Mookie Betts Trade Status Reportedly 'Not a Certainty' Thanks in Part to Recent Brusdar Graterol Snag
News broke Tuesday night that the Boston Red Sox had traded Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a mega-deal that also involved the Minnesota Twins.
Yet the deal has not yet been officially announced and that is apparently (in part) because Twins prospect Brusdar Graterol has some questionable medicals that were uncovered after the trade was made. Now the deal may not go through at all.
Red Sox are said to be trying to reconfigure the part of the Betts 3-team deal with the Twins (meaning more than Graterol). While there’s still hope the mega deal gets done in some form, some involved are now suggesting it’s not a certainty.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 7, 2020
This is surprising news because this deal falling apart would affect players from all three teams and may shut down the trade of Joc Pederson to the Los Angeles Angels.
The only hold-up in the Joc Pederson/Ross Stripling trade to the #Angels for 3 prospects is the Mookie Betts/David Price trade. The #Dodgers can't trade Pederson until they know they have Betts; which is held up by the #RedSox's concerns over pitcher Brusdar Graterol's medicals.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 6, 2020
The fact that this deal is not a certainty to go through -- and that the Red Sox didn't use much of the available information regarding Graterol's injury history -- is ridiculous and alarming.
The Red Sox reportedly want more compensation so realistically the Twins or Dodgers could provide that. This may come down to how bad the Twins want the deal to go through, which is saying something given they weren't one of the main culprits to begin with.
Source familiar with the three-way Boston/Los Angeles/Minnesota trade said the sides are “making progress,” and while a deal isn’t likely to be finalized any earlier than Friday, it’s still “more likely to happen than not.”
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) February 7, 2020
This mega-deal being cancelled because of the No. 83 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, would be a disaster. The players involved could very well show up to Spring Training with low morale, and Boston would essentially get a re-do on what's been mocked as a dumb deal on their part. That's not how any of this should work, and thankfully it appears there's some urgency to complete this trade.
It is up to all teams involved to figure this out and not let stubbornness ruin the deal.