The Boston Red Sox were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday, becoming the second team in the last four years (joining the 2016 Kansas City Royals) to miss the postseason the year after winning the World Series.
Naturally, the focus has begun to shift to the future of superstar outfielder Mookie Betts.
The 2018 American League MVP will be a free agent after next season, and he has not shown much willingness to negotiate with the Red Sox on a potential extension.
In fact, Betts told Alex Speier of The Boston Globe that he does not feel the need to spend his entire career in one city in order to cement his legacy:
“It’s pretty cool that they have their career in one place, but you can be remembered in that same fashion even if you put on a couple different jerseys,” said Betts. “It definitely doesn’t hurt to only put on one jersey . . . [But the Yastrzemski celebration] doesn’t sway me [about the future] one way or the other.”
The Red Sox have already begun internal processes. They fired team president Dave Dombrowski, and there are rumors that the team will indeed listen to trade offers for Betts this winter as they consider a potential overhaul.
Despite a slow start to this season, Betts has still proven to be one of the best players in the game. Entering play on Sunday, Betts ranks ninth in fWAR and leads the majors with 132 runs scored. He has not had the same superlative season that he did in 2018, but Betts is nonetheless a generational talent and a spectacular defensive outfielder.
Boston had a massive payroll this season, and the club extended both Chris Sale and Xander Bogaerts on multi-year deals at the beginning of the 2019 season.
The Red Sox would certainly receive a haul in any potential deal for Betts, and they may have no choice but to trade him given his apparent reluctance to remain in Beantown.
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