Dodgers, Mookie Betts Reach 12-Year, $365 Million Extension
As the major league baseball season prepares to get going on Thursday night with a pair of games on the schedule, it brings to a close the most tumultuous offseason the sport has seen in a couple of decades. After a slew of bitter back and forth conversations between the MLBPA and the owners that even saw superagent Scott Boras chime in, it looked like we might end up having no season at all. The two sides finally agreed to a proposal last month and even though players have opted out of the season, we’ve got some sort of baseball to watch.
As it turned out, the final day of the offseason brought a big contract to the table. It was reported by Jeff Passan that Mookie Betts and the Dodgers had agreed on a 12-year, $365 million extension that will keep him with the team through the 2032 season. A staggering $65 million of that money comes in the form of a signing bonus. Coupled with the $27 million that he was slated to make this year in the final year of his previous deal, it turns out to be a 13-year, $392 million deal all told. Sure, that $27 million this season will be prorated down to around $10 million but it’s safe to say that he’s in good shape financially.
The deal that was made with the $365 million in new money set a new record for major league baseball, breaking the $360 million figure that was set by Mike Trout in his extension that he signed last year. Overall, the $392 million is the second-highest total value deal in major league history, trailing Trout’s $426.5 million.
It’s a sound move for the Dodgers, who picked up Betts and starting pitcher David Price (who opted out for this season due to COVID-19) in a deal with the Red Sox back in February. That deal cost them Alex Verdugo along with minor league prospects Connor Wood and Jeter Downs, which was a steep price to pay given that they knew they had Betts under contract for just 2020 with no guarantee to keep him around. Locking him up long term helps make things easier for the team to maintain their dominance in the NL West, where they have won seven straight division crowns. The Dodgers have plenty of young talent to work with, like Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, Gavin Lux and company.
It’s a smart move for Betts as well. Given the money thrown around in free agency this past season and the uncertainty about revenues for next year, one has to wonder what kind of deal he would have earned next season. A lot of the major market teams are set with their outfield or don’t have the resources to throw around $30 million plus a season to a player right now. Even with a former MVP and a guy that has won multiple Gold Gloves, the market was going to be a tough one and seeing that Betts had already turned down a hefty deal from Boston before being dealt, you have to think that he made the sound choice here.
Betts led the American League with 135 runs last season while posting a .295/.391/.524 slash line. He hit 40 doubles, five triples and 29 homers while driving in 80 runs plus he stole 16 bases in 19 attempts. For his efforts, he earned his third Silver Slugger Award and his fourth All-Star appearance. He finished eighth in the MVP voting after winning the award in 2019. That season, he led the league in hitting (.346) and runs scored (129) while clubbing 47 doubles, five triples, 32 homers and 80 RBI plus 30 stolen bases. In his career, Betts has a .301 average with 613 runs scored, 229 doubles, 26 triples, 139 homers, 470 RBI and 126 stolen bases over the course of 794 major league games.
In a lesser thought about concept, Boston wins out by Betts signing this deal as well. He turned down a $300-plus million dollar extension offer from the Red Sox before the trade. This allows Chaim Bloom to get an opportunity to put his own stamp on the team instead of leaning heavily on the previous nucleus that led the team to a World Series crown in 2018. It gives him the ability to quit worrying about trying to potentially chase Betts again next offseason in order to try and at least placate the Boston fan base.
Congratulations to Betts on hammering out this deal and securing himself a spot for the future with a deeply talented team. Kudos go to the Dodgers for making this deal happen and securing another anchor for the future. How it pans out remains to be seen but looking at it on paper, it’s one of those moves that could help Los Angeles earn their first World Series title since Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser led the way in 1988.
