Bartolo Colon will forever be known as one of the greatest cult figures in Baseball history. The Bartolo stan's and common fans love the guy all the same just due to him being a big, fun guy.
Personally, I didn't know he played pool to this level, but Big Sexy is NASTY with the cue. I pray this is only a glimpse of what's to come in Big Sexy's retirement.
BREAKING: The trade that will send Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers has been agreed upon, sources tell ESPN. Outfielder Alex Verdugo and shortstop Jeter Downs are among those who will go to the Boston Red Sox.
Catching prospect Connor Wong is headed to the Boston Red Sox alongside outfielder Alex Verdugo and shortstop Jeter Downs in the trade that will send outfielder Mookie Betts, starter David Price and cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers, sources tell ESPN. Players have been notified.
After a hold-up involving medical evaluations, renegotiations, and an eventual deal being made; the worst week as a fan to date has concluded. Mookie Betts and David Price have been traded a second time to the Dodgers this week but this time for a seemingly better package in INF Jeter Downs, RF Alex Verdugo, and C/2B Connor Wong.
Last time I tried to make sense of the three-team deal that would end up sending only Vedrugo and RHP Brusdar Graterol to Boston in exchange for Betts and Price. This ultimately was flushed down the tubes when Boston began to look into Graterol's medical records and almost put the entire deal in jeopardy.
This deal received its due criticisms, as I am sure any trade of Mookie would receive. The Boston fan base and baseball world was right to shit on this move. Mookie was worth an everyday player and top-five prospect alone but Graterol did not fit the mold for expected returns.
As far back as December, when a trade for Mookie was in it's earliest stages, the names being tossed around involved Dustin May, Gavin Lux, or Jeter Downs. Knowing Lux and May would not be moved from Los Angeles any time soon, Downs always seemed like the best option to reach for in a trade for Betts.
It looks like Downs, who is listed as a shortstop, will be the ultimate replacement to Dustin Pedroia at second base by 2021.
Jeter Downs is a piece who should be able to work well with Xander Bogaerts at holding down the middle infield positions down the road in Boston, so long that Xander will not exercise his opt-out clause and return to Boston to finish his deal.
Downs even has a similar approach to the plate as Bogaerts. He can make great contact at the plate while hitting very few ground balls during his at-bats.
Red Sox prospect SS Jeter Downs, kid hits dingers!
Downs hit 24 home runs last season between Single-A and Double-A.
The most important thing to grasp out of Downs is that he has a massive chip on his shoulder already. He was a first-round draft pick by the Reds, where he was eventually traded to Los Angeles in the Yasiel Puig and Alex Wood deal last year. At age 21, he has been traded for the third time and that can wear a player out mentally. Hopefully, he can start in AA Portland this season to pick up where he left off and eventually claw his way up to the majors by next year. We're gonna need it.
Connor Wong was also picked up in the deal, where he vaulted himself into the number one position on Red Sox catching prospects. After his call up from A+ to AA in 2019, he proved his worth within a small, yet respectable, sample size of games batting .349 over 40 games.
We can see Wong is a favorable addition to the Red Sox farm system with the potential to be a good catcher or utility infielder down the road.
As I said in the first blog, I think Verdugo can find success in Boston. He batted just under .300 last season and with Fenway Park's dimensions, he could end up becoming an extra-base hit machine during his time in Boston. He isn't a natural power hitter seeing as he only hit 12 home runs in a little over 100 games last season, but working with JD Martinez should eventually have him looking like a player to watch in 2020 for Boston. Verdugo is a personal early favorite to take Left Field, moving Andrew Benintendi out to Right Field to repace Mookie. Benny seems to have more range which will potentially prove beneficial in Fenway's spacious Right Field.
Luckily the money from David Price's contract didn't really change. It is ideal that both sides felt that paying his market value equally was the best way to settle his contract in the trade. Again, it sucks to see him leave but it really is for the best going down the road financially.
The best part for Boston is that with the $27 million from Betts and roughly $16 million for Price, this now puts Boston under the luxury tax threshold. This helps the attempt for Boston to go after Mookie in free agency next offseason for a potential reunion, but I am not getting my hopes up for this just yet.
All that is being waited on is financial approval from MLB regarding the contract of David Price, however, the medicals have already been approved and the players have already been notified. In fact, Jeter Downs has already changed his Twitter bio.
Overall this is a significantly better package to receive than the first trade around, but it still feels like a loss in the deal after losing a franchise player in Mookie Betts for at least one year. Also, the Dodgers just kept getting better after they ended up pocketing Graterol for Maeda straight up. This gives LA immediate depth in the bullpen and potentially down the road as a piece to their rotation.
In the end, just get me to Opening Day in one piece.
NEW: Steve Cohen backed out of deal to buy Mets after Wilpons changed the terms, seeking longer than five years of control. More ⬇️https://t.co/9CEhDGshO7
"Mets president Saul Katz, brother-in-law to Fred Wilpon and uncle to Jeff Wilpon, and his children want no part of owning the team and would prefer to sell. Among the Wilpons/Katz family, only Jeff Wilpon wants to extend his ownership of the Mets, according to a source."
In typical Wilpon fashion, they fucked it all up.
This isn't the first time and now we can confidently assume this may not be the last time. This is perhaps the worst blunder of all. A new low. This was a true chance for the Mets to dig themselves out of the never-ending punchline, being their existence.
Instead, Jeff Wilpon decided to attempt to renegotiate a set deal, where they were still set to make millions of dollars, and Steve Cohen walked away when he felt the Wilpons were pushing too hard for his liking.
