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

Trade package #3: Gavin Lux, Keibert Ruiz, A.J. Pollock (Los Angeles Dodgers pay $5 million per season)

This last package has a lot of things going on and we will start with the Los Angeles Dodgers trading A.J. Pollock paying $5 million of his salary per season.

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If the Dodgers are going to trade Betts there has to be an outfielder that leaves. Cody Bellinger is just too good to play at first base and you can’t have Alex Verdugo, Joc Pederson and A.J. Pollock sharing one outfield spot.

So in this case, the Dodgers would be getting rid of Pollock after an okay season with LA and would agree to pay a total of $20 million over four years (assuming he uses his opt-in) to the Red Sox, which is not a crazy number.

This allows the Red Sox to get an established player out there at $7 million this season, $10 million next season and $5 million the following two seasons. They can afford that.

The big part of this package is top prospect Gavin Lux and top catching prospect Keibert Ruiz. Personally, I am a huge Lux fan and do not want to see him traded, but I would not be surprised nor against getting Betts for Lux.

Sure, it would suck seeing him go, but the Dodgers can easily fill his void at second base with Max Muncy, which does open the door for Bellinger to play more first if needed or even moving Turner to first and getting a third baseman.

Ruiz is the third-ranked prospect in the Dodgers system as well as the third-ranked catching prospect in baseball. He absolutely has a lot of value, but after the emerging of Will Smith and with the other top-30 catchers in the Dodgers system, the team can absolutely afford to trade Ruiz.

What would result would be an outfield of Bellinger, Betts and either Verdugo and Pederson. While they are both left-handed, Verdugo actually has reverse splits against southpaws, so he can get the majority of the starts against southpaws.

It may seem like a struggle for playing time now, but every season always appears that way before things happen and suddenly everyone is glad that the Los Angeles Dodgers have 4-5 outfielders. I’ll just be happy if the team gets Mookie Betts.