Red Sox' Mookie Betts Doesn't Expect To Sign Contract Until Free Agency After 2020 Season
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bryce Harper is locked up long term. Mike Trout is, too.
That scenario leaves Mookie Betts as the best player in baseball without a long-term deal, and the frameworks of the contract for those superstars does seem to lay a bit of a road map for what Betts should expect when he does finally put pen to paper on a big-money contract.
Alas, despite the market being somewhat set, Betts said Wednesday that he has no plans to sign a deal before hitting free agency following the 2020 season.
Alex Speier and Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe shared Betts' comments, with the most noteworthy line being this one: "I don't expect anything to happen till I'm a free agent."
Mookie Betts says he loves it in Boston, would be a great place to spend his career, but recent extensions 'don't impact me that much.' He wants what he feels is fair, and that he and the Sox have disagreed on what that is, but suggests that hasn't hurt relationship w/team.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) March 20, 2019
Mookie: 'I love it here in Boston. It's a great spot. I've definitely grown to love going up north in the cold...Thst doesn't mean I want to sell myself short of my value.' What does he value? 'Just being treated fairly.'
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) March 20, 2019
Betts says the Sox have made past extension offer(s) that he's turned down. Again, reiterated that hasn't affected relationship with team.'
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) March 20, 2019
Does Betts expect to enter this year without a long-term deal? 'That's exactly what I expect. I don't expect anything to happen till I'm a free agent.'
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) March 20, 2019
'Just going to go out and play. Can't worry about the economics of the game right now.' He says he and Team share interest and focus in winning another World Series.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) March 20, 2019
Mookie Betts on continuing the dialogue with the #RedSox: pic.twitter.com/ifsQzW26zr
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) March 20, 2019
Betts, 26, remains under Red Sox control through the 2019 and 2020 seasons, at which point he'll be set to hit the free-agent market as a 28-year-old. That would make his case a bit different from Harper, who signed his mega-deal at 26, and Trout, who is 27 and just lopped off the final two years of his current deal in order to sign a massive extension.
Betts may not be exactly at Trout's level, but he's about as close as anyone in baseball can get. He owns a .303 career batting average and an .888 OPS over the course of his four-plus seasons in the big leagues. He was named American League MVP in 2018, after finishing second (to Trout) in 2016 and sixth in 2017. He now has a World Series title on his resume, as well as two Silver Sluggers, three straight Gold Gloves, a batting title, and three All-Star appearances. He became the only player in American League history to win the MVP, a World Series, a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger in the same season.
Clearly, signing Betts for his age 28 through age 36 seasons will cost a team a pretty penny. For now, Betts is apparently not overly eager to try to lock in that guaranteed money until he hits free agency.