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Post Betts Trade Power Shift in the AL East

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The basic framework of the three-team deal, in the works for weeks and which obviously involves a large salary relief component for Boston, is as follows:

To Dodgers: 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and 2012 AL Cy Young David Price

To Red Sox: 23-year old OF Alex Verdugo (from LA), 21-year old RHP Brusdar Graterol (from Twins)

To Twins: RHP Kenta Maeda (from L.A.)

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Players Involved

Verdugo hit .294/.342/.475 with 12 homers in 106 games with L.A. last season. Graterol was among the Twins top prospects (#83 on the recently updated MLB top-100), and is known for a fastball that can reach triple digits, according to MLB.com.

RHP Kenta Maeda, 31, goes to the Twins and is signed through the 2023 season. He’s posted a 3.19 ERA and 3.13 FIP as a reliever since 2017 (compared to a 4.12 ERA and 3.84 FIP as a starter across that same span), and has a 3.87 ERA with 9.8 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 1.18 HR/9 and a 40.9% ground-ball rate over 589 career MLB innings.

The Dodgers can afford to take on much of the salaries of Betts and Price in trying to win their first World Series title since 1988, but they also enter 2020 with the third-best farm system in baseball, with five top-100 prospects according to MLB.com. That includes the #2 overall prospect in SS Gavin Lux, #23 prospect in RHP Dustin May, and #44 prospect in SS/2B Jeter Downs. None of them are involved in this trade.

In last week’s Baseball Prospectus update of their top-100 prospects, unsurprisingly there were no Red Sox. MLB Pipeline only ranks one Red Sox prospect in their top-100, A Advanced league 1B Triston Casas at #77.

In LHH Verdugo, the Sox acquire a young outfielder who has already proven capable of hitting major league pitching. He was considered “one of the best pure-hitting prospects in baseball” by MLB.com ahead of the 2018 season, and was ranked the No. 19 prospect overall by Baseball Prospectus ahead of the 2019 season.

Graterol instantly becomes the best prospect in the Red Sox farm system, with a 99-mph sinker, 88-mph slider and four-seam changeup at just 21 years of age. In his 2019 big league debut,  he struck out 10 and gave up five runs on 10 hits and two walks over 9 2/3 innings. Graterol shredded the minors with 230 strikeouts and a 2.48 ERA in 214 innings over four seasons. Of his 51 appearances, 41 were as a starter.

Betts, 27, who agreed to a record $27 million in arbitration for 2020, becomes an UFA next offseason and there was no guarantee the Red Sox would be able to re-sign the former AL MVP and 4X Gold Glove winner (think Mike Trout’s 12-year, $426 million deal with the Angels). He’s also a 4X All-Star, 3X Silver Slugger and won the batting title in his 2018 MVP campaign, slashing .346/.438/.640/1.078 all just in six MLB seasons.

Price, 34, is owed $96 million over the next three seasons. After his World Series heroics with the Sox in 2018, Price struggled with injuries last season, posting a 4.28 ERA in 107 1/3 innings. He’s a 5X All-Star and in addition to his 2012 Cy Young, has won the ERA title twice in his 12-year MLB career with Tampa, Detroit, Toronto and Boston.

World Series Odds

The trade immediately makes the Yankees and Dodgers the “odds on” favourites to advance to the 2020 World Series. The Yankees signed ace Gerrit Cole and lost nothing devastating from a 103-win team. Now, the Dodgers have obtained Mookie Betts to join a largely unchanged 106-win roster, and the trades of Maeda and a separate trade of Joc Pederson to the Angels, plus the expectation that Boston is taking on about half of Price’s remaining three years at $96 million means the Dodgers might not even go over the $208 million luxury-tax threshold.

AL East Fallout

New Red Sox chief of baseball operations Chaim Bloom immediately fulfills his mandate from owner John Henry to make the team younger and to free up salary cap space to get under the luxury tax threshold of $208 million for 2020. Spotrac sees Boston’s updated competitive balance tax payroll at $192 million post trade assuming the Red Sox pick up $16 million of David Price’s contract in 2020 and $48 million of the remaining $96 million over the next three seasons.

Trading away an AL MVP and their injury-plagued #2 starter suggests the Red Sox are re-tooling on the fly. This is in no way a tear down or a rebuild given a roster including Chris Sale, Jackie Bradley Jr., Eduardo Rodriguez, Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers, but they do get younger with Verdugo under team control for the next five years and Graterol for the next six.

Does this open the door for the Blue Jays to compete for a wildcard slot in 2020?  Maybe, but unlikely. Pre-trade, MLB projected that Toronto will win 79 games in 2020. That could change given they face the suddenly less competitive Red Sox nineteen times this year. Should they go 14-5 now instead of 9-10 in their head-to-head matchup with Boston, that’s potentially 5+ more wins.

