MLB Rumors: What Padres could give Red Sox in Mookie Betts trade

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The Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres reportedly have opened discussions on a Mookie Betts trade.

But what would that trade entail?

The Boston Globe's Alex Speier offered some insight Friday morning, reporting that current talks involve San Diego sending outfielder Wil Myers "as well as both prospects and young controllable major league pieces" to the Red Sox.

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Speier also added this, via a source:

San Diego expressed willingness to clear the bar set by the trade of Paul Goldschmidt from the Diamondbacks to the Cardinals last winter, at a time when Goldschmidt had one remaining year of team control before he reached free agency.

Arizona's haul in that Dec. 2018 trade included starting pitcher Luke Weaver, major-league catcher Carson Kelly, infield prospect Andy Young and St. Louis' Round B competitive balance pick in the 2019 MLB Draft.

The Padres, with the second-youngest roster in baseball as of 2019 and one of the game's strongest farm systems, have both controllable young MLB players and prospects to entice the Red Sox in a Betts deal.

Among the former group, Speier lists 23-year-old outfielder Trent Grisham or 26-year-old shortstop/pitcher Jake Cronenworth as potential targets for Boston, as well as three young pitchers: right-handed starter Cal Quantrill, left-handed starter Joey Lucchesi and righty reliever Michel Baez.

Lucchesi is the most accomplished player of that bunch with 56 starts (18-19 record; 4.14 ERA) over two big-league seasons, but all are 26 years old or younger and are on team-friendly deals.

As for prospects, San Diego likely won't deal its top four prospects -- pitcher Mackenzie Gore, pitcher Luis Patino, outfielder Taylor Trammell and shortstop C.J. Abrams -- but the Padres have two more prospects on Baseball America's Top 100 list whom Boston may covet in catcher Luis Campusano and pitcher Adrian Morejon.

To land Betts, it appears San Diego would need to send Myers (who's owed $61 million on the final three years of his contract), at least one major league-level player and at least one prospect to the Red Sox, potentially adding a draft pick as a sweetener.

That's a lot of moving parts, and if Chaim Bloom and Padres general manager A.J. Preller can't make them fit, then this deal could fall through quickly.

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