Trout to Kiermaier: The richest signing of all 30 MLB teams
By Bill Felber
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers acquired outfielder Mookie Betts from Boston in a February 2020 trade when the Red Sox despaired of signing Betts— a 2021 free agent-to-be — to an extension.
Then they turned around and did what the Sox would not or could not do, signing Betts to a long-term extension. The cost: $365 million over 12 seasons. The contract runs through 2032.
On a roster studded with multi-millionaires, the Betts contract does stand out, but not by all that much. In fact based on AAV, the richest Dodger in 2022 never took the field. That honor goes to suspended pitcher Trevor Bauer, who signed a three-year, $102 million deal (that’s a $34 million AAV) in 2021 then made only 17 appearances before being sidelined thanks to an allegation of domestic abuse. The status of Bauer’s contract is presently in front of an arbitrator.
With or without Bauer, Betts does not lack for country club company. Freddie Freeman last season signed a six-year, $162 million contract. A few years back the Dodgers picked up David Price and what was left of the seven year, $217 million deal he had signed with Boston, a deal that finally expired at the conclusion of this season.
For the approximately $48 million Price actually cost the Dodgers, they got amazingly little out of him; just a 7-2 record in 114 innings of work encompassing 11 starts and 68 relief appearances.