Sports Q: How much money will Mookie Betts make when he signs a long-term contract?
Discuss how much money the reigning AL MVP might earn with Chad Finn and other Red Sox fans.
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If Bryce Harper can get $330 million after hitting .249, what is Mookie Betts going to get when he hits free agency? The Sox should just tell him to name his price right now. – Mitchell P.
Well, I don’t have any issue with what the Phillies paid Harper, especially since that $330 million is spread over 13 years. The deal might be regrettable over the last couple of years, but this is a 26-year-old, supremely talented player who got pitched around last year (130 walks) and still hit 34 homers with an .889 OPS. If that’s a down year for a player entering his prime, he’s going to be a bargain for the Phillies at the start of the contract. The weirdest thing about it was that he didn’t want an opt out. Now that might be regrettable. As a fanboy of Dodger Stadium, I’d have taken the Dodgers’ reported offer for 4 years and $180 million, then got back into free agency at age 30. But I don’t think he has any regrets this morning.
Harper didn’t become the first $40-mil-a-year player, but it’s coming soon. Betts and Mike Trout are both scheduled to hit free agency after the 2020 season, and if they remain healthy until then and get to the market, they’ll both clear $40 mil a year, easily. It certainly seems like Trout is headed in the free agency direction after being stuck on the mediocre Angels since his arrival in 2011.
As for Mookie, I’m not sure what to make of his status right now. I could see the Red Sox working quietly on an extension with him with an announcement seeming to come out of nowhere, and I could see him getting to free agency and maximizing his opportunity (not to mention bank account), which of course is his prerogative. But if he keeps playing like he did last year, it’s not that he’ll get a 10-year, $400-million contract. It’s that he’ll have multiple offers in that range to choose from. So put him down for at least $40 million a year when the time comes. Let’s just hope that he’s a one-franchise-in-a-career kind of guy.
But what does everyone else think? How much money will Mookie Betts make when he signs a long-term contract? I’ll hear you in the comments.
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