The beginning of the Boston Red Sox rebuild is upon us.

On the night of Tuesday, February 4th, the Boston Red Sox struck a deal with the team they beat in the 2018 World Series in the Los Angeles Dodgers. The deal also involved the Minnesota Twins directly and the Los Angeles Angels indirectly. The three-team deal involved the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Twins. It sent star outfielder Mookie Betts, former Cy Young winner David Price, and cash from the Red Sox to the Dodgers, outfielder prospect Alex Verdugo from the Dodgers to the Red Sox and pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol from the Twins to the Red Sox, and starting pitcher Kenta Maeda from the Dodgers to the Twins.

To start, the speculation of Betts being dealt West has been tossed around for months. Eventually, it was narrowed down to the Dodgers and San Diego Padres being a fitting suitor for Betts. The Dodgers, who lost to the Red Sox in 5 games in the 2018 World Series, ended up involving the reigning AL Central winners in the Minnesota Twins. The Dodgers only lost Alex Verdugo, a promising outfielder that will prove essential to the Red Sox rebuild. In terms of value in this trade, this is basically a steal for LA. Betts, a 27-year-old fan favorite and one of the best outfielders in the league, was sent to the Dodgers along with a former AL Cy Young Award winner in 34-year-old David Price for a relatively cheap price in return. To be fair, Betts likely wasn’t going to resign with the team and Price is still under a hefty contract so this was more of a salary dump than anything else for Boston.

With the acquisition of Betts, the Dodgers become the team to beat in the MLB. They slide Betts in along with Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, and Gavin Lux to boast a true powerhouse of a lineup, not to mention they’ll have two former Cy Young winners in Price and Clayton Kershaw along with 25-year-old Walker Buehler. Even if Betts will only be around for one year before becoming a free agent at the end of this year, that’s a bargain the Dodgers are willing to capitalize on. To compensate for the salary load they took from Boston and to make way for Betts in the outfield, the Dodgers dealt Joc Pederson to their rivals along Interstate 5, the Los Angeles Angels, in exchange for a promising defensive prospect in INF Luis Rengifo. The Minnesota Twins also got an upgrade to their already bolstered rotation by picking up 31-year-old starting pitcher Kenta Maeda as part of the deal. A relatively harmless trade-off, as they ended up giving up an up and coming prospect in Brusdar Graterol.

In the moment of the trade, Red Sox fans were up in arms and outraged over the decision. One Red Sox fan in particular, Senior Alan Cavagnaro, tried to find the positive out of the trade, saying “it was a way to try and bring in a few prospects and potential stars to Boston and save some money”. Betts was going to be expensive to keep around alongside another big star in J.D. Martinez. The Red Sox organization simply had to pick one of them and they chose to keep Martinez. It’s obviously sad to see a franchise player be traded away if you’re a fan of the Red Sox, but it is a business and some tough decisions have to be made sometimes.