Dodgers to trade Kenta Maeda to Twins for Brusdar Graterol

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox reached an agreement on a trade involving Mookie Betts and David Price, and the Dodgers made a separate deal with the Minnesota Twins involving players who were part of the original trade.

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Dodgers have renegotiated their end of the deal with the Minnesota Twins after the original three-team Betts deal fell apart. The Dodgers will send pitcher Kenta Maeda to Minnesota, as originally planned. The difference is Brusdar Graterol, the top prospect who was originally set to go to the Red Sox, is now going to the Dodgers.

Rosenthal says the Dodgers are paying $10 million to the Twins for Maeda but receiving the Twins’ compensatory B pick in the 2020 draft (No. 67 overall). The Dodgers will also send a low-level prospect to Minnesota.

As Rosenthal notes, the deals are pending a medical review. That is no formality with Graterol, as the Red Sox balked at the initial deal over an issue with his medicals. However, other teams have had far fewer concerns about Graterol’s health, and after what has happened in the past week, it seems unlikely the Dodgers would push forward with a trade for Graterol if they weren’t confident he would check out okay.

The Twins part with a key prospect as they originally planned but bolster their rotation with Maeda, who has a 3.87 career ERA. The Dodgers send another prospect Boston’s way in Jeter Downs, but they get Graterol, a hard-throwing pitching prospect they would not have received otherwise. The addition of Graterol combined with Betts in what turned out to be a separate deal, is a pretty good haul for the Dodgers. It also means they will likely ship Joc Pederson to the Los Angeles Angels once the trades with Boston and Minnesota are concluded.