2/5/2020

7:30 pm

Well this offseason sucks for us Red Sox fans, arguably one of the saddest days in Boston Red Sox history since the Babe Ruth trade in 1919 took place last night. Chaim Bloom pulled the trigger on a three-team trade that sent Mookie Betts and “throw in” David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers, in a corresponding move the Dodgers sent Kenta Maeda to the Minnesota Twins. Boston gets back two high caliber and controllable talents in Alex Verdugo (Dodgers), and number one pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol(Twins).

I literally have no idea where to start… I remember going to Spring Training in 2014 with Big Frank (my father) and seeing this little shit of a 2^nd basemen on the back-practice fields at Fenway South. I’m sitting there thinking “how in the hell does this guy play professional baseball, then I saw him square up a ball… MY GOOD GOD”. The moment I heard how he squared a ball up compared to the other players there I knew something was different, the special ones have a different sound and I had heard it my whole life watch Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. So, Sure enough 100 games into his minor league season he slashed a stupid .346/.431/.529 and he got the call and made his debut June 29, 2014.

With a .301/.374/.519 slash over a 162 game average for 5 full seasons, sprinkle in his 47 doubles, 5 triples, 28 pumps, and a mindboggling 96 steaks and 125 runs out of the leadoff spot, oh and let me not forget the 4 Gold Gloves, 3 Sliver Sluggers, 4 All-Star game appearances, and the 2018 MVP. Mookie also ranked 6^th in WAR through a position player first 6 seasons in the league with a 42.0(only guys in front of him: Ted Williams, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Jackie Robinson, Wade Boggs, and Joe DiMaggio… they’re not bad at the sport). So, in short Mookie went from “little shit” on the back-practice field to top 3 player in the world in front of my eyes.

So how in the blue fuck did we get to where we are now? Mookie has been adamant that he would not be signing an extension and he is gong to free agency to test the market. Do I blame him for wanting to get the bag, HELL NO I DON’T, the guy deserves to be paid 2^nd highest in the league behind Mike Trout. But from reports the Red Sox offered him 10-300 million during the 2019 spring training, Mookie likely looked at Manny Machado’s 10/300 and Bryce Harper’s 13/330 and said, “I’m way better than them why would I sign this?” and he is right in my opinion.

Everyone can say “they should have never paid Chris Sale(5/145), and Nathan Eovaldi(4/68)” at the time of Sales contract extension he was a top five pitcher in the game and very well could be back to his old shoving ways if he is over his little injury spell, at an AAV of 29 mill and compared to Gerrit Coles AAV of 36 mill Sales contract looks way better. As for Eovaldi he had a more red flags attached to him with his injury history but what he did for the Sox once he arrived at the deadline, and the growth he showed on the mound its had not to pay the man especially for his postseason heroics as “The Rover” during that 2018 postseason run.

David Price for as much backlash he received as a guy who cant win in the postseason, was overpaid by former President of Baseball Operations of the Red Sox Dave Dombrowski, the guy had his highest winning percentage for a specific team while he was with the Red Sox. Now this is not counting his 9-1 record with the Toronto Blue Jays since he was a trade deadline acquisition in 2015, Price went a well above average 46-25 with a .657 winning percentage in his four years as a Red Sox. The only knock on Price you can really say was his health, a guy who had gone over 200 innings pitched in 5 of his previous 6 seasons before joining the Red Sox, Price pitched a career high 230 innings in his first season with the Red Sox, the 3 seasons prior to that were 358 innings pitched.  If Price is back to being Price he most likely will have another above average year and that goes a long way in absorbing his contract(Boston will reportedly pick up half his contract so 15mill) especially when its Price at 15 mill a year and that makes this trade a steal for the Dodgers.

My only thoughts on Kaeda is he was unhappy with going to the bullpen during last season and going to the Twins allows him to be in the rotation and it gives them a serviceable arm that they needed with Rich Hill not returning from injury till July.

On the flip side of things, what the Red Sox got, Alex Verdugo and Brusdar Graterol. Verdugo has upside, is he Mookie Betts no fuckin way, but Verdugo is a high average guy who had an obp of .342 the mlb average for obp is .323 ill take that if that’s all I can get for one year of Mookie Betts being a Dodger. Verdugo comes with 5 years of control so there is some reason for optimism as long as Red Sox Nation gives him the chance to win them over.

Projected Lineup for the Red Sox:

Alex Verdugo RF

Rafael Devers 3B

Xander Bogaerts SS

JD Martinez DH

Andrew Benintendi LF

Mitch Morland 1B

Christian Vasquez C

Michael Chavis 2B

Jackie Bradley JR. CF

Brusdar Graterol comes with some optimism, was ranked as the Twins #1 pitching prospect with a dumb 101 mph sinker that ranks in the top 1% of MLB velocity, top 4% of MLB quality pitch, and has a 64% horizontal break on his sinker… good luck touching that everyone. Ranked 83^rd of the MLB top 100 prospect list and was brought up for the Twins postseason run last season. I view Graterol as a closer more than a starting pitcher that he is specified as. A power pitcher that has an MLB average slider could fill a hole the Sox need filled for the next six years.

Final Take:

I’m beyond annoyed that Mookie has been traded… top five personal favorite players to watch, if the whole point of getting under the luxury tax was to pay Mookie Betts there were ways to do that, it would have been way more difficult but they could have found a way. Trading Mookie is the easiest way to get under especially when it comes to sending Price along with him, and the goal this offseason was to get under. With that being said the Sox needed one more prospect back for myself to feel alright with dealing Mook, looking at the Dodgers prospects the guy that stuck out was Jeter Downs a 20-year-old power hitting middle infielder, instead they only get Verdugo from LA so now this looks like a larger steal for the Dodgers even if its only one locked in year of Mookie. With all of this being said I fully expect Mookie Betts to test free agency and the Red Sox have now put themselves in position to go balls to the wall after Mookie and make him the 2^nd highest paid player in baseball/highest paid player not named Mike Trout. Mookie is in position to set the market for all the superstars since in my opinion Trout signed at a discounted rate, he’s in a class of his own, Mookie will get something in the range of 10-12 years and anywhere from 380-400 million.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton