Report: Mookie Betts, Price Traded to Dodgers; Jeter Downs, More to Red Sox
Mookie Betts is headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Finally.
The Boston Red Sox officially announced the deal on Monday night. Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the deal was finalized Sunday following a number of snags. Outfielder Alex Verdugo, shortstop Jeter Downs and catching prospect Connor Wong are going to the Red Sox.
David Price will also be heading to Los Angeles, with Mark Feinsand of MLB.com noting Boston will be responsible for half of the $96 million owed to the southpaw over the next three seasons.
Rosenthal added that Los Angeles will be sending Kenta Maeda and cash to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for a package centered around right-hander Brusdar Graterol. Per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, outfielder Luke Raley will also be headed to the Dodgers.
Passan noted cash is also going to the Twins in the deal, while Los Angeles received the 67th pick in the draft along with Graterol.
The saga started Tuesday when it appeared the Red Sox traded Betts and Price to Los Angeles in a deal that also sent Maeda to the Minnesota Twins and Verdugo and Graterol to Boston.
However, Passan reported the Red Sox were "spooked" by Graterol's medical review, which was all the more notable because he had previously undergone Tommy John surgery. That had additional ramifications because the Dodgers had another trade in place with the Los Angeles Angels to help them get under the luxury-tax threshold that was hinging on the one with Boston.
In that deal, the Dodgers would send outfielder Joc Pederson, pitcher Ross Stripling and prospect Andy Pages to the Angels for infielder Luis Rengifo and a prospect.
There was such a delay in the deals and the ensuing back-and-forth that the Major League Baseball Players Association released a statement from executive director Tony Clark admonishing the events that "unfairly put several players' lives in a state of limbo."
Now that the pieces finally came together with the Dodgers, Red Sox and Twins, Michael J. Duarte of NBC Los Angeles noted the trade between the Dodgers and Angels will still happen with "a couple minor tweaks" and a "main framework" of Pederson and Stripling to the Angels for Rengifo.
Ultimately, the biggest headline after everything fell into place is that Betts is now a member of the Dodgers.
The seven-time defending National League West champions were already on the short list of teams expected to contend for the 2020 World Series. Now, they have one of the best all-around players in the league in the middle of a lineup already featuring Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner and Max Muncy, among others, in large part because the Red Sox wanted to dip under the luxury-tax threshold.
Betts is a four-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glover, three-time Silver Slugger and World Series champion who won the American League MVP in 2018. He, along with the playoff-tested Price, will look to help the Dodgers do something they haven't been able to do since 1988.
Win a World Series.
