4:05pm: The Boston org has wrapped up deals with all of its dozen arb-eligible players, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). We’ve covered several other players elsewhere. Notably, shortstop Xander Bogaerts ($12MM) and outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. ($8.55MM) have agreed to big salaries.
11:20am: The Red Sox and American League MVP Mookie Betts have settled on a one-year deal worth $20MM, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The salary figure is a record for a player in his second year of arbitration eligibility. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Betts could earn an additional $400K via awards (Twitter link). Betts, who will remain under team control through 2020, had been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $18.7MM.
Fresh off a historic 2018 campaign in which he slashed an otherworldly .346/.438/.640 en route to a World Series title, Betts earned himself a $9.5MM raise from his previous salary. His record-setting deal will establish the new standard for players with four-plus years of MLB service time. In fact, notes Jeff Passan of ESPN, Betts’s new contract has been exceeded only by players in their fourth year of arbitration by virtue of the Super Two rule.
Furthermore, this development could be notable for the Red Sox in that the team failed to reach an agreement with their superstar outfielder last winter, leading to an arbitration hearing to determine his salary. It is possible that this settlement could signify an increased willingness to discuss a potential contract extension, for which it appears talks have yet to substantially progress, in the future. However, should the two sides fail to agree to a multi-year extension next offseason–Betts’s last arbitration-eligible season before reaching free agency–the three-time All-Star could command an astronomical salary in his final year of team control; at the very least, Betts appears poised to eclipse–if not shatter–the $23MM record set by Josh Donaldson one year ago, which currently marks the highest one-year arbitration salary ever.
Damn son
Red Sox taking care of the homegrown talent. Wow.
I KNOW RIGHT hopefully a turned over leaf now that dombrowski makes the decisions. I’m excited
He was the best player in the game last season. As a Yankee fan I hope that was a career year and not a trend
Ha ha
He arguably had a better year in 2016, so I think it is safe to say it is a trend and not a one off career year.
Two does not make a trend
We could say about Sanchez n Judge is a a too!!!
Yeah but it’s not just two years it’s ever since he came up he’s been unbelievable
2016 he had an OPS+ 133. 186 in 2018.
No, it’s not arguable that 2016 was better. In 2018 his OPS and OPS+ was significantly higher.
Tony Mazz – Mookie signs contract with the team! No more egg shells! BLUUUUUUUH
Good start! Now get to work on an extension for him. As of now, he and Trout are BOTH due to hit the open after 2020. I can’t imagine the numbers they might get….
He won’t do it and has said so all along.
I know. He’s come too far to sign an extension now. Plus the Red Sox messed around with him in arbitration in the past. But everyone has a price……
I was the first to announce the Betts signing if you look under the swihart comments you’ll see I broke the news there.. also Betts will not sign a contract extension past this year. Legacy agency has informed Red Sox he will play out arbitration process yearly and then test FA Market.. it was actually a relatively quick and easy process Red Sox asked Legacy what would it take to sign Betts for this year..they were told it must be higher than Trout’s contract at this point in arbitration … Redsox agreed that was fair and number was agreed to over the course of a few days
Do you want a cookie?
+1
Nope.. the difference between you and me is I read this to see if they’re talking about the stuff I already know. with you it’s just the opposite..
Does your hat still fit?
Okay so tell us something we all don’t know and you do. Give us a scoop.
Glad you feel special
Not sure if you’re aware but everyone comes here to find out what’s going on in the baseball world. That’s literally the purpose of this site. If you have a personal connection to the GMs and Agencies to give you information then that’s great, good for you, but I really don’t see the need to try and belittle other users.
If he had some special connection he would have writers creds, be writing for one of the sites, and a Twitter account where he “broke” this type of news. He is on here just like us so he is just a fan.
So then why weren’t you smart enough to start a website
Who cares that you announced it in another comment section? No one but you cares. Just because you saw a tweet and were able to comment before the site writers could post story is meaningless.
If you have the kind of inside information you are claiming here, why not become a writer instead of a troll???
You ladies meet for lunch?
So just because I knew about that deal beforehand I would have give up my career..get a Twitter account and become a sportswriter or it doesn’t count.. Morons..
None of you have a friend in a business that ever told you information before it was announced? It doesn’t mean you need to go work in that business…
I’ve never read such a bunch of nonsense from people that all sound like Middle School girls.. it’s Sports if you’re not here to read about rumors or hear people discuss it WTF did you come for…
Alright guys, stop. You’re hurting his feelings. He’s starting to throw a tantrum.
If the current trend of free agency keeps going they’ll get a 3 year 30 million dollar contract and a lifetime Baskin Robbins membership card respectively.
???
I get u how do they make less as free agents but arb players are getting more all the time. market makes no sense. plus now guys will get so much only 3 or 4 teams can afford them. pretty sad when baseball gets killed by greed.
