Whatever is going on in Boston, the fiasco surrounding the Mookie Betts trade is not the most auspicious start for Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom, not to mention the continuing legacy of General Manager Brian O’Halloran, President Sam Kennedy and the rest of the brass.
To quickly sum up: The Red Sox reached agreement on a deal to send Betts, the 27-year-old outfielder who is a baseball star in every sense, to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They would also ship out David Price to LA in an obvious salary dump. In exchange, they would get promising young outfielder Alex Verdugo, who produced a 114 OPS+ in his first real MLB action as a 23-year-old in 2019. In addition, they were to receive Brusdar Graterol, a 21-year-old flamethrower who the Dodgers had agreed to acquire from Minnesota in exchange for veteran swing man Kenta Maeda.
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Reaction in LA was something akin to ecstasy. Finally, the Dodgers were making a big splash. Finally, they were going to stop being timid and make an effort to get over the World Series hump. Even better, they were only going to give up one piece from what has become a talent-rich farm system. (No. 7 as of last spring).
Reaction in Boston was much different. Frustration, puzzlement, rage. I saw multiple Sox supporters asking for suggestions on new teams to follow — granted, this was in the over-reactionary world of Twitter. Which, OK, maybe that’s on me. Fair enough.
But you could understand the rage. Franchises like Boston collect MVP players in the thick of their prime, they don’t shed them. Those are moves for MLB’s skinflints in locales like St. Petersburg, Pittsburgh and Oakland to make.
The widespread anger appears to have made things worse, however, because the Red Sox suddenly slammed on the brakes, and they used Graterol’s medical chart as their excuse to do so. They had envisioned Graterol as a starter, they say, but upon closer examination of his history – he had Tommy John in 2016 – they now viewed him as a reliever. They were now requesting an additional prospect from the Twins (or Dodgers) to close the deal.
And maybe the Red Sox did see something they had previously missed, which caused concern. But what it looks like is that they were shocked by the level of anger from their fan base, got cold feet and went searching for a way out. After all, it’s not like the Twins viewed Graterol as a starter, and it’s not like you can hide a Tommy John surgery. Suddenly discovering something that was already public knowledge can only point to one of two conclusions: either the Red Sox are bad at coming up with excuses, or they are grossly incompetent.
Regardless of the reason why the Red Sox decided to revisit the deal, it reflects poorly on Bloom and company, pointing either to either a lack of organization, a lack of due diligence, a lack of vision, or perhaps too many chefs in the kitchen.
It’s also fair to point the finger at John Henry. Why are they looking to trade Betts in the first place? Players of his caliber on the field, not to mention his charisma off it, are exceedingly rare. They are worth more than their production, because they sell merchandise, they sell tickets, they bring eyeballs, they build your brand.
The Red Sox are estimated to be worth $3.2 billion. They are one of the top revenue-producing teams in MLB, bringing in more than $500 million in 2018. Their 25-man roster payroll is around $200 million. Another $30 million or so a year for your superstar isn’t going to change much, and the additional $12-14 million in luxury tax penalties on top of that (presuming you are unable to cut elsewhere) are a pittance for these guys.
In fact, Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer, in calling Betts MLB’s best non-Trout player, makes the case that no player this young and this good has EVER been traded.
In the past two seasons, Mookie has amassed 17.7 B-Ref WAR. No player 28 or younger who has ever been traded accrued that much WAR in the two full seasons preceding the swap.
That’s stunning.
In an effort to be fair, we could point to the fact that the previous regime under Dave Dombrowksi played a huge role in messing this up, perhaps rankling Betts so greatly with both a lack of vision, as well as a series of low-ball offers, that the bridge had been torched. As Tony Massarotti points out:
“A couple of years ago, the Red Sox offered Mookie five years and $100 million when the market called for double that. Then they offered him $200 million when the market called for $300 million. Finally, before last season, the Red Sox offered Betts a $290 million contract and the player countered with $420 million, which meant the gap was getting wider.”
Fair enough. But isn’t that why you change leadership? To paint a new vision and to mend fences? Maybe Betts has told the Red Sox “nope, nope, nope.” Maybe he’s simply done. Even if that is true, Bloom and company have made a mess of things, and there really is no good reason for it.
Ripping the table cloth out from under the Dodgers like this is poor form, as is attempting to extract more out of the Twins at the last minute.
As Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune wrote:
Perhaps the complete medical reports did give Chaim and Co. extra apprehension on Graterol, but you can’t say, “Oh, we still want the kid that throws 100, Twins; you just have to give us more.”
And while it appears the move is not hurting the Red Sox in the moment, as more teams are reportedly trying to get back into the Betts chase (here come the Padres!) this could hurt the Red Sox in future.
After all, what happens when they no longer have a Mookie Betts to trade?
Orioles Analyst
Bob Harkins is a veteran journalist who has worked as a writer, editor and producer for numerous outlets, including 13 years at NBCSports.com. He is also the creator of the Razed Sports documentary podcast and the founder of Story Hangar, a network of documentary podcasters.