Betts shares insight in 2020 trade, gives advice to Bogaerts and Devers originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The 2022 MLB All-Star Game is in Los Angeles, where Dodgers star Mookie Betts is front and center.
It’s a painful sight for Red Sox fans who remain upset that the team wasn’t able to work out an extension with Betts and ultimately traded him out west in 2020.
Earlier this week, Betts shared insight into his trade to the Dodgers during an interview with Christopher L. Gasper of The Boston Globe, including whether he would have stayed in Boston for the same deal that the Dodgers signed him to.
“Absolutely, I just didn’t get it,” Betts told Gasper. “That’s the argument. I didn’t get it, so that’s why I am where I am.”
Betts, who won the 2018 American League MVP Award with the Red Sox while helping the team win a World Series that same season, signed a 12-year, $365 million contract extension with the Dodgers. In 2020, a report claimed that Boston had offered the outfielder a 10-year, $300 million extension.
Since joining the Dodgers, Betts has won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards and helped L.A. win a World Series in 2020. He has a .271 batting average with 59 home runs, 144 RBIs and an .874 OPS in his 250 games with the Dodgers.
The Sox organization and chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom can learn from their past mistake of trading Betts.
All-Star Sox third-baseman Rafael Devers is looking to sign a contract extension that would make him a “Red Sox for life” ahead of his free agency following the 2023 season, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. As of April, there was a gap of at least $100 million between Devers and the Red Sox in negotiations.
Xander Bogaerts has the chance to opt-out after this season. The Red Sox shortstop is a four-time Silver Slugger winner, four-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion. Bogaerts even has David Ortiz telling the Sox organization to “pay the man.“
Could Red Sox selling at trade deadline lead Cora, Devers to walk?
The two star infielders’ contracts have loomed over the 2022 Red Sox season. In addition to Ortiz, retired Sox pitcher Jon Lester has expressed his opinion on the contract issues. Now, Betts added his perspective.
“You have to do what you want to do. Don’t let anybody make you or force you to do anything that you don’t want to do,” Betts advised Bogaerts and Devers. “Do what you want to do. Do what’s best for your family. There is no right or wrong. It’s just the decision you make and then you live with that decision.”
Red Sox fans are hoping the team gives Bogaerts and Devers a reason to stay in Boston.