There Are Rumors That Mookie Betts Could Be Signing A Monster Extension With The Dodgers And I Think I Believe 'Em

Fuck.

I know some will say until it's Ken Rosenthal or Jeff Passan tweeting it out, it's not real. I'm not going to tell you who to trust and who not to trust, but the second that Lou's tweet went out I got two texts. Both from individuals who would know what's going on here. I asked the first one if he thought this was legit. Got a "100%" as a response. Second individual seemed to believe it, too. I guess we can still wait for the actual hammer to be dropped, but it would appear as though Mookie Betts is going to be staying in LA for a long, long time as a very rich man.

And hey, good for him. Honestly. No hard feelings. The Red Sox put themselves in a position to where they couldn't pay Mookie what he was truly worth, were forced to trade him to get under the luxury tax, which only then would've put Boston in a position to be able to make a run at re-signing him as a free agent. But if he forgoes free agency to take the bag from the Dodgers, then it is what it is. Quite simply nothing the Red Sox could've done to avoid this scenario as of Chaim Bloom's hiring.

I'm sure Red Sox fans will be looking for a scapegoat. I don't exactly find that to be necessary, but if you're looking for someone to blame I would say that it's Dave Dombrowski. I won't be shaking my fist at the sky and yelling his name, but you can point to the Chris Sale extension and the Nathan Eovaldi contract as reasons for why there was no money left for Mookie when the time came to talk about an extension. Hindsight's 20/20, but folks seemed to be pretty excited that Sale was staying, and fans certainly campaigned for Eovaldi to remain in Boston after his postseason heroics in 2018.

I do, however, find it a little bit odd that Mookie would sign an extension with the Dodgers after being so adamant about being courted as a free agent by all of the top suitors in baseball. On the flip side, things certainly have changed because of the pandemic. We don't know which of those potential top suitors either would've bowed out entirely or not have been able to pony up the cash that it would've taken to sign Betts. It would appear as though the Dodgers are in a position to eat their financial losses from 2020 and still pay Mookie regardless, so more power to 'em.

Obviously we have to wait for this all to play out. With a contract of this size and a decision this large for Betts, anything can happen. But yeah, from what I've heard, these rumors are legit and any hopes of seeing Betts return to Boston could be dunzo within the next few days here. Fuck.

UPDATE: Passan's on it.