After negotiating all offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally completed their blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox for Mookie Betts and David Price.
Talks became very public through media leaks over the past week, which made it a bit awkward when the trade was held up for a few days due to the medical records of Minnesota Twins prospect Brusdar Graterol, who was initially bound for Boston.
The three teams were able to overcome those hurdles though, and Graterol will now actually be joining Betts and Price in L.A. while Kenta Maeda will head to the Twins with Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong going to the Red Sox.
While the amount of time it took to complete the deal was tough on fans, it was more difficult on the players who essentially were in limbo, not knowing if they were going to have to move their families across the country for the 2020 season and beyond.
However, Betts and Price did their best to not become consumed by the matter.
“My wife and I have a 2-and-a-half-year-old and a six-month-old, so that kind of takes all of our focus and attention,” Price explained. “We had nothing to do with the trade stuff, and whether or not it was going to happen.
“It didn’t affect our daily routine or anything. But once we found out we were coming we were excited. We’re happy to be here”
Betts added: “For me, it was just trying to get a place to live. I was pretty much doing everything the same. I had a plane set, I just didn’t know which way it was going to go. It was fun. Kind of stressful at times, but it was fun at times. Glad it got done.
“It was definitely something new. I’d been in trade rumors, I think my first year, and after that they kind of went away. So now they came back and it was definitely something I had to get used to. I think once I kind of accepted it may happen, everything was fine.”
While the players seemingly took the drawn-out trade talks in stride, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman quipped, “It wasn’t as easy for us.”
Betts is in his final year of club control before reaching free agency next winter, so this could potentially be his only season with the Dodgers. While all signs point to him not open to signing an extension at this time, reports indicate that L.A. has hopes of re-signing the 27-year-old to a long-term lucrative contract when he does get to free agency.
Price, on the other hand, has three years remaining on his contract that the Red Sox will be paying half of. Thus he presumably will be with the Dodgers for a while and should slot into the middle of their rotation behind Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw.
With the additions of Betts, Price and Graterol, the Dodgers are not only the favorites in the National League West, but perhaps all of baseball to win the 2020 World Series.
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