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The Boston Red Sox Want AL MVP Mookie Betts For Life

By Manny Gómez |
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 26: Mookie Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox smiles in the dugout prior to Game Three of the 2018 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on October 26, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 26: Mookie Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox smiles in the dugout prior to Game Three of the 2018 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on October 26, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Mookie Betts is without a doubt the best player in MLB not named Mike Trout, and the Boston Red Sox know it. So much so that they want the star outfielder… for LIFE.

How many players in MLB have had the kind of career Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox already has? In just a little over four years of MLB experience, Betts already has a World Series ring, an MVP award, three Gold Glove awards, and two Silver Sluggers.

It’s rare to see an organization value it’s players, but Boston Red Sox know what they have in Betts. So much so that they gave him a brief record breaking year-to-year raise in arbitration of $9.5M, from $10.5M in 2018 to $20M in 2019.

What’s more, even though they rewarded Mookie’s phenomenal 2018 season without a fight, the Boston Red Sox have now made it very clear that they want Mookie Betts to be “a part of the Red Sox organization long term,” according to Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy.

The Red Sox love affair with Mookie Betts is reminiscent of the Los Angeles Lakers reverence for Magic Johnson.

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In 1981, after just two seasons under his belt, Magic Johnson signed a 25-year, $25M deal with the Lakers who wanted Magic to be a Laker for life. The deal was the idea of then Lakers owner Jerry Buss who went as far as to say, “Magic is a bright kid and I plan to make him my protege, teach him the business aspect of sports.”

This brings me to wonder… if the Red Sox want Mookie Betts for life, given the current climate of free agency in baseball, how would that look like?

For one, I think Jerry Buss and the Lakers may have given the Boston Red Sox a nice blueprint for how a relationship between a player and a team could work for life. Even though Magic’s contract was for $1M p/yr, Jerry Buss and Magic would “sign new deals with Los Angeles, to compensate for the years he wasn’t the highest paid player in the league,” according to SI.

You can begin by offering Mookie a 15-year deal at $25M p/yr. To incentivize Betts to sign the contract, you can offer him an opt-out clause every season, which allows the team an opportunity to adjust his salary in order to best reflect his value.

This can work because (A) it grants Mookie Betts the richest contract in MLB history. No player in baseball has ever been given a $375M deal. It can also work because (B) $25M for a player like Mookie Betts won’t hamper the Red Sox organization, who aren’t afraid to build championship caliber teams through free agency.

In fact, the Red Sox would essentially be underpaying for Mookie Betts in his first few years according to the FanGraphs Dollar stat, “which converts fWAR to a dollar scale based on what a player would make in free agency.”

Finally, as an added protection, in case Mookie Betts suffers a career-ending injury or decides to retire, the Red Sox can enter a clause into the contract that provides Mookie with two options:

  1. The Red Sox can buyout the rest of his contract at 75% (or whatever) of its value, or
  2. The rest of the contract is spread out until age 62, when players are able to tap into their pensions.

Next. Red Sox potential catching upgrades. dark

It’s a long shot, but seeing a marriage between an organization like the Boston Red Sox and a player like Mookie Betts would actually be quite refreshing.

What ideas do you have for a lifetime contract?

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