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[Spencer 555]

Its just insane that there wasnt a bigger market for those 2 in a trade. The sox mustve been higher on Verdugo then me.

[Gryph]

From what Alder on ESPN reported, Red Sox wanted two top 10 prospects for just Betts. He's good, but he's not worth that for 27 million and one year to a non contender. So it really leaves only a handful of teams, yknow?

[Spencer 555]

I dunno man, but you may have a better understanding of the trade market then me based on this trade.

Just a few years ago the cubs gave up Torres who was a top 5 prospect in baseball at the time for half a year of a closer. Would seem like Betts on a 1 year deal is at least worth double that to me. I understand most people feel the cubs overpaid, but there's a price to pay for winning. A lot has changed in the last few years, teams have gotten smarter at managing their money and capital, but damn.

I would have been happy to see the jays trade like this: Lourdes Gouriel (young big league talent - proven impact player) + Anthony Kay (close to bigs 45 FV prospect #4 in jays system) + Adam Kloffenstein (A ball prospect 45 FV prospect - far from majors - #10 in jays system) for Price and Betts, and I think the jays would have had the bankroll to absorb the entire Price contract.

This would have been comparable to the haul the A's made off with for Donaldson and that was seen as a huge win for the jays at the time. Factoring in what we knew about Donaldson at the time (all star - not mvp level player) + three control years, would you not agree that a year of Betts (mvp level player) + potential to get the inside track on signing him long term (young) + #3 starter - beloved veteran presence on young team - minus all the money, would you not agree that this should have garnered similar trade value (or even more because again, most people laughed the donaldson trade outta the building)

Rant over, sorry for grammar, I dont have much time these days to sort out my thoughts properly.

[Gryph]

I dunno man, but you may have a better understanding of the trade market then me based on this trade.

Just a few years ago the cubs gave up Torres who was a top 5 prospect in baseball at the time for half a year of a closer. Would seem like Betts on a 1 year deal is at least worth double that to me. I understand most people feel the cubs overpaid, but there's a price to pay for winning. A lot has changed in the last few years, teams have gotten smarter at managing their money and capital, but damn.

I would have been happy to see the jays trade like this: Lourdes Gouriel (young big league talent - proven impact player) + Anthony Kay (close to bigs 45 FV prospect #4 in jays system) + Adam Kloffenstein (A ball prospect 45 FV prospect - far from majors - #10 in jays system) for Price and Betts, and I think the jays would have had the bankroll to absorb the entire Price contract.

This would have been comparable to the haul the A's made off with for Donaldson and that was seen as a huge win for the jays at the time. Factoring in what we knew about Donaldson at the time (all star - not mvp level player) + three control years, would you not agree that a year of Betts (mvp level player) + potential to get the inside track on signing him long term (young) + #3 starter - beloved veteran presence on young team - minus all the money, would you not agree that this should have garnered similar trade value (or even more because again, most people laughed the donaldson trade outta the building)

Rant over, sorry for grammar, I dont have much time these days to sort out my thoughts properly.

Nah I feel you. But what some people don't remember was that Cubs team had no place for Gleyber to actually play [at the time] Addison Russel just came out belting out 20+ bombs at SS, Zobrist was all over the place, Javy locked down 2b, which was both of Gleybers prime positions. Cubs were in "we need to win. Now's the chance" and overpaid for Chapman. But Chapman also at the time was making 11.3 million [also half paid by Yankees because of how trading mid contract works] So in reality it was more like getting one of the best relievers in baseball for 5 million in exchange for a super prospect who was roadblocked at the time.

Flipping that to the Dodgers side though, Betts is in arbitration that was set at 27 mil. Dodgers have to pay ALL of that. Plus whatever they are taking on from the Price trade [I don't think those numbers were released yet] I just think it's a dumb trade by the Dodgers and wasn't needed. I'll lay it out like this :

Dodgers Gave up -
5 Years of Control of Alex Verdugo and Kenta Maeda [After losing Ryu and Rich Hill to FA]
Add Mookie Betts and David Price [For upwards of ... AT LEAST 50 million]
A complete question mark if Mookie resigns there [And even if he did that's 300 million + Minimum]

And if they didn't do that trade
Keep 5 years of plus value from Verdugo
Use that 50 million to bring in 2 stop gaps [Taijuan Walker and Ervin Santana for example]
Roll with a rotation of : Kershaw, Buehler, Walker, Santana, Urias/May/Whoever and save money and set themselves up to keep a window open.

