Red Sox get burned again by Mookie Betts trade by DFAing former top prospect named after Derek Jeter

Less than a year after winning the World Series in 2018, the Boston Red Sox fired executive Dave Dombrowski and brought in Chaim Bloom to revamp the franchise. 

Bloom’s first order of business was to trade a homegrown talent, a fan favorite and the 2018 AL MVP in Mookie Betts.

Betts, along with David Price, were traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for outfielder Alex Verdugo and two prospects.

Verdugo was the Dodgers’ top prospect at the time of the trade and was the player Sox fans would hope to come close to replicating Betts’ talent, but he, although serviceable, has not quite lived up to the hype since going to Boston.

One of the prospects the Sox received in the trade — catcher Connor Wong — has mostly remained in the minors and has struggled at the big league level.

The other prospect immediately became Boston’s top commodity in the minor leagues. 

His name is Jeter Downs, who is named after Derek Jeter and is also a shortstop like the Yankees legend.

In his Triple-A career, Downs is a .193 hitter. And in his brief stint with the big league club last season, he hit .154 with just two extra-base hits in 16 games.

When the Red Sox signed outfielder Masataka Yoshida from Japan last week, they had to make a move to free up a spot on their 40-man roster and Downs was the victim.

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The Sox designated Downs for assignment to make room for their newest outfielder. Within the next week, the Sox will have to make the choice of bringing Downs back to the 40-man, trading him, releasing him or sending him to the minors.

Since joining the Dodgers, Betts has won a World Series and three NL West titles, all while remaining one of the best players in baseball.

He finished in second place in the NL MVP voting in 2020 and fifth place this past season. He’s been an All-Star in each of the last two years and won Gold Glove Awards in both 2020 and 2022, bringing his total of each accolade to six.

Safe to say, at this point, the trade is a fat L for Boston.