The Mookie Betts saga in Boston has come to a conclusion after what has felt like an eternity. While many teams appeared hesitant to part with a large haul for the former MVP, who is due to become a free agent at the end of the 2020 season, the Mets appear confident in their ability to convince him to stay in New York as they parted ways with star pitcher Noah Syndergaard, last year’s first round pick 1B Bret Baty, shortstop prospect Andres Gimenez and Yoenis Cespedes who missed all of last season due to a wild boar attack. Take that, hollywood script punchers… and they say baseball isn’t truly art.
While Mookie Betts was winning an MVP a few years ago and anything but keeping him in Boston forever was unthinkable, the Mets had been boasting Syndergaard as a cornerstone of the franchise while selling yellow compression sleeves popularized by their slugging Cuban born outfielder Cespedes. How did we get here? Well it really comes down to financials in Boston, where the contracts under Dave Dombrowski simply piled too high in Boston. While there was a world series win snuck in to 2018 the penalties that have been and would be imposed by iMajor leaugue baseball upon the team for brutalizing the luxury tax threshold simply became too severe. With the draft and financial flexibility being the two most valued things by front offices in the modern game the Red Sox were not going to be able to give Betts what somebody will in order to keep him long term. Cespedes is making 29 million dollars in 2020 versus Betts 23, but the Red Sox will likely allow him to become a free agent while benefiting from the other parts of the trade for years to come.
The Mets were not done for the day as they quickly announced that they had also acquired Starling Marte from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jed Lowrie, who only got on the field for a handful of at bats after signing a 20 million dollar pact last season, infielder Luis Guillorme, young outfielder Brandon Nimmo and starting pitching prospect Thomas Szapucki will be heading to Pittsburgh. Many expected that the Mets would move for either Marte or Betts, once considered the two biggest names on the market (although that changes a bit now that Mike Trout and Bryce harper rumors have begun to surface), but the Mets decided they had enough to pull the trigger on both. Speculation is that Mookie Betts may have made a not so subtle suggestion to his new club in their brief conversations to keep going in their quest for adding talent. It certainly can’t hurt the Mets chances of resigning Betts to a long term deal, which is still very much the biggest factor in this deal, by putting more major league stars around him.
The Pirates can pat themselves on the back here. Szapucki is regarding around the league as about a year away from being a solid team controlled starter in the majors. Nimmo is enigmatic and will always be amongst the leaders in OBP, even though many question whether he is suited for corner spot rather than center field. Guillorme is ready to contibute at the major league level and exemplified that last season. Lowrie was simply a misfire, as the former Brodie Van Wagenen client was brought in to fortify the team’s depth but had a series of mystery ailments. His inclusion in the deal is mostly due to making things work financially for both clubs.