By the time MOST players become FA’s they’re either in the beginning of the middle of their prime or starting the end of their prime. MOST organizations are STARTING to wise up & not pay as much of an exorbitant amount for the declining years of a player’s career as they have in the past. The arbitration guys, teams are more willing to pay higher prices for what is expected to be the BEST years of a player’s career.
Ouch… Matt Swartz is off again.
Mookie is only under team control through 2020. He’s not a Super 2, so this is his second of three arb years and then he’s a free agent after 2020. That’s a big part of why the Sox are looking stingy this winter: Xander, Sale, and an opt out for JD at the end of this year then Mookie and JBJ the following year. They’ve got an incredible amount of bills coming due if they want to keep this core together.
They can’t/won’t keep this core together after 2019. They still have to pay Price a ton. Then they still have dead money owed to the likes of Pedroia and Rusney Castillo. They will have to reset the luxury tax over the next couple years, too, so I would guess Bogaerts, JDM l(and maybe even Sale) are gone after 2019. Betts would seem the be the one they try the hardest to keep. But we will see.
Castillo doesn’t count against the major league roster; he’s owed money yes, but the Red Sox care about resetting the luxury tax more than just raw dollars – they have plenty of money. Castillo has never been called up for this reason; they don’t want his salary on the major-league roster.
True. But he’s part of the overall budget. He’s also why Ben Cherington won’t get a GM gig again.
Do you think Hanley and Sandoval might also be a reason? Forget GM, the real question is how Cherington still has any job in baseball
I’m not forgetting about Hanley or Panda at all. Ugggh! Cherington did pretty well initially, but he went downhill after that twice as fast….
Panda and Hanley were Lucchino signings. It’s like blaming Dipoto for when Moreno handed out the Pujols contract.
Castillo money doesn’t count towards luxury tax..He’s not on the 40 man.. that’s all they care about.
I agree that they won’t keep everyone together. It’s just a question of who they’ll prioritize, and Betts will certainly be first on the list. I’d guess that Xander will be #2 for his all around game. The safest bet for not getting a mega-deal has got to be Sale, who just doesn’t seem durable enough. Shame, it’s a blast to watch him pitch, but it just wouldn’t make any sense to pay him for past performance when he ended 2018 the way he did. Too big a risk.
What? Do yourself a favor and look at what they have coming off the books after this year.. The Red Sox will 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000% keep at least 2 of Bogaerts, Sale, and Martinez. and possibly all 3 of them. They have a ton of $ coming off the books this year alone!
They’ll be a very interesting team to watch over the next couple of seasons. They have no farm at all and almost the entire core can leave in the next couple of years. It might be smart for this season to be the last time to go all in with this roster and if they’re not the clear favorites by the all star break, they might need to sell off.
I know that’s not really DD’s style, and it would be an incredibly hard decision, but I don’t think they can risk losing all of that star power for nothing with such an uncertain future.
Agreed! As of now, they risk losing Bogaerts, Sale, Porcello and JDM for some 4th round picks. They might be better off flipping some of these assets during the season instead.
As for the farm system, who knows how it will look in a couple years? I’m sure guys will emerge along the way. They do have some decent pitching talent on the way for sure.
farm system. lol it’s the red Sox.
Their farm system is the rest of MLB
Odd, the core of this team is Vazquez, Pedroia, Bogaerts, Devers, Benintendi, Bradley, Betts who all came through the farm. They also traded top prospects to add Sale, Kimbrel, Pomeranz. Farm is only not a strength bc they used it to win in 2018, smart.
All in for 2019 unless riddled with injuries that eliminate them by midseason. They have choices but Betts is priority 1, Benintendi 2, 2 of 3 of JBJ, Bogaerts, Devers and that core 4 keeps them competitive for years. Farm isnt barren as Chavis, Dalbec, Hernandez, Feltman, Mata and others can contribute. Organization will be fine and dont need to keep Kimbrel, Sale, Porcello, JD as long as they keep their core and use that money to build around it.
They have a ton of money coming off the books as well! Moreland, Pearce, Porcello, Sandoval, Nunez, Holt, etc. Hell those names right there are enough $ to sign Bogaerts and Sale to extensions.
1B will be an interesting situation once the current platoon is gone for 2020. I can see them going minimum wage with Dalbec, Chavis, or less likely Ockimey, or pre-arb with Devers if he has to be moved, or full bore bankroll with Goldschmidt in free agency after his one-year stint in STL if they’re saving in other areas.. I’m really looking forward to the shake-up and DD having the chance to get into some free-wheeling roster construction.
I’m glad someone caught this It’s a pretty important point–Betts is controlled only through 2020.
Betts is also a better player than Harper right now?
yes, yes he is
He was better in 2018. They’re the same age, so Betts will hit FA two years older than Harper is hitting free agency. Betts relies on speed more than Harper does, and speed doesn’t age as well as power or plate discipline, but I would expect them to be roughly as good over the next three or four seasons. But it’s not hard to argue that the best players in baseball right now are Trout and then Betts, with Harper probably in the top five or maybe a bit lower than that, and some combination of Machado, Bregman, I suppose if you want to throw older players and pitchers in there you’d add Scherzer and deGrom. STill, Harper is up there but not Trout/Betts level right now.
