Well, it took almost the entire offseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers to make a splash with their roster.
Mookie Betts is on his way to southern California, baring any slim chance of a breakdown in the deal – the prospect going from the Minnesota Twins, has had some issues with his medical clearance.
Either way, it just may be the Twins or Dodgers have to kick in some cash or another prospect to finalize the deal.
This is the kind of move Dodgers fans have been dying to see the front office to make.
While Betts coming over from the Boston Red Sox, with David Price, the Dodgers didn’t have to give up any of their prized prospects.
While it did have to send Alex Verdugo from their big league squad, they avoided Gavin Lux or Dustin May heading to the opposite coast. In a separate deal, Joc Pederson, and now possibly Ross Stripling, are headed down to Anaheim to play for the Angels.
That’s a lot of moving parts, but what does that really mean?
In the long run, this opens up many, many options for the Dodgers in 2020, as well as the offseason. They already had a surplus of outfielders and/or utility players, and not enough spots to play them, so this allows them to give dedicated time to fewer players. They’ve also freed up some capital in moving Pederson’s contract while remaining under the tax threshold.
While Betts will still test free agency at the conclusion of the 2020 season, this actually sets L.A. up for success in trying to resign him to a larger contract.
Los Angeles has about six months to sell Mookie Betts on the Dodger way, sunshine in southern California, and winning division titles year after year, without ever seeing the New York Yankees ahead of him in the division standings.
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