Verdugo, Downs, Wong, and dumping Price's contract for one season of Betts? Today is a great day in the retooling of this team. Adding a couple Top-50 prospects (not even sure I can still call Verdugo a prospect as he had 400 PA last year) and probably the best catcher in our ML system for a rental is max value. I don't have the same venom for DD as some as he was brought here to do whatever it took to win a Championship and accomplished this feat. I hated the Sale and Eovaldi contracts after the fact but we still have a ton of young players as a core group so we aren't in a gutted situation by any means. As far as the Verdugo hate, the only thing I've read was his questionable judgement of hanging out with some weird people who committed a crime when he wasn't even there. I'm pretty sure I can get past that if it's his only off the field blemish.
Like you, I hated the Sale contract in the offseason following the 2018 World Series. He was clearly a huge injury risk, and his 2018 postseason track record as a starter was concerning. And clearly you don't re-sign a pitcher for a 5 year $29MM AAV to be anything but a starter. It was a completely unnecessary and hasty signing. As with the Price signing, Dombrowski made this move with his pants appearing to be on fire.
In comparison, I didn't have the foresight you did with the Eovaldi signing. After his 2018 regular season and postseason performance with the Sox as a starter against really good teams (especially the Yankees, Twins and Astros), he felt to me as the pitching equivalent of Adrian Beltre. A guy who put it all together and elevated his performance in Boston, and who could build on that higher level for years to come. Obviously, 2019 threw a bunch of cold water on that thesis.
If we didn't re-sign Sale last offseason and tender JBJ this offseason, I believe we could have kept Mookie and reset the luxury tax. Nevertheless, Bloom did masterful work with the cards he was dealt and the mandate to get under the luxury tax threshold. According to the Baseball Trade Calculator, Verdugo for one year of Mookie is close to a wash. Jettisoning Price before his 10/5 rights kick in and adding two other young, cost-controlled prospects for positions of need in our farm system is very strong work.