The cheating (Cora-gate) Redsocks are preparing to tank. Again.

With the dumping of Mookie Betts and David Price, the signal-stealing Redsocks are signaling to their fans that 2020 will be a year to ignore the pennant race and hate-hate-hate the Yankees. If we know anything about the good, Yankee-loathing people of Boston, it is that - when it comes to going full-negative on a season - they always rise to the occasion.  

Surely, you know by now that Boston last night - during the State of Union Address, no less - dealt the beloved Betts and the over-priced Price to Los Angeles, a trade designed to shrink their payroll below the de facto salary cap, (which will likely cause a MLB strike within the next two years.) Betts was a year shy of free agency, and Price had become an outcast among fans who only saw his 7-year, $217 million contract, which in 2015 was the most expensive in history for a pitcher. (Not any more. The Yankees signed Gerrit Cole to 9-years at $324 million.)

In return, Boston gets 23-year-old Alex Verdugo, who, like Betts, was a regular on Baseball America's Top 100 prospect list, before getting called to the Dodgers last summer. He played in 106 games and hit .294 with 12 home runs, which puts him into the same once-around-the-league strata as Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird. Take your pick. He could replace Betts entirely. Or he could flop. Apparently, the Dodgers were willing to take that chance. 

Boston also picks up from Minnesota the terrifying RH reliever Brustar Graterol, who looked overwhelming in the AL Division Series against the Yankees. He's only 21 and already looks like a veteran closer, throwing 101 mph sinkers. The question, though, is whether a 6'1" youngster who throws that hard isn't destined to visit Dr. Andrews. They say Graterol will probably start the year in Pawtucket. My guess is that they need him as their opening day closer, just to justify the trade. 

Either way, you can see the wheels turning in Boston. Jackie Bradely Jr. could be next to go, and if, by June 15, the team is stumbling, Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi could be on the block. That's how Boston works. They tank. They have won four world championships in this century, and each was preceded by a self-induced mediocrity.

2004 championship - two years earlier, they finished out of the running, 10.5 games behind.

2007 championship - the previous year, they finished third, 11 games out.

2013 championship - the previous year, they finished fifth, 26 games out.

2018 championship - (with asterisk for cheating) - in both 2014-15 they finished last in the AL East, far far away from any discernible race.

I don't write this to condemn them. They are simply smart. It was not until the Yankees decided to tank in 2016 - the trades of Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller - that our current team took shape. Along with cheating, the Astros were built via the tank, and teams throughout pro sports succeed through that cynical strategy. If things go south in April and May, Boston will start looking to 2021 or 2022, and their fans will understand. Yeah, management broke their hearts by trading Mookie - who bore many of the adorable traits that Big Papi once defined (especially in a city full of intense and shallowly buried racial animosities) - but if this new guy hits, all will be forgiven. Besides, Mookie will be in LA, and quite possibly face the Yankees in the World Series. They'll have something to root for in October, after all.

If these two youngsters fail, by July, you can bet that Boston will crash the team around Rafael Devers and Eduardo Rodriguez, with a giant FOR SALE sign around everybody in captivity. And just watch: Every trade or salary dump will involve teams that might face the Yankees in the playoffs. Because that will be the defining interest of the 2020 Redsocks: As long as the Yankees lose, all is fine. So long, Mookie. Hello, Tank.