It certainly doesn’t hurt to lose two bWAR monsters from the AL East, with Betts at 6.8 in 2019 and at 42 over the past six seasons. His 2020 projected stats are .297/.386/.540/.926 with 27 HRs and 79 RBI.

Projections
Year Tm Age PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB
2020 Proj. 27 614 528 111 157 39 4 27 79 18 3 76 92 .297 .386 .540 .926 285

Price had a 1.9 bWAR last season but generated 10.8 wins above replacement since 2016 with the Red Sox.

Projections
Year Tm Age W L W-L% ERA SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W
2020 Proj. 34 9 6 .600 4.15 1 130.0 124 65 60 19 42 1 137 1.277 8.6 1.3 2.9 9.5 3.26

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Allen on trade to Devils from Habs: 'Sometimes you've got to be a little bit selfish' – Yahoo Canada Sports

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Jake Allen loved being a member of the Montreal Canadiens.

The hockey-mad market, the crackling Bell Centre on a Saturday night, the Original Six franchise’s iconic logo.

The 33-year-old goaltender is also realistic.

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With the Canadiens still in full rebuild mode — and two young netminders in Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau ready for more playing time — Allen could see the writing on the wall.

Desperate for help in their own crease, the New Jersey Devils asked Montreal about the veteran’s availability. But the team, general manager Tom Fitzgerald told reporters earlier this month, was initially on Allen’s no-trade list.

There wasn’t anything the Fredericton product disliked about the organization or city. The Devils simply appeared to have their crease set for years to come.

But when the club that finished with 112 points and made the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23 was badly hampered by poor play from Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws and Akira Schmid — each netminder owned save percentages below .900 — the Devils circled back.

And Allen had changed his tune.

“Loved my time as a Hab,” he said of pulling on Montreal’s red, white and blue threads. “I always will cherish that. Put on probably the most special jersey in hockey, in my books. But you realize in your career, it doesn’t last forever.

“You’ve got to make decisions sometimes.”

Allen, who is signed through next season, eventually agreed to a deal that sent him to New Jersey ahead of the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline for a conditional third-round pick at the 2025 draft.

Apart from playing meaningful hockey on a team trying to claw its way back into the Eastern Conference playoff race, the swap gave him more runway to get his family settled in a new city instead of waiting to see what this summer’s crowded goalie market might bring.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be a little bit selfish,” said Allen, a Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “Look yourself in the mirror and wonder what’s best for you and your family.”

He’s been really good for his new team.

Allen was lights out in Tuesday’s first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making an eye-popping 25 saves in what would turn into New Jersey’s 6-3 victory.

So far he’s 4-2-0 with a .925 save percentage and a 2.51 goals against average in six starts for the Devils, who sit five points back of the East’s second wild-card spot.

“A real pro,” said interim head coach Travis Green.

Allen is a combined 10-14-3 in 2023-24 with a .900 save percentage and a 3.39 GAA. Across his 11 seasons with St. Louis, Montreal and now New Jersey, he’s 193-164-41 with a .908 save percentage and 2.75 GAA.

“Makes the saves we need to get some momentum back,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “If you have a solid goalie in the net, that makes your work easier.”

Allen is also 11-12 with a .924 and a 2.06 GAA all-time in the playoffs — a good sign for his new club should New Jersey manage to make the cut.

For now, though, he’s just enjoying being back in a post-season race.

“I thought this was a good opportunity to come in the rest of this year, play some games,” Allen said.

“It’s been a good start.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2024.

___

Follow @JClipperton_CP on X.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

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Matthews game-time decision for Maple Leafs against Capitals with illness – NHL.com

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TORONTOAuston Matthews will be a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MNMT) because of an illness.

“It’s going to be on how he feels throughout the day,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.

The forward did not participate in Toronto’s morning skate. Max Domi took his place as the center on a line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Marner, a right wing recovering from a high-ankle sprain sustained March 7 and will be out the next two games.

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Matthews leads the NHL with 59 goals, one from becoming the ninth player in NHL history with at least two 60-goal seasons. He scored 60 in 73 games in 2021-22, when he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. He had one goal and nine shots in 23:44 of a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, which extended his point streak to five games (four goals, seven assists).

He missed one game this season with illness, a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.

“Of course, it’s an adjustment when your best player is out of the lineup,” Domi said, “when anybody is out of the lineup, but I think we’ve done a great job all year of guys stepping up when they have to, and we just have to continue to do that.”

Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury.

“He just remains day to day,” Keefe said. “We’re hopeful he’s going to bounce back here. The one thing that is good is once he gets through this day or two here, it’s not going to be a lingering situation. It’s not going to be an injury that’s ongoing. Once he’s past it, he’s past it so we just need to give him some time.”

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list

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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

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Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

 

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

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