When Lou Merloni tweeted out that Mookie Betts was close to a mammoth contract extension with the Dodgers it immediately set Twitter on fire.
Sorry @Jared_Carrabis your dream scenario may come to an end within the next couple days, I'm told. Mookie will remain in LA for a very very long time. 10+ yrs for BIG $$. Between 350-400. @WEEI @OMFonWEEI
— Lou Merloni (@LouMerloni) July 22, 2020
We have waited for Mookie news before, believing contracts were around the corner. This one, however, caught us while there was a perceived pause in those sorts of conversations. There was no money. There was no market. There was too much uncertainty.
Well, well, well.
Let's just say we're talking 12 years (after 2020) and about $350 million. What does it mean for Betts? What were the Dodgers thinking? Should the Red Sox get heat when watching from afar? Was this the right move for all parties involved? There's a lot to pick through, so let's give it a try ...
The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that they have signed outfielder Mookie Betts to a 12-year contract through the 2032 season.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 22, 2020BUSINESSMAN BETTS IS MAKING A BUSINESS DECISION
It became as familiar as Betts' batting stance, the outfielder pivoting to life as a businessman when asked about contract issues.
It started with those years of extension offers from the Red Sox and continued all the way up through his last day in a Boston uniform. It was, as he explained, an approach and philosophy he picked up from his mother early on in life and carried with him throughout his professional life.
"It's nothing new," he said when talking to WEEI.com in September. "It's just a bigger amount of money. It's the same thing. The perception is that he hates it here and that stuff. Those are all emotions. Put that all to the side. Just focus on business."
Nothing changed, all the way up until this framework with the Dodgers.
Now, some will say the business approach came back to bite Betts considering he was asking for an excess of $400 million after the Red Sox offered in the neighborhood of 10 years, $310 million. But times change and does the business landscape. And what is good in this business world is this deal. It's hard to argue that.
It's not as if Betts took a discount to play for the Dodgers. What he did was garner what is some of the most coveted currency around these days: certainty. With the offseason market still one of baseball's greatest mysteries, that is worth the difference in whatever he was expecting before the pandemic rolled around.
BETTS FOUND HIS PERFECT LANDING SPOT
While the outfielder would have signed to ride out the rest of his career in Boston for the right price, Los Angeles is probably a better fit, at least in the short-term.
When these sort of deals are done part of the equation is usually an understanding about responsibilities regarding being the face of the franchise. Bryce Harper in Philadelphia. Manny Machado in San Diego. You get the picture. And if Betts was in Boston there would have been a lot more pushing him into the spotlight than there will be as a Dodger. Different markets. Different teams. Different expectations.
It's not as though Betts doesn't understand the responsibilities that come with superstar status, but he is also hesitant at times to venture into anything and everything that is asked. The Red Sox needed "Mookie" to be the no-questions-asked first guy in front of the spotlight at every turn. We learned that's not him. When David Price was complaining that Betts wasn't being put on the pedestal by Major League Baseball he deserved, the reality was that the player had opportunities he simply chose to not partake in.
Los Angeles has other faces of franchises to turn to. Movies. Sports. Whatever. Nobody is going to be breaking out the abacus when trying to make sure that the highest-paid player in team history is hitting his quota of photoshoots.
LET'S NOT SLEEP ON HOW GOOD A PLAYER THIS IS
People can scream and yell about how there is no way Betts will come close to making this deal worth it, particularly in the second half when he enters his mid-to-late 30's. But if you're giving me the chance to take any one of these other 10-plus-year contract guys and pit them against Mookie, I would most likely lean toward the former Red Sox for long-term viability.
It would be easy to use the Andrew McCutchen path as a comp when attempting to show the dangers of this length of a deal. He has always been the guy Betts drew comparisons to throughout the first few years of the outfielder's career. Fair enough. McCutchen was an MVP at the age of 26, with Betts winning his award at 25. But the former Pirate star started a fairly significant downturn at the age of 30.
It's not apples to apples. No two players are the same. Body-type. Work ethic. Mindset. A propensity for injuries.
And when making the case for Mookie's longevity, the Southern California weather never hurts. (That is a very real thing when trying to get through baseball seasons.)
There is no proof and only McCutchen-like historical comparisons, but considering the entire package we have seen this player present, consider it an educated guess.
