Mookie Betts Would Be a Perfect Fit For the San Diego Padres

Mookie Betts on the San Diego Padres? Oh yeah, it could happen. Dennis Lin of The Athletic is reporting the Boston Red Sox and the Padres are discussing a deal for the former AL MVP. A trade like that would make sense, as Betts would fit perfectly in San Diego.

The Padres have an incredibly deep farm system that is widely-considered the best in baseball. At the major league level they are sorely lacking a consistent right-handed corner outfield bat. Betts obviously checks those boxes.

The Red Sox desperately need to add inexpensive talent to their roster. They have been committed to reducing their payroll, and you do that by getting young, controllable players. The Padres have a lot of those in the pipeline.

The current talks have reportedly involved the Padres shipping a number of prospects and Wil Myers' onerous contract to Boston in exchange for Betts. It's worth noting that Betts will be a free agent after the 2020 season, so his trade price should be a bit lower than if he was on a long-term deal.

The 27-year-old Betts is a four-time All-Star, a four-time Gold Glover, a three-time Silver Slugger and was the American League MVP in 2018 when he led Boston to a World Series title. In 2019, Betts hit .295 with 29 home runs, 80 RBI and a .915 OPS. In 2018, Betts became the first player in MLB history to win an MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, batting title and World Series in the same season. He a star in the middle of his prime that any team would be lucky to have.

The Padres already have Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer making a ton of money on their roster. Betts would add a $27 million contract to their books, but he'd obviously be worth it. The team's lineup would center around Betts, Hosmer, Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and the recently-added Tommy Pham. That's one hell of a core, even if it's only for one season.

At this point, we have no idea how far along discussions are. In fact, the Red Sox could wind up holding on to Betts, hoping to get a better price at the trade deadline. But if we're looking at this logically, the Padres are the perfect match for a trade and the perfect fit for Betts.