Alex Verdugo is Healthy, Silly Second Guessing of Dodgers' Mookie Betts Trade to Recommence Imminently

Alex Verdugo is Healthy, Silly Second Guessing of Dodgers' Mookie Betts Trade to Recommence Imminently

May 7, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Alex Verdugo (27) looks for the call as he beats the throw to Atlanta Braves catcher Tyler Flowers (25) to score a run in the second inning of the game at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Former-Dodger Alex Verdugo says he's healthy. Now watch the vultures circle around the Dodgers for having the audacity to trade for Mookie Betts.

Ignorant vultures, second-guessers in the extreme, but circle they will. And shame on Los Angeles for not anticipating a once-in-century pandemic. How dare they! 

Here's one example, one of many, with the words "nightmare" and "crazy" in the headline. Such silliness.

Frustrated with the groupthink, I tackled this one before, in a column titled "Enough With the Dodgers-Stand-to-Lose-the-Most-by-Shortened-or-Cancelled-Season Idea Already." But with Verdugo supposedly healthy (mark me down as skeptical) six weeks after the 2020 season was supposed to begin, I see that I must return to the topic. To vent my spleen.

Look, first of all, Andrew Friedman was 100 percent right to trade for Mookie Betts. Two-hundred percent, if that's a thing. The Dodgers' president of operations was pitch perfect when he said that Betts was the best player he'd ever traded for, and likely the best player he would ever trade for. The guy made a brilliant trade. One of the best in 137 years of franchise history.

The Dodgers had left-hand hitting outfielders Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson, Edwin Rios and Matt Beaty, all of whom mash. Just exactly how many lefty-swinging outfielders do you need? And while they aren't outfielders, L.A. had left-hand hitting studs Max Muncy, Corey Seager and Gavin Lux in the fold as well. Just how many LHBs - accomplished, professional hitters - do you need?

What they didn't have - and no offense to infielder/outfielders Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor, who are best used as weapons to face left-hand hurlers primarily - was right-hand hitting outfielders. What they didn't have was right-hand hitting, same-side excelling, Gold Glove-fielding, MVP-winning, once-in-a-lifetime, jewelry-boasting, clubhouse-changing, five-tool players the caliber of Mookie Betts. And those players don't grow on palm trees. 

You have a chance to trade for Mookie Betts, to go for broke and finally win that elusive World Series, and you have a surplus of other types of players (yes, including Jeter Downs), you make that trade every day of the week, twice on Sunday and three times on the following Monday. Capiche? Mookie Betts is that good. He's better than that good. And David Price ain't chopped liver either.

We're all hoping for some sort of season this summer. Betts may yet prove his worth to the Dodgers in 2020. So, it's a three-month season - or even a two-month campaign - with a not-yet-defined postseason to follow. That's plenty of time for Betts to make a difference. And we've all got bigger problems if the season is cancelled entirely. Even so, that's no "nightmare" scenario, and certainly not something about which to rip a front office. And you thought vultures were intelligent beings.

The Dodgers were always going to re-sign Betts. They are going to re-sign Betts. This is the one guy, the one player L.A. was going to splurge on in free agency. If not Bryce Harper, why Betts, you say? Well, there's the lefty-righty thing again. But more importantly, because Betts is the significantly more durable, better all-around player; a greater talent, the one man you push your chips to the center of the table for. 

And Verdugo wasn't that big a chip, OK? He wasn't. He's had nine months to get healthy. Enough time to make a baby. He's a nice little player, the Red Sox filled out the adoption papers and Dugie is theirs. Bully for them.

There is no nightmare. Nothing is crazy. The Dodgers wanted Betts, the timing was perfect, they didn't have spies in China to advise against it and pulled the damn trigger. Rightfully so. I really hope this is the last time we have to go over this.

And remember, glove conquers all.

Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the internet since Y2K. Follow him on .Twitter.