{"id":23241,"date":"2025-02-03T03:42:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T03:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=23241"},"modified":"2025-02-03T03:42:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T03:42:42","slug":"former-red-sox-exec-mookie-betts-could-have-stayed-if-boston-offered-deferrals-like-dodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=23241","title":{"rendered":"Former Red Sox Exec: Mookie Betts Could Have Stayed if Boston Offered Deferrals Like Dodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Dodgers have sparked a debate amongst baseball executives with their usage of deferrals. Is it fair or not?<\/p>\n

Zack Scott, former acting general manager of the New York Mets and a four-time champion with the Red Sox, described the process of negotiating with\u00a0Mookie Betts<\/a>\u00a0and how things could have gone differently had Boston used the Dodgers\u2019 creative contract method.<\/p>\n

\u201cMookie Betts\u2019 contract with the Dodgers offers another compelling example,\u201d\u00a0Scott wrote for MLB Trade Rumors.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cHe signed a $365MM deal with $115MM deferred. While the headline figure was impressive (second largest contract behind Trout!), the present value was $307MM, placing it below a few additional contracts (Bryce Harper<\/a>,\u00a0Giancarlo Stanton<\/a>, and\u00a0Gerrit Cole<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis structure allowed the Dodgers to acquire a star player while satisfying Mookie and his agent\u2019s desire to be seen as a top-two player. In Boston, we had tried to re-sign Betts, but our self-imposed $300MM limit wasn\u2019t enough to meet this desire. A similar deferral structure to the Dodgers\u2019 deal might have changed the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the Red Sox and Betts couldn\u2019t come to an agreement, Boston opted to trade him to the Dodgers before the 2020 season. At the time, he was a rental player entering the final year of his contract but the Dodgers persuaded him to stay for 12 more years.<\/p>\n

Betts holds no grudges against the Red Sox. He fondly recalls his time in Boston, but during an appearance on the All the Smoke podcast, he described joining the Dodgers as \u201cthe best thing that\u2019s ever happened\u201d to him.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cPeople think I hate it. People think I didn\u2019t want to be there and that was all a facade,\u201d Betts said. \u201cLike, it\u2019s still business. Business is business. You have to be able to separate business from personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, being personal and my personal relationship with Boston, as I said, I loved it, absolutely loved it. I still talk to front office people there and to AC (Alex Cora). I loved it. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I absolutely love where I\u2019m at now. I love\u00a0Dave Roberts<\/a>, being a Dodger, and being a Dodger has probably been the best thing that\u2019s ever happened to my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Dodgers have sparked a debate amongst baseball executives with their usage of deferrals. Is it fair or not? Zack Scott, former acting general manager… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Red Sox Exec: Mookie Betts Could Have Stayed if Boston Offered Deferrals Like Dodgers - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=23241\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Red Sox Exec: Mookie Betts Could Have Stayed if Boston Offered Deferrals Like Dodgers - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Los Angeles Dodgers have sparked a debate amongst baseball executives with their usage of deferrals. 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