Joc Pederson Traded To The Los Angeles Angels As Part Of The Mookie Betts Fallout

As if the Boston Redsox sending Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers wasn’t big enough news for a Tuesday night in February, another blockbuster trade has just materialized. In what appears to be a direct reaction to the Dodgers adding a high-priced slugger and an expensive starting pitcher, Joc Pederson is going from the National League to the American League.

Other than switching leagues, the outfielder isn’t going to be doing a whole lot of moving, as he goes from the Dodgers to the Los Angeles Angels. Ken Rosenthal was the first to break the news on Twitter of the second blockbuster deal of the night while the Mookie Betts deal was still solidifying.

Jeff Pasan followed on with his own tweet, explaining the Dodgers are getting infielder Luis Rengifo in exchange for Pederson. As MLB Trade Rumors points out, the trade completes quite a reshaping of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ offense.

In addition to landing Mookie Betts and trading away Joc Pederson, LA also shipped out Alex Verdugo to Boston as part of that blockbuster. Los Angeles also sent starting pitcher Kenta Maeda to the Minnesota Twins who ended up being a surprise third team involved in the Redsox deal.

On its face, the Joc Pederson for Luis Rengifo deal would appear to be a massive win for the Los Angeles Angels who have been going through their own reshaping this offseason. The infielder had a decent rookie campaign, playing in 108 games and slashing.238/.321/.364 while playing above-average defense.

Slugging wise, the American League Los Angeles team got a massive upgrade with Pederson. In 2019, he bashed 36 home runs and slugged.538 for a Dodgers team that won 106 games. Now he’ll have to try and lead an Angels squad that won just 72 games.

Despite never really competing last season, the team has made it clear that they feel it’s time to make a run for the playoffs in 2020. Joc Pederson is just the latest move as they’ve also been slugging third baseman, Anthony Rendon.

They’ve also attempted to address a pitching staff that struggled a year ago. They had been pursuing the biggest free agent on the market this winter in Gerrit Cole. The Angels eventually lost out to the New York Yankees in that derby and soon turned their attention to veteran pitcher Doug Fister and former Atlanta Brave Julio Teheran.

The team also changed managers, hiring Joe Maddon not long after the regular season ended and he parted ways with the Chicago Cubs. The big question now is whether the Joc Pederson move is the last of the fallout from the Mookie Betts trade