Los Angeles Dodgers: Three different trades to make for Mookie Betts

While there are no definitive reports yet, there are rumblings that the Boston Red Sox may not want to pay Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers should capitalize.

The Boston Red Sox have one of the best players in all of baseball patrolling the outfield in Mookie Betts, who is a player that the Red Sox should look to lock down long-term, except that appears to not be the case for Boston.

Why haven’t the Red Sox cut a massive check for Betts yet? Money. The Red Sox are already a team that has been well over the luxury tax threshold the last two seasons and Betts would push them even father over. Betts is in the last year of arbitration and will be a free agent after this season.

The Red Sox, who seemingly do not want to pay Betts the massive contract he deserves, would be better off trading him to get something out of losing him. Maybe that comes this winter, maybe it comes at the trade deadline, as it did with Manny Machado.

Either way, the Los Angeles Dodgers should be calling new Chief Baseball Officer for the Red Sox, Chaim Bloom, looking to make a deal. Bloom, like Andrew Friedman, came from the Tampa Bay Rays and knows how to cut an effective deal and cut costs.

The Dodgers have not been a team to spend big under Friedman but if they are going to spend big, this is the year. After Spotrac’s arbitration estimates, which are usually fairly accurate, the Dodgers are looking at around $104 million in luxury tax space for this season.

That is plenty to trade for Betts and his estimated $27.7 million arbitration salary as well as extend him to the massive contract he deserves while also being able to pay the likes of Cody Bellinger and Walker Buehler in the future.

How big of a contract does Betts deserve? Spotrac estimates a 10-year, $300 million contract for Betts.

I know the Dodgers are not the type of team to commit to that long-term of a deal, but they are in the perfect situation in the franchise to give Betts, who will then be 28, a contract that runs through his prime until his age 38 season.

Right now it feels like a dream situation but it could be the move that puts the Dodgers over the edge. The best part? The Dodgers have plenty of assets to get this deal done in multiple different ways.

Here are three different trade packages the Dodgers could send for Mookie Betts (and no, we are not going to do the biased thing of completely underselling the Red Sox).