Former White Sox GM Reveals He Tried Trading For Mookie Betts In 2013

The Boston Red Sox kicked off their trade deadline dealings on Wednesday night when they picked up veteran left-handed relief pitcher Steven Matz from the St. Louis Cardinals. With the trade deadline just hours away, it remains to be seen if more moves are coming for the Red Sox.

Teams across the league are forced to walk a delicate line during the deadline. Making trades in which both teams are happy isn’t always easy to accomplish, which is why a decent chunk of these proposed trades never cross the finish line.

For Boston, it seems like one of their trades from the 2013 trade deadline nearly didn’t come to fruition. The team had interest in Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Jake Peavy, who was still one of the best starting pitchers in the majors at this point in his career.

The White Sox were open to unloading Peavy, but they wanted a strong package in return for him. According to the team’s general manager at the time, Rick Hahn, he initially asked for Mookie Betts in exchange for Peavy, only to quickly get shut down by the Red Sox.

“Rick Hahn just told MLB Network he asked for Mookie Betts in return for Jake Peavy in 2013. Ben Cherington said no. Dodged a bullet on that one,” Matt McCarthy of 98.5 The Sports Hub shared in a post on X.

At the time, Betts was still one of the Red Sox’s top prospects in their farm system. Boston saw his potential, though, and didn’t want to move on from him, and that ended up being a pretty shrewd move, as he developed into a superstar who helped the team win a World Series in 2018.

Of course, it’s also worth noting that the Red Sox eventually managed to hammer out a deal for Peavy, who helped the team win a World Series later that season. The negotiations nearly crumbled after Betts’ name was brought up, but that just goes to show you how quickly things can change at the deadline.

In the present day, Boston has done well to shore up their bullpen by acquiring Matz, but there are still several areas of need that it could benefit from filling in an effort to aid their playoff push. The Sox have been quiet so far on Thursday, but there’s still time for that to change before the deadline strikes at 6 p.m. ET.