AP Source: Red Sox will send Betts, Price to Dodgers

BOSTON (AP) — Two days before the start of spring training, the Boston Red Sox have again agreed to send 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and pitcher David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a reworked deal, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The Red Sox will receive Dodgers outfielder Alex Verdugo and prospects Jeter Downs and Connor Wong, the person told the AP on the condition of anonymity because the deal still needed the approval of Major League Baseball. Boston was to send cash to the Dodgers to offset Price's salary, reportedly half of the $96 million still owed to the 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner.

A three-team deal that would have sent Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda to the Twins for pitcher Brusdar Graterol and then flipped Graterol to the Red Sox fell apart last week when Boston balked at Graterol's medical records. Los Angeles and Minnesota completed a separate deal on Sunday night, a person familiar with that deal told the AP.

But the Red Sox and Dodgers spent the weekend finding another way to complete the deal that put Betts in Dodgers blue while allowing Boston to get under the collective bargaining tax threshold in 2020. The 2018 World Series champions will save tens of millions of dollars this season in salary and penalties, but at the expense of one of the best players in baseball.

Los Angeles has won seven straight NL West titles, averaging more than 100 wins over the past three seasons, but has only a pair of NL pennants to show for it, twice losing in the World Series to teams that were later accused of cheating. With Betts and Price, the Dodgers have what they hope will be the final pieces they need to win their first Series since 1988.

Betts will earn $27 million this year; he is eligible to become a free agent after the season and has turned down a...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/AP-Source-Red-Sox-will-send-Betts-Price-to-15043221.php