his FB velocity has declined over the past 2 seasons and he's now 34 years old. Meanwhile they lose Maeda who was disgruntled with his swingman role but who has been a very effective pitchers for several seasons.
None of this has any significant impact on the Giants as they are not going to be challenging the Dodgers for the NL West championship this year. In the longer term, it may actually shorten the Dodgers competitive window since Betts is a free agent after this season and Price is likely in the downhill phase of his career.
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Dodgers really, really want to push this thing over the top. If they don't start racking up a few championships, they are going to be viewed as the 90's-00's Braves. Or (hopefully) the 91-94 Bills.
ReplyDeleteWhile Verdugo and Pederson are very valuable (Giants would love to have either) they take up two spots for that 6.4 WAR. Betts alone gets you 6.8. And the Bums really needed a big RH bat.
Plus Price. Price has huge question marks, but he was pitching much better towards the end of the year. An argument can be made that he'll be a very solid middle rotation guy if healthy. Which is what Maeda is as a starter. They DO need to fill Maeda's spot in the pen, though.
Yep, the Dodgers might have shortened the window. But they want that flag badly. They are improved right now. And they didn't have to part with Lux or May.