Red Sox, Dodgers salvage mega-deal -- with some adjustments

Five days after it appeared a deal between the Red Sox and Dodgers was first in place, it became finalized late Sunday afternoon, according to several reports.

The Red Sox will send Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers -- as initially planned -- but now, in addition to outfielder Alex Verdugo, the Red Sox will receive shortstop Jeter Downs.

In the initial swap, the Sox were going to receive Verdugo and Minnesota Twins pitcher Brusdar Graterol. But the Sox balked after viewing Graterol's medicals, wary that the 21-year-old pitcher may not profile as durable enough to become a starting pitcher, as they had envisioned.

After days of back-and-forth negotiations between the Sox and Twins failed to result in a satisfying resolution for both teams, the Twins focused on making the same deal they had originally -- getting veteran starting pitcher Kenta Maeda from the Dodgers. This time, however, Graterol will stay with the Dodgers, instead of being flipped to the Red Sox.

In place of Graterol, the Sox landed Downs, a highly-regarded athletic middle infielder who was initially selected by the Reds, but dealt to the Dodgers in December of 2018 as part of a huge multi-player deal. He's the younger brother of Red Sox minor league first baseman Jerry Downs, and yes, he's named after you-know-who.

BSJ ANALYSIS

While Red Sox fans are likely to be unhappy about losing Betts, this iteration of the deal represents a better return for the Sox.

MLBPipeline rates Downs as the 44th prospect in all of baseball and the eighth-best shortstop. A former supplemental pick by the Cincinnati Reds in 2017, Downs has displayed the potential to be a five-tool player.

He's a 21 and last year, between Single-A and Double-A, he slashed .276./.362/.526 with 24 homers and 24 stolen bases. He could profile either as a shortstop or second baseman in the big leagues and may not need much more than a half-season or so to demonstrate he's ready for the big leagues.

Downs is, obviously, blocked at short by Xander Bogaerts, whom the Red Sox extended last year and control through at least 2025, with an option for 2026. Downs could be the Red Sox' second baseman of the future, or the Sox could deal him for young starting pitching -- an area they've been unable to develop on their own for the past 15 years.

Perhaps Graterol could have helped in that regard, but lingering questions about his durability and ability to pitch 175 or so innings per season would have hung over the Red Sox.

In Downs, the Sox get a better prospect and while, for the time, he represents some redundancy at the shortstop position, he could easily move over to the other side of the second base bag and handle the position for a long time.

The Sox were properly criticized for being indecisive and perhaps reacting too quickly to the negative reaction the initial trade produced. It's likely, too, that the organization's reputation could take a hit for holding up the original deal for medical reasons. (It's noteworthy that the Dodgers didn't have any issues with Graterol, though to be fair, they see him a reliever for their own needs).

But by waiting another five days, the Sox obtained two promising, athletic players who the team can control for a combined 11 seasons.

However messily that was achieved, it's better than where they were only a few days ago.