MLB Players: Top 10 old faces in new places for 2020
How acquired: Dodgers traded Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong to Red Sox for Betts, David Price and cash on Feb. 10
Mookie Betts already made history before the 2020 season began, agreeing last month to a record $27 million contract to avoid arbitration with the Boston Red Sox.
Exactly one month after coming to that agreement, the Red Sox shipped the 2018 American League MVP along with former Cy Young winner David Price and cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Jake Verdugo and a couple of prospects in 21-year-old infielder Jeter Downs and 23-year-old catcher Connor Wong.
Betts can hit the open market this fall, so it’s a gamble by the Dodgers. But he followed up his MVP campaign with a very solid .295/.391/.524 slash line in 150 games in 2018, leading the majors with 135 runs scored while posting 40 doubles, 29 homers and 80 RBI in 706 plate appearances.
He’s already a four-time All-Star with a pair of top-three MVP finishes (he was second in the voting in 2016) and despite not having a stellar 2018 postseason, already has won a World Series ring.
Betts also has four Gold Gloves in five full seasons, so if he’s not the total package, he’s awfully close to it. After leading the American League with 10.9 WAR in 2018, he slipped precipitously … to seventh at 6.8.
Just 27 years old, Betts will break the bank at some point in 2020. It’s just a question of whether it will be an extension from the Dodgers sooner or a free agent bonanza from someone later.