Let's not make any bones about this: The Red Sox got fleeced in the Mookie Betts trade.
In exchange for one of baseball's most exciting players -- an outfielder who also has played 59 solid games in the infield and hits .300 with 40-plus home run power -- the Dodgers gave up Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong to the Red Sox alongside Kenta Maeda and Jair Camargo to the Twins.
Though Verdugo has turned into a solid-enough everyday player for the Red Sox, Downs is no longer with the organization and Wong is still a big question mark with 2023 being his first year hitting 100 games.
Betts, meanwhile, signed a 12-year, $365 million contract with the Dodgers in July 2020, five months after the deal was done in February. He was scheduled to become a free agent after the 2020 season. Instead, the Dodgers locked the superstar up until 2032.
Betts was part of L.A.'s World Series-winning team in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and he has been nothing but productive since trading Boston's customary reds for the Dodgers' classic blues. He's hitting .279/.366/.542 as a Dodger and has 108 home runs, including 30-plus in each of the last two seasons.
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As Betts returns to Fenway Park for the first time since the trade, here's a look at what went into the deal for the Red Sox and how the Dodgers landed one of baseball's brightest stars.
Why did the Red Sox trade Mookie Betts?
In a word: money.
Betts and the Red Sox had agreed to a record-breaking $27 million arbitration contract ahead of the 2020 season, just as owner John Henry was looking to cut payroll.
Boston had been tops in the league in spending in 2018 and 2019, and won a World Series in 2018. It was no secret the Red Sox would have to pony up to keep Betts after the 2020 season, something Henry seemingly had no intention of doing.
That much was made clear when the Red Sox brought Chaim Bloom over as Chief Baseball Officer from the Rays, a team known for making something out of nothing while keeping payroll down. The Red Sox payroll is now 13th in MLB in 2023.
Reports about Bloom's role in the Betts trade are murky. ESPN reported during the Xander Bogaerts debacle this offseason that the Red Sox front office did not order a Betts trade, but that was the choice Bloom made.
"According to multiple sources, Boston's ownership group did not mandate that Bloom trade Betts to get under the luxury tax," the report said. "But that is what Bloom ultimately decided to do, with an eye toward increasing the Red Sox's options in the future. The team traded Betts and Price to Los Angeles for Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong. And Betts eventually signed a 12-year, $365 million contract with the Dodgers -- a deal he told ESPN in August that he would have accepted in Boston."
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Mookie Betts trade details
The Betts trade was a three-team affair that looped the Twins in to make it work.
- Dodgers get: OF Mookie Betts, P David Price, cash (from Red Sox) OF Luke Raley, P Brusdar Graterol, OF Luke Raley, 2020 Competitive Round B draft pick (turned into P Clayton Beeter) (from Twins)
- Red Sox get: OF Alex Verdugo, SS Jeter Downs, UTIL Connor Wong (from Dodgers)
- Twins get: P Kenta Maeda, C Jair Camargo, cash (from Dodgers)
The deal was officially processed as two two-team trades with the Dodgers as the fulcrum point, but it was effectively a three-team deal.
Mookie Betts contract
Following the trade, Betts signed a 12-year, $365 million contract on July 22, 2020. The deal was the richest in Dodgers history and is the second-richest by total money in MLB history. Only Mike Trout ($426.5 million) sits ahead of him. Aaron Judge and the Yankees agreed to a nine-year, $360 million contract last year, which while higher in AAV still doesn't catch up to Betts' total. Betts makes $30.42 million per year.
Rumors have swirled around the Red Sox's negotiations with Betts, including what they offered him. A popular number was $300 million for 10 years, a number brought about by Lou Merloni, a Boston radio staple and former Sox player. That would put his AAV at $30 million, at least comparable to the Dodgers' number. According to Betts, however, that offer didn't come about.
“That never happened,” he told The Boston Globe's Pete Abraham this week. “I know that’s out there and people say what they’ve got to say. But no, they didn’t do that. They didn’t.”
When Betts was asked about his comments Friday, he declined to expound further, per Mac Cerullo.
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Mookie Betts stats
Betts' career stats are the reason behind his Dodgers contract.
Here's a look at how he stacks up, both between his two teams and in career totals.
| Team | Seasons | BA | OBP | SLG% | HR | K% | BB% |
| Red Sox | 6 | .301 | .374 | .519 | 139 | 13% | 10% |
| Dodgers | 4 | .279 | .366 | .542 | 108 | 16% | 11% |
| Totals | 10 | .293 | .371 | .527 | 247 | 13.9% | 10.5% |
Betts has always seen Fenway as home, and this weekend will mark his first games there as a visitor. With the Red Sox he hit .319/.387/.544 in 394 games and 1,763 plate appearances, and 65 of his home runs came at the park.
In Dodger Stadium, for comparison, Betts hits .295/.379/.585 in 225 career games with 988 plate appearances. He has 63 homers in Dodger Stadium.
Ronald Acuña Jr. might be uncatchable in the MVP race in the NL, but Betts has surpassed him in fWAR for the year at 6.7, 0.4 points higher than Acuña's 6.3. He has a combined WAR of 19.9 since the 2020 trade. The players involved in the deal for the Red Sox sit at 8.2.
Betts' return to Fenway is sure to be interesting. But the most interesting part of all might be to see how the crowd reacts to one of baseball's premiere players. Betts doesn't seem to be concerned.
“My only plans this weekend are to enjoy the atmosphere and the fans and have that experience again,” he told Abraham. “I’ve missed it.”