February 10th, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It took until the 122nd day of their offseason and only four days remaining until pitchers and catchers report for spring training, but on Sunday evening, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman finally … finally pulled off the trade that nearly every Dodger fan on the planet has been hoping, waiting and even praying for that many (most) were beginning to believe might not happen.
It did.
After more than a week of extreme emotional highs followed immediately by extreme lows and disappointment, the man considered by many to be among the best baseball executives in the business pulled off what is arguably the biggest blockbuster trade of the offseason when he landed four-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner, three-time Silver Slugger, 2018 AL MVP, former MLB Player of the Year and World Series champion Mookie Betts.
(Photoshopped image courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors)
Along with Betts comes 34-year-old former Cy Young award winner, five-time All-Star, two-time ERA title winner and World Series champion left-hander David Price, as does Minnesota Twins top pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol and the Twins’ 67th overall draft pick in the 2020 First-Year Player Draft this June.
Understandably, the blockbuster trade came at a significant cost to the Dodgers, with extremely popular 23-year-old outfielder Alex Verdugo, highly-touted shortstop prospect Jeter Downs and highly-ranked Dodgers catching prospect Connor Wong going to the Red Sox, and 31-year-old right-hander Kenta Maeda (and cash) heading to Minnesota in exchange for Graterol, outfield prospect Luke Raley (whom the Dodgers themselves had drafted in the seventh round in 2016 out of Lake Erie College in Painesville, OH and traded to Minnesota in 2018), in addition to that aforementioned 67th overall draft pick in June.
But wait … there’s more!
Within minutes of the Betts-to-the-Dodgers news came word that the previously agreed-upon trade to send Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson and right-hander Ross Stripling to the Angels of Anaheim in exchange for 22-year-old Angels top infield prospect Luis Rengifo and two other prospects had been nixed by Angels owner Arte Moreno, presumably due to the excessive amount of time that it took to get the Betts deal done only days before pitchers and catchers are due to report. And while it is very apparent that Moreno is frustrated – perhaps even angry – with the delay, Dodger fans and even Stripling himself are elated with this unexpected byproduct of the delayed Dodgers/Red Sox/Twins deal.
(Image courtesy of Twitter)
While there is a strong possibility that Friedman still very much wants to move Stripling and even more so Pederson (with a once-again very crowded Dodgers outfield), it’s reassuring to know that ‘Chicken Strip’ (as Stripling is affectionately known) still very much wants to remain a Dodger.
…and how can you not love that?
Play Ball!
* * * * * *
Posted in 
Gotta appreciate Stripling buying into team first mentality. He probably should be a starter, but flexibility is the soup de joure for LA. Pederson has a lot of talent, and can bash a baseball. But he hasn’t made any sufficient adjustments to starting against lefties. Can’t and won’t aren’t the same thing; but regardless of whatever it is, he will probably end up elsewhere. I was excited about Downs, but Graterol is another option to help the potentially volatile bullpen. 2020 is off to an exciting start!
Needless to say, I was happy to see that the deal finally went through, Although I’m disappointed to see that Jeter Downs was included in the deal. I was looking forward to seeing him in a Dodger uniform, but to know that we got Mookie Betts in return… Well you can’t ask for much more than that.