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Live: Mookie Betts Press Conference
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The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed star outfielder Mookie Betts to a 12-year contract extension that runs through the 2032 season. The club announced the deal Wednesday. The deal will pay Betts a total of $ 365 million, according to Jim Bowden of CBS Sports headquarters. Betts is owed a $ 27 million salary for 2020, prorated to approximately $ 20 million, and the new contract won’t begin until the 2021 season.
Betts’ new contract becomes the second-largest in MLB history, behind only Mike Trout’s 12-year, $ 430 million contract with the Angels. Betts had been slated for free agency this offseason. MLB payrolls are expected to shrink as teams deal with the financial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Betts deal will erase any belief that top free agents would not receive this winter, adds Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic.
The superstar outfielder will finally make his Los Angeles debut on Thursday when the Dodgers face the Giants at Dodger Stadium, albeit with no fans present. Betts, who is slated to take over the Dodgers’ No. 1 spot and be the daily right fielder, won four consecutive Golden Gloves and leads the league with 93 defensive runs saved in right field since 2016. With the Red Sox, he won the MVP of the American League. Award in 2018 and place a WAR of 41.8 over parts of six seasons. That makes him one of the best players in all of baseball in that span and probably the best Red Sox home position player since Carl Yastrzemski.
In a deeply unpopular move, the Red Sox traded Betts to the Dodgers in February in a box office hit that also sent David Price to Los Angeles in exchange for a package presented by outfielder Alex Verdugo. Price recently pulled out of the season due to health problems.
The risk to the Dodgers, particularly after the 2020 season was put in jeopardy, is that Betts would go through free agency. Now, though, those concerns are a thing of the past, and Betts will be a cornerstone of the franchise for years to come.
With a shorter season on the horizon, Betts will have to play a bigger role simply to get the Dodgers into the postseason. Dodgers fans will declare the trade a success or a failure based on whether the team can bring home a championship for the first time since 1988. The Dodgers arguably have the strongest roster in all of baseball, so winning the World Series in 2020 It is undoubtedly an achievable goal.
Betts recently said he has no regrets rejecting a $ 300 million 10-year offer from the Red Sox in the last offseason. The former MVP of the American League ended the 2019 season with a .295 / .391 / .524 batting line, 40 doubles and 29 home runs. By now it should be obvious that Betts was wise in passing Boston’s low ball offer.
