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

Adam Weinrib
Adam Weinrib

Dodgers Way

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 21: Mookie Betts #50 of the Los Angeles Dodgers fields a hit against the Tampa Bay Rays during the seventh inning in Game Two of the 2020 MLB World Series at Globe Life Field on October 21, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard and Dodgers Way for 4 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast twice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for eight years. Previously, he was a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.