If you’re going on stats, Harper is top 5. If you’re going on potential, then he’s there.
You’re on point..
Stanton is, was and will be a better player than Harper too.
How so? He’s pretty 1 demensional.
Hahaha that’s a joke. Harper is overrated but Stanton hits homeruns
Wow nice salary!
Offer him $350 million for 10 years. If he refuses, then you know he wants out. Trade him while you can. And I’m a diehard Red Sox fan
Agreed. Sox have a lot of proven pieces to push someone over the top for prospects. Selling at the deadline could be a big blessing in disguise…
Prediction: Betts becomes a free agent and signs with the Yankees. Feel free to copy and paste this comment.
He can buy a lot of pizza for the homeless now. Great to see performance base payment.
Nice. Well deserved
The Yanks burried this story pretty quickly!
That’s gotta sting….. DJ is bigger news than Betts. Ouch!
In a lot of ways the dj news is bigger. Everybody knew Betts would be back the only news is for how much and the method. Yanks added a whole new really good player that we didnt know where would land.
True DJ was unknown but trying to compare a guy signed as a super utility to the leagues MVP for any reason is just laughable.
Will the Red Sox ever extend their homegrown all-stars?
Pedroia? But that isn’t working out too well at the moment. Otherwise struggling to think of any recent players. No on Lester and Ellsbury.
Maybe after the Sandoval contract is all done and over with….
Takes 2 to tango and players and agents in general arent willing to do that. Sox have made offers to several players that werent accepted from Arn Tellem turning down $15 M a year for Nomar to Betts saying he’ll wait things out.How many early extensions do you see on any team? They are the rare exception.
Nice work Mookie.
Gotta love the Sox haters…..they’ve got some interesting salary questions coming up, so they should trade Mookie Betts…..ya, sure……..
Yes, the have those questions, and little on the farm. So what? They’ll respond, usually fairly intelligently. I don’t think you’ll see any “tanking” in the Red Sox future…..
The names may change, but 650M in revenues, a willingness to spend the highest portion of those revenues in MLB on the roster, and a pretty shrewd bunch sitting in the FO keeps them competitive….
Can they negotiate a long term deal?
A well deserved jay raise though
Goodbye Kimbrel unless Porcello gets moved.
Good, dont overpay for a bullpen when you have put big money in a rotation.
These guys love playing together, than they should make a pact together long term. Patriots have been known to take pay cuts just to keep people around. But obviously player deserve to get more $
Without JD, Betts doesn’t get those numbers. JD is the real MVP.
JD helped no question but having a .268 babip in 2017 was more a problem of bad luck. You can not overlook this in 2017 he hit in such bad luck which reversed in 2018 JD helped some but so did luck both ways.
Bruin012 – babip explains part of his up-turn. As a numbers guy, I still believe allot of it had to do with batting behind two .400 OBP guys early in the season. Sometimes luck reflected in babip is ‘created’ by stress caused by the hitters in front of you. Betts and Benny create allot of stress on the pitcher, the fielders and the catcher. That’s why I like JD in the 3 hole. Having three .400 OBP guys at the top of the order helps the 4 and 5 holes produce more runs. A key to repeating will be the OBP of the other 6 hitters. I don’t expect to have as much good fortune by those hitters as we did last year but I think improved hitting from JBJ for the entire season, Peddy being healthy and Bogaerts not regressing will make this another excellent offensive year. Heck, maybe Devers will start showing the promise you taught that he has!! Good depth and hopefully no serious injuries could allow us to continue our reign of the division.
JD was a great pick-up and I’m hoping DD comes up with a comparable big impact move in the coming weeks. Not necessarily expensive, just impactful like JD, Pearce and Eovaldi last year.
JD had obvious impact but Betts hit HRs leading off not batting in front of JD. Betts runs bases exceptionally well and stole all those bases putting himself in better scoring position. Betts plays elite defense in not only RF but also covers CF and even jumped in at 2B in a pinch. JD didnt impact the season anywhere near as much as Betts for those reasons.
How so? How many who played with JD “get numbers?”
Betts worth every penny of it. JBJ… idk lol
JBJ is a gold glove defender with a streaky bat. He hits the ball hard consistently, I’d say he’ll be worth it.
mookie’s gold necklace about to double in size. well deserved
Credit the Sox Owners who appear willing to spend outside revenue and use their money to cover the Luxury Tax when they could be pocketing ‘the green.’
This will be a year to see what Fenway can expect from MILB players Houck and Groome. If they show growth perhaps the Sox may show a willingness to part with Porcello and Sale for some prospects.
This is a big year for Devers. Dalbec and Chavis have potential big bats that could play 3 B and 1 B. Devers needs to show a better glove and show some positional versatility.
Boston misses the playoffs this year. You heard it hear first