As the Los Angeles Dodgers struck a deal to acquire Mookie Betts and David Price from the Boston Red Sox, they had an additional trade lined up with the L.A. Angels that would’ve allowed them to shed some payroll.
In that deal, the Dodgers were set to trade Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling to their crosstown rival for infielder Luis Rengifo and prospects. The proposed swap was contingent on L.A. finalizing their three-team blockbuster with the Red Sox and Minnesota Twins.
That, of course, never happened, as Minnesota dropped out of the deal after Boston grew concerned with Brusdar Graterol’s medicals. The Dodgers wound up restructuring the trade to only include the Red Sox, and worked out a separate transaction with the Twins.
Frustrated over the holdup, Angels owner Arte Moreno ultimately backed out of his agreement with the Dodgers — leaving L.A. in a potentially awkward situation.
Pederson and Stripling were well aware that they were bound for Anaheim, as details of the trade leaked on Twitter. The process was particularly frustrating to Justin Turner, who criticized reporters for breaking the news before the deal was official.
Stripling was appreciative of Turner for coming to the defense of the players that were left in limbo for over a week, via SportsNet LA:
“J.T. went on a nice little rant there. That was good. I appreciate him going to bat for us. That was the first time for me that I see the business side of it. Obviously, I’ve seen it for other players but that was kind of the first time it impacted me. Andrew called and said, ‘Man, I’m sorry this all went down on Twitter. That’s just kind of the world we live in now.’
“He didn’t want it to get leaked. He’s like, ‘In a perfect world we tell the players first and that’s how it should be.’ I agree but I understand the media guys are competing too. They’ve got jobs to do and if they get an inside scoop, I don’t blame them. I’d want to put it out there as well. Sometimes if you don’t know the guy of the name you’re throwing out on Twitter, it doesn’t really hit home. That’s fine, that’s just part of it in today’s world with social media. At the end of the day it only affected five of us in the whole world, so it’s not a huge deal. But to us five, or six, seven, players that were part of it, it was.”
Despite nearly being traded by the Dodgers, both Pederson and Stripling reported to Camelback Ranch in good spirits and relieved to still be part of the organization.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently credited them for showing a desire to remain with the club.
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