The NL west is weak, it's been the Dodgers division to lose for a while now. Rockies didn't do crap, Neither did the Giants or DBacks. So there's no changing of parity in that division. Brewers got exposed consistently in the playoffs [unless Yelich decides to play with all sliders on rookie mode again], Cubs underperform, Cards overperform and fall flat [also lost Ozuna] like, the only team they'd need to worry about would probably be the Braves and MAYBE the Phillies.

[Greendaybum5]

Nah I feel you. But what some people don't remember was that Cubs team had no place for Gleyber to actually play [at the time] Addison Russel just came out belting out 20+ bombs at SS, Zobrist was all over the place, Javy locked down 2b, which was both of Gleybers prime positions. Cubs were in "we need to win. Now's the chance" and overpaid for Chapman. But Chapman also at the time was making 11.3 million [also half paid by Yankees because of how trading mid contract works] So in reality it was more like getting one of the best relievers in baseball for 5 million in exchange for a super prospect who was roadblocked at the time.

Flipping that to the Dodgers side though, Betts is in arbitration that was set at 27 mil. Dodgers have to pay ALL of that. Plus whatever they are taking on from the Price trade [I don't think those numbers were released yet] I just think it's a dumb trade by the Dodgers and wasn't needed. I'll lay it out like this :

Dodgers Gave up -
5 Years of Control of Alex Verdugo and Kenta Maeda [After losing Ryu and Rich Hill to FA]
Add Mookie Betts and David Price [For upwards of ... AT LEAST 50 million]
A complete question mark if Mookie resigns there [And even if he did that's 300 million + Minimum]

And if they didn't do that trade
Keep 5 years of plus value from Verdugo
Use that 50 million to bring in 2 stop gaps [Taijuan Walker and Ervin Santana for example]
Roll with a rotation of : Kershaw, Buehler, Walker, Santana, Urias/May/Whoever and save money and set themselves up to keep a window open.

The NL west is weak, it's been the Dodgers division to lose for a while now. Rockies didn't do crap, Neither did the Giants or DBacks. So there's no changing of parity in that division. Brewers got exposed consistently in the playoffs [unless Yelich decides to play with all sliders on rookie mode again], Cubs underperform, Cards overperform and fall flat [also lost Ozuna] like, the only team they'd need to worry about would probably be the Braves and MAYBE the Phillies.

did you forget about the nationals?

[Gryph]

did you forget about the nationals?

No, but I don't see them being durable enough to win again. that's an OLD team. Out of their free agents, they lose Rendon, bring back Stras, and replace Rendon with Starlin Castro.

But really though, howie kendrick [36], Will Harris [35], Hudson [34], Gomes [33], Thames [33], Asdrubal [34], Zimmerman [35], Dozier [34]

Like, they could compete, but I just don't see half of those guys making it through a season. That window of contention isn't gonna close steadily, it's gonna slam shut either this year or next year. NL East is Braves division to lose so far. Nats might sneak in as a wild card team and make some noise, but I just don't see them getting past the Dodgers this year [pending they fix the backend of that rotation after that trade]

[Spencer 555]

Looks like the red sox got a bit better of a deal after all is said and done. Still think they coulda got more, but at least they're getting a couple guys to go along with Verdugo.

[Hulky]

Any chance he just goes back to Boston after winning a WS in LA?

[Spencer 555]

Why would he? Theyre only trading him cause they dont think he'll resign.

[I'malive]

Well the only way we could realistically "afford" to pay him what he's worth is by ducking under the luxury tax this year, so it is possible that there was some kind of verbal agreement. It would make sense for both sides - enable the Sox to pay closer to what Mookie wants, while bolstering the team and farm system in a way that wouldn't have been possible without the trade. I'm not saying there's really any chance of this happening, but it wouldn't be the craziest free agent storyline that I've ever heard.