All Betts Are On
Whatever the exact contours of the final contract, it’s almost certainly going to be the largest commitment of resources in Dodgers history so far — don’t forget, the team had to give up Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong just to get the opportunity to make such a gigantic offer. The Dodgers have always exhibited a bit of conservatism when trading their top prospects and often for good cause; players like Walker Buehler and Corey Seager have turned out to be far more valuable to the team than anyone they would have fetched in a trade. But after a few missed World Series championship opportunities, they proved willing to be more aggressive this winter, giving up guys they really liked in order to get Betts for a single year and first dibs on signing him to a mega-contract.
Unsurprisingly, ZiPS is a fan of the signing. Ben will have all the numbers, but ZiPS suggests that a 13-year deal, including replacing Mookie’s deal for 2020, has a midpoint of about $367 million, meaning the numbers being reported so far aren’t preposterous. Betts isn’t Mike Trout, but ZiPS isn’t projecting him to be. If Betts actually were on the same level as Trout, 13 years and $380 million would be tantamount to highway robbery!
Mookie’s role with the team is quite clear: hitting leadoff and playing right field. He could still theoretically end up in center at some point, but the Dodgers have kept Cody Bellinger there throughout their exhibition games and if they were keen to mix things up in the near-future, they likely would have done so by the eve of Opening Day.
Given the uncertainty around baseball, I actually expected the market for Betts to be a little off this winter, perhaps to the point that it might have made sense for him to take a one-year, $40 million deal if one were offered and try again the following offseason in a (hopefully) more normal climate. It appears I was wrong, and I’m glad to have been. Betts’ meteoric rise from a fifth-round draft pick to an OK prospect who faced concerns about sticking at second to the 2018 AL MVP was a lot of fun to watch. Mookie Betts is one of the best things about baseball. I love that he’s going to get paid like it.