In MLB, when a team decides to trade a star player and gets prospects in return, the organization getting the established player in the deal ends up “winning” the transaction (getting the most production among players involved) the vast majority of times.
Prospects are just extremely volatile, especially those in the lower levels.
A perfect example of this was the Mookie Betts trade of early 2020 between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Sox didn’t want to pay Betts an extension, so they traded him to LA.
They got Alex Verdugo and prospects Jeter Downs and Connor Wong for Betts and David Price.
Verdugo was just traded to the Yankees and while he had his moments in a Red Sox uniform, he was nowhere near Betts’ consistent excellence in Los Angeles.
Wong had a nice season as a backup-type catcher for Boston in 2023, but Downs has been a major disappointment.
Downs, a shortstop, is already 25 and has only 20 games of MLB experience.
He played with the Washington Nationals this past season.
Now, the New York Yankees claimed him via waivers on Tuesday.
After trading for Verdugo not so long ago, the Yanks have two-thirds of the Betts return Boston got in 2020.
The Yankees now have two of the three players the Dodgers traded to the Red Sox for Mookie Betts https://t.co/DKX6tcv5Yo
— Austin Green (@AustinGreen44) December 19, 2023
Downs is nothing more than organizational depth for the Yankees: he has no spot to play in the majors.
His offensive upside is very much capped at this point.
Last season, he hit .236/.358/.379 with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate, in 193 plate appearances.
He did get on base six times in nine plate appearances in the majors, but the sample is just too tiny to draw conclusions.
Red Sox fans certainly hope the team hadn’t gifted a top player away.
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