Dodgers: New Mookie Betts update indicates he wanted out of Boston

Did the Dodgers really blow the Boston Red Sox offer out of the water for Mookie Betts? Seems like no!

For a long time, Dodgers fans (and the rest of baseball) have chided the Boston Red Sox on being cheap, choosing financial flexibility over once-in-a-lifetime talent Mookie Betts.

But perhaps instead we should chide them for being pathetic losers who somehow lost the trust of their own icon?

According to new reports, the narrative that the Red Sox lowballed Betts with a $300 million offer when he asked for $425 million, only to watch him sign for a mid-pandemic $365 in Los Angeles, may not be accurate. The latest cocktail chatter indicates the Sox met Betts’ demands, and he turned them down anyway.

According to Mike Felger of WEEI’s Felger and Mazz, a well-connected Bostonian thinks the current popular narrative isn’t entirely accurate.

"“This guy, I am fully confident is close with players and it was a conversation at literally an outdoor, socially-distanced cocktail party,” Felger said. “The guy says, ‘Boy, he turned down a lot of money here,’ speaking of Betts. I’m like, ‘Well, what do you mean? Weren’t they way under?’ He said, ‘Oh no, no, they offered what he asked and he turned it down.’“I’m like, ‘Well wait a minute, why wouldn’t the Sox let everybody know that? Because right now, everyone’s calling them cheapskates. Everyone’s saying they cheaped out and wouldn’t pay for Mookie Betts. Why wouldn’t they let that be known?’ And the guy said they thought it would be a worse PR hit if people knew Betts turned them down straight up. That it wasn’t a money thing. Because then it speaks to he didn’t want to be here."

This only begs one question: If this is true, why wouldn’t the Red Sox be screaming this from the rooftops?!

Time and again, the Boston Red Sox have managed to run effective smear campaigns against people who’ve left their fair city, Terry Francona chief among them in recent years. Why not go for it with Betts, especially if you knew you were going to get raked over the coals anyway?

Maybe the Sox thought that, if they simply never mentioned Betts again, we’d all forget about him? Spoiler alert: We will not.

He’s here to stay, he’s a Dodger, and he got (relatively) paid. If this is the truth, then that’s so, so sad for his former home, and A-OK with us.

Red Sox chairman takes cheap shot at Dodgers after Mookie Betts contract extension

Red Sox chairman Tom Werner sounds a bit hurt over the Dodgers signing Mookie Betts.