The Minnesota Twins will get the starting pitcher they wanted all along in a three-team trade with the Red Sox and Dodgers that was restructured and finalized on Sunday, according to reports from MLB insiders from The Athletic and ESPN.
The even better news is Minnesota didn’t have to give up any more than the original deal from last week.
Veteran Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda, 31, is now a Twin, and a likely No. 3 or No. 2 starter immediately. He was 10-8 with a 4.04 ERA and pitched 153 innings last season, with a 1.074 WHIP.
Top Twins pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol is now headed to Los Angeles instead of Boston, which still shipped Mookie Betts, one of the best players in the game, to the Dodgers.
The Red Sox in the original trade had qualms with Graterol’s value after dissecting his medical records and determining he was fit to be a reliever instead of a starter. But Minnesota refused to budge when Boston asked the Twins for an additional Top 10 prospect.
The new agreement sends Maeda and $10 million cash to Minnesota for Graterol and a compensation B draft pick (the 67th selection) in 2020. The teams will exhange prospects with outfielder Luke Raley going to the Dodgers.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Dodgers reportedly have agreed that outfielder Mookie Betts and pitcher David Price are headed to Los Angeles for prospects: Outfielder Alex Verdugo, shortstop Jeter Downs, and catcher Connor Wong. The original agreement had Verdugo and Graterol (through the Dodgers) going to Boston.