This isn't to say the deal is totally dead, Cohen could potentially take the old terms of the deal back, where he would take an 80% stake in the ownership of the Mets in five years. Rumor has it he may want immediate take over of the team as well but that's overcompensating a bit.
It is so funny how the only person who wants the Mets still are Jeff Wilpon. Fred Wilpon is in his early 80's, I'm sure he could live without the team. Literally, nobody else in the family and extended family wants to work within the Mets organization. It seems Jeff is holding onto something that he just can not handle anymore.
Take the minority stake and do what's best for everyone, Cohen would actually make the Mets respectable seeing as he isn't afraid to spend money to turn a business into a success. Lord knows the Mets need it more than anyone else.
BREAKING: The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a deal with the Boston Red Sox that would send star outfielder Mookie Betts and starter David Price to the Dodgers, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN. Deal is pending medical reviews.
There could be a third team involved in the deal, as @Ken_Rosenthal reported. Significant cash will be going the way of wherever David Price lands. But the main player, Mookie Betts, will be a Dodger should medicals go as expected.
The move that had only been speculated for months was finally picking up momentum and BAM. Almost immediately as the State of the Union began, Jeff Passan's tweet set the world on fire.
The trade that sent Betts and Price to Los Angeles and brought Alex Verdugo and Brusdar Graterol to Boston. Graterol came from the Twins after the Dodgers sent Kenta Maeda to Minnesota. Following the reports of the deal, the Dodgers also ended up sending outfielder Joc Pederson across town to the Angels, in exchange for infielder Luis Rengifo.
There's no other way to say it besides this sucks. For a long time, he had seemed to butt heads with ownership when it came to signing an extension. After winning the World Series in 2018, Boston tried to sign much of the core group. They were successful in getting Chris Sale and Xander Bogaerts to sign on for five and six more seasons respectively. Mookie had always been heart set on testing free agency and trying to earn his worth, which is fair. The former MVP is aware he can make upwards of $400 million or what has become more commonly known now as, "Trout Money".
The last reports of Boston's attempts to extend Betts surfaced last week from @RedSoxStats on Twitter.
For three straight years, Mookie has stayed consistent in saying no to extensions. I imagine when Mookie came in second for the MVP in 2016 he knew that there were going to be more seasons like this and saw himself on the same pedestal as Trout. Now that he has his World Series, MVP, and trophy cases filled with his annual Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, and other accolades; Mookie knows what he can/will make next offseason after Trout set the record last year signing a 12 year $430 million contract with the Angels.
In the case of Price, he was a personal favorite for many years. I can remember hammering on others to see the vision on Price, and while he never lived up to his $30 million annually Price's 2018 postseason made it all worth it in the end after winning three straight games during the ALCS and World Series.
Now that I am done being sentimental, I am so happy they shipped off about half of his contract to the Dodgers. Money was freed up from Mookie being shipped off as well, $27 million to be exact. Ken Rosenthal has estimated that the money freed up in Boston from this deal over the next few years could be in the ranges of $40 to $50 million, which is awesome considering extending more players is the next realistic move to make in Chaim Bloom's early tenure as CBO.
As for who will be coming to Boston, here's what we know about Alex Verdugo.
We know the guy can at least be moderately happy in Boston seeing as he grew up a Red Sox fan. Also, he has mechanics to actually be a very talented outfielder for the next few years. He has a swing that is almost as violent through the ball as his former teammate, Cody Bellinger.
I think Verdugo can find success in Boston. He batted just under .300 last season and with Fenway Park's dimensions, he could end up becoming a doubles machine during his time in Boston. He isn't a natural power hitter seeing as he only hit 12 home runs in a little over 100 games last season, but working with JD Martinez should eventually have him looking like a player to watch in 2020 for Boston. Verdugo is an early favorite to take Left Field, moving Andrew Benintendi out to Right Field to repace Mookie. Benny seems to have more range which will prove beneficial in Fenway's spacious Right Field.
On a side note, I get a vibe that Alex Verdugo and Michael Chavis will quick friends based on how much they both love making every swing look like they hit a bomb.
As for Brusdar Graterol:
Another guy who actually likes Boston. You can see a couple pennants and other Red Sox memorabilia on the shelves, so it seems like an early match made in heaven. However, this kid throws GAS. He has excellent velocity and can throw multiple breaking pitches including a 100+ MPH sinker.
His scouting report shows how talented he actually is. Graterol has legitimate stuff and is ready for the big leagues, but the only question about is whether he will continue as a starting pitcher or a reliever. He was in the bullpen for the Twins last September and they had him developing in the bullpen last season following a minor shoulder injury. Before that, he was coming through the system as a starting pitcher.
His AA numbers show that there is a recent success for Graterol as a starting pitcher. In a perfect world, he begins the season starting games in AAA Pawtucket and then he could take the fifth spot in the rotation sometime before June 1st. He could also develop into the bonafide closer down the road. All we know is, the potential for this kid is worth only getting two players in return.
It is hard not to get excited about Graterol seeing as pitching depth is what has been most needed over the last year. With his addition, it adds depth to the future of the Red Sox pitching staff along with Darwinzon Hernandez, Jay Groome, and possibly Noah Song if his waiver is approved by the Navy to play baseball for Boston for the future years of the 2020s.
By no means did Boston win this deal. However, the return was excellent seeing as Boston ended up receiving Minnesota's #3 overall and top pitching prospect, along with a proven everyday outfielder.
Thank you, David and Mookie for bringing us the best Red Sox team in team history.
