Red Sox should package Price and Betts for a blockbuster trade offer

The Boston Red Sox are seeking ways to reduce payroll, a blockbuster package containing Mookie Betts and David Price would achieve that goal.

On Friday, August 24, 2012, there were rumblings all across sports media that the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers were discussing a mega trade. The deal was reported to be centered around Adrian Gonzalez. Less than 24 hours later the trade was complete, and Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Nick Punto were all sent to Los Angeles.

Boston managed to shed nearly a quarter-billion dollars in salary relief. But more than that, three of the most notable faces of the infamous “beer and chicken” team from a year earlier, would no longer be negatively influencing the clubhouse.

The sudden financial flexibility paved the way for Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, and Koji Uehara to arrive at the following Red Sox spring training. Eight months later, the duck boats rolled down Boylston Street.

Newly hired Chief Baseball Officer, Chaim Bloom certainly has a mess on his hands after inheriting several large contracts, many of which are hardly sustainable. Red Sox ownership has an expressed goal of getting below the luxury tax threshold of $208 million this winter.

Doing so will not be all that difficult due to so many players departing for free agency. However, simultaneously filling areas of need and ensuring future sustainability will be impossible while staying below the CBT.

A solution could be to use a little bit of creativity by drawing up trade scenarios this winter. For myself, that’s part of the intrigue of bringing in a new top executive.

Former #BlueJays Anthopolous, in town for Exec of Year, just told me David Price was best teammate he's ever been around. That's something
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) November 9, 2015

One solution to consider that could provide the Red Sox instant financial flexibility would be to package up David Price and Mookie Betts together as part of a blockbuster trade.

Right away some of you are probably thinking, “What team in their right mind would take on such a massive salary?” For starters, it would have to be a win-now team. Cough, Texas, Cough.

Another aspect people need to think about, is that taking on huge money is not always necessarily a scary proposition as long as it’s short term. Price has a balance of $96 million owed to him for the next three seasons. Mookie is projected to get $27 million in his final year of arbitration. So for both players, that puts the overall combined total to $123 million.

For perspective, that figure is only half the amount of what the Dodgers took on for salary back in the 2012 Red Sox trade. Furthermore, after the conclusion of the first season (after 2020) of this mock trade, $59 million will come off the books. All that would remain is $32 million annually in each of the following two seasons for Price. The risk is more minimal when you look at the actual breakdown.

A team that agrees to this deal will be receiving an outfielder who will give them MVP type production, as well as supreme motivation to put up the biggest offensive numbers possible before he hits free agency the next winter, as well as a pitcher capable of winning around 20 games.

Even though Price is coming off the worst season of his career, several factors could play a part in an impressive bounce-back season, one of those being a change of scenery. A second dust-up last season with Dennis Eckersley was an unnecessary distraction in the clubhouse. The Sox ace also took himself out of two scheduled starts against the Yankees. Separation from this fan base could certainly result in a source of motivation.