McAdam: Red Sox set to deal Mookie Betts, David Price to Dodgers in three-team deal

Culminating months of speculation and weeks of intense trade talks, the Red Sox on Tuesday night were closing in on a three-team deal in which Mookie Betts and David Price would end up with the Los Angeles Dodgers with the Sox getting outfielder Alex Verdugo from the Dodgers and pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol from the Minnesota Twins.

The Dodgers would send Kenta Maeda to the Twins in exchange for Graterol, then include him as part of the deal with the Sox.

The Red Sox would also be sending significant cash to the Dodgers in order to offset Price's $96 million due over the next three seasons.

Even with the cash sent to the Dodgers, the Red Sox would be accomplishing their goal -- stated publicly at the end of last season — of getting under the first competitive balance tax threshold (CBT) of $208 million. Betts alone reduces their payroll by $27 million and ridding themselves of half of Price's $32 million for 2020 chops off another $16 million or so.

Such a reduction in salary obligation would take the Red Sox under $200 million in payroll for the first time since 2017.

The deal is the first significant trade consummated by new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom -- and is destined to go down as one of the biggest in recent franchise history.

Betts, the 2018 American League MVP, is a year away from reaching free agency and has vowed to go onto the open market to determine his full value. The Red Sox made numerous attempts to sign him to an extension over the last two years, made fell far short of what Betts looking to earn.

Desperate to reset their luxury tax rate and intent on building a team that could be sustainable for a number of years, they tried earlier this winter to move a starting pitcher before the talks shifted in January to Betts. Eventually, trade talks existed concurrently with the San Diego Padres and the Dodgers.

The Padres, however, wanted the Sox to assume the remaining contractual obligations of Wil Myers. Bloom, according to a source, wanted no part of taking on the Myers contract and eventually settled on the deal with the Dodgers.

Price signed, at the time, the richest free-agent deal ever for a pitcher when he agreed to a seven-year, $217-million deal with the Sox. He went 46-24 with a 3.84 ERA in four seasons with the Sox, marked by injury, off-field turbulence and one superb October of pitching that culminated in a World Series win -- ironically, over the Dodgers -- in 2018.

Verdugo is the centerpiece of the deal. Ranked as one of the Top 20 prospects in the game at the start of last season, he appeared in 106 games for the Dodgers in 2019, with a slash line of .294/.342/.475. He's regarded as an excellent outfielder and will presumably take over in right field for Betts.

Graterol, 21, was ranked as the Twins' fourth-best prospect recently by MLB Pipeline. He throws a two-seam fastball that routinely hits 100 mph, though his strikeout totals have been somewhat modest in the minor leagues.

He appeared in 10 games with the Twins at the end of last season, working exclusively as a reliever, but is projected as a No. 2 or No. 3 starter by some evaluators.