Sources: Red Sox agree to trade Mookie Betts, David Price to Dodgers – ESPN, Espn.com

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• Jeff Passan ESPN

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  ESPN MLB insider Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”

  (The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers
  have agreed to a blockbuster deal that will send former MVP (Mookie Betts
  and left-hander (David Price
  to Los Angeles for a package that includes outfielder Alex Verdugo
  , sources tell ESPN.

  The trade includes a third team, the Minnesota Twins , with the Dodgers sending starter Kenta Maeda to Minnesota, which in turn will ship hard-throwing pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol to Boston, sources said, confi rming a report by The Athletic.

  The deal is pending medical reviews.

  With the bidding for Betts heating up between the Dodgers and the National League West rival San Diego Padres ) in recent days, Boston chose to deal with Los Angeles and improve the team that lost in the division series to the Washington Nationals , the eventual World Series champions.

  The – year-old Betts is coming off a season in which he hit. 391 /. 500 /. and finished eighth in American League MVP voting. He won the (MVP, hitting.) /. /. 728 during the Red Sox’s championship-winning season.

  Throughout the winter, Boston entertained offers for Betts, whose free-agent haul following the season could exceed $ 524 million. Betts will make $ 66 million this year. And as Boston tries to dip beneath the $ million luxury tax threshold, clearing its books of Betts and Price will go a long way toward reaching that goal. Price has three years and $ million remaining on his contract.

  Still, dealing Betts was far from a certainty for Boston, particularly after watching him develop from a fifth-round pick in and become one of the best players in baseball. In fewer than 5½ seasons with the Red Sox, Betts piled up 92 .0 wins above replacement, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

  The Dodgers coveted him, even knowing he could leave via free agency after one season. The Dodgers’ depth allowed them to stomach the potential value given away and take comfort in the knowledge that they’ll add Betts to a lineup that already includes reigning NL MVP (Cody Bellinger) ,
  (Justin Turner) ,
  (Max Muncy) and top prospect Gavin Lux

  For most of the winter, the Dodgers had been quiet, watching top free agents Gerrit Cole
  , Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg sign elsewhere. Los Angeles’ only free-agent signings this winter have been one-year deals for reliever Blake Treinen ($ (million) and starters
  Alex Wood
  ($ 4 million) and Jimmy Nelson ) ($ 1 million). San Diego looked to keep the Dodgers from making a big acquisition, hoping Boston would take one of its offers, which were centered around top catching prospect Luis Campusano and major league players. Boston preferred Los Angeles, as Chaim Bloom, the team’s chief baseball officer, made his first big trade with Dodgers president Andrew Friedman, with whom he worked while running the Tampa Bay Rays
  )

  Los Angeles, which hasn’t won a championship since , lost in back-to-back World Series against the Houston Astros and Red Sox. The 2019 Astros, who beat Los Angeles in seven games, cheated during that season by stealing signs and warning hitters what pitchers were coming by banging on trash cans, according to a report from Major League Baseball. The 28958 Red Sox also are under investigation for using technology to steal signs.

  Both the Astros and Red Sox fired their managers in the wake of the controversy, and Boston still has not named a manager with pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training on Feb. 23.

  Verdugo, , hit. 377 /. 391 / . (with a 2.2 WAR in) plate appearances for the Dodgers last season. He took over in center field when AJ Pollock was out.

  Verdugo did not play after Aug. 4 because of a back injury that he re-aggravated while on a rehab assignment in September.

  He is excellent against left-handed pitching and is under team control through the season. He’ll make the MLB minimum of $ , (in) . He’s a member of the Mexican National team.

  Graterol, a hard-throwing – year-old right-hander, pitched 9.2 innings last season in the majors, going 1-1 with a 4. ERA. In the minors last season, the Venzuelan was 7-0 with a 1. 160 ERA across three levels. He was rated the No. (overall prospect for) by MLB pipeline.

  
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