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Trading Price/Eovaldi, Keeping Betts should be on the wish list

ByBen Fadden|
BOSTON - APRIL 5: Helena Akhtar, left, and Gabrielle Onofrio carry cutouts of Mookie Betts and David Price while promoting ALT 92.9 radio outside Fenway Park before the start of the game. The Boston Red Sox host the Tampa Bay Rays in their home opener for the 2018 MLB season at Fenway Park in Boston on April 5, 2018. (Photo by Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
BOSTON - APRIL 5: Helena Akhtar, left, and Gabrielle Onofrio carry cutouts of Mookie Betts and David Price while promoting ALT 92.9 radio outside Fenway Park before the start of the game. The Boston Red Sox host the Tampa Bay Rays in their home opener for the 2018 MLB season at Fenway Park in Boston on April 5, 2018. (Photo by Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
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Don’t trade Mookie Betts

Yes, Red Sox fans. Your team’s Christmas wish list should include not trading Mookie Betts. While many people around the game immediately go to Mookie Betts when the club talks about lowering their payroll, they should do the exact opposite.

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Betts is one of the best players in all of the game, and he is on the level just below Mike Trout. He nearly hit .300 in 2019 with 29 home runs and it was considered a down year for him.

I don’t think people that bring up Betts’ name in trade talks really think about what would happen if he was moved.

  1. They would immediately become non-contenders
  2. The fan base would not believe in the team in 2020
  3. There would be no chance that Betts signs back with the club in Free Agency

If Betts is moved, then that messes with the entire flow of the team. Betts is their leadoff hitter and if he was moved then they would also have another hole in the outfield. Yes, J.D. Martinez can play the outfield but he is not a Gold Glove right fielder like Betts is.

If Betts was moved, imagine how the fan base would feel towards Chaim Bloom. If his first major move was to move the 2018 AL MVP, it would totally turn the fans away, not to mention how the clubhouse would feel.

It is already bad enough for Red Sox fans that Gerrit Cole walked into Yankee Stadium and signed his name on a contract worth $324 million to be their ace.

And finally, there would be zero chance in my mind that Betts would come back in free agency. I know that he is not interested in an extension because he wants to go get his money in the open market, but if they traded him then it would tell Betts that he is not wanted in Boston.

In free agency, usually, the player gives the team he is leaving the last call when they are about to sign a deal and I don’t see why Betts wouldn’t do the same with the Red Sox–if they keep him.

If I were the Red Sox, I would go into the season with Mookie Betts and see where I am near the deadline in terms of if they are contending and then if not you could get a team that is desperate to get him like the Los Angeles Dodgers were for Manny Machado in 2018.

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