So in all my years here, I've never broached the idea of an impact player trade between BOS/NYY, for obvious reasons. But after reading countless posts on the main board about the decisions BOS faces going forward and knowing NY's issues and remembering that Dombrowski and Cashman have a history of dealing, this trade occurred to me and I thought I'd at least run it by people here and see what they thought.
Mookie Betts for Greg Bird, Jacob Lindgren and Bryan Mitchell
Problems this solves (BOS): It frees up CF fulltime for Jackie Bradley Jr, gives BOS a young cost-controlled 1B and immediately goes a long way towards fixing the pen, with pre-arb impact arms, one LHP and one RHP.
Problems this solves (NY): Mookie would become the starting 2B, a major upgrade, as well as being able to fill in if Ellsbury or Gardner gets hurt.
Issues it creates (BOS): It would leave Hanley and his stellar D in LF, presumably with De Aza or someone like that behind him.
Issues it creates (NY): No 1B successor behind Tex again, and it thins out the strong bullpen, but hopefully guys like Rumbelow and others could step up into the void.
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Lindgren has less value to NY than to maybe any other team, with three very good lefty relievers ahead of him (Miller. Wilson, Shreve). None of these were around when NY drafted Lindgren in summer 2014, not sure he would have been picked so high if they had been.
Similarly, Betts has less value to BOS than to most other teams, with Pedroia blocking him at 2B and Bradley being a clearly better defender in CF and maybe turning the corner at the plate.
What do people think? it would be really ballsy by both GMs to trade guys who are cost-controlled for many years to their arch-rivals, guys who could easily haunt you for quite a few years going forward. I feel like it might make sense for both teams, though, or at least it's worth discussing.
Mookie Betts for Greg Bird, Jacob Lindgren and Bryan Mitchell
Problems this solves (BOS): It frees up CF fulltime for Jackie Bradley Jr, gives BOS a young cost-controlled 1B and immediately goes a long way towards fixing the pen, with pre-arb impact arms, one LHP and one RHP.
Problems this solves (NY): Mookie would become the starting 2B, a major upgrade, as well as being able to fill in if Ellsbury or Gardner gets hurt.
Issues it creates (BOS): It would leave Hanley and his stellar D in LF, presumably with De Aza or someone like that behind him.
Issues it creates (NY): No 1B successor behind Tex again, and it thins out the strong bullpen, but hopefully guys like Rumbelow and others could step up into the void.
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Lindgren has less value to NY than to maybe any other team, with three very good lefty relievers ahead of him (Miller. Wilson, Shreve). None of these were around when NY drafted Lindgren in summer 2014, not sure he would have been picked so high if they had been.
Similarly, Betts has less value to BOS than to most other teams, with Pedroia blocking him at 2B and Bradley being a clearly better defender in CF and maybe turning the corner at the plate.
What do people think? it would be really ballsy by both GMs to trade guys who are cost-controlled for many years to their arch-rivals, guys who could easily haunt you for quite a few years going forward. I feel like it might make sense for both teams, though, or at least it's worth discussing.