Dodgers Team News

Dodgers: Mookie Betts Says He Wouldn’t Take a Long-Term Deal With Anyone Else

The Dodgers were able to lock up Mookie Betts for 12 additional years today. The deal became official when President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and Mookie made an appearance at a press conference to announce it this afternoon. 

I love being here. I love just everything about being here. 



During the press conference, Mookie revealed that he would not want a long-term deal with anybody else. The Dodgers were apparently a spot that he preferred, proved by the fact that he had turned down a large extension from the Red Sox. 

I don’t know if I ever thought about 13 years. I do know that this is essentially what I’ve been doing my whole life and what I’ve been working towards my whole life. Obviously I gotta thank my parents for being there each and every summer game…I don’t think at any point did we imagine it would be 13 years. But I don’t think it’s very surprising either. Obviously it’s a long-term commitment but I wouldn’t want it with anybody else other than an organization like this.

The fact that the Dodgers were willing to commit 12 additional years to Mookie Betts should tell you everything you need to know about how they view him. Los Angeles has not been willing to commit to long-term deals like this in the past, even for superstars. The team offered Bryce Harper a massive contract, but it wasn’t nearly for the length that Mookie just got.

 

 

The fact that Mookie is equally committed to the Dodgers should also tell you everything that you need to know about him. Mookie previously had said that he was unwilling to talk extensions during the season, but it appears as though Los Angeles changed his mind. He is here to stay, let’s go get some rings. 

The Dodgers May Have Announced Their Opening Day 30-Man Roster Online

8 Comments

  1. Like a lot of other Dodger fans I have grumbled about Andrew Friedman over the past several years as promising target after promising target after promising target slipped away. But when he went big – even unsuccessfully – for Gerritt Cole, I began to understand what the plan was. And now that he has succeeded in reeling in Betts to go with a team that is stacked for at least the next half decade, I admit I was wrong.

    1. None of us were wrong it’s just that they’ve finally decided to spend on the generational talents

        1. Maybe 7 years of arrogantly thinking they did enough only to be proven wrong by mlb helped them decide. Who really knows

  2. I take back whatever I’ve said about Andrew Friedman being cheap. He waited for the right time and the right player. Mookie is special and will be a Dodger legend!

  3. I never understood the people screaming about not signing players to high year contracts. First the Dodgers are a Farm Team supplied system as Stan Kasten is running the team. Baseball is still about profit and running a business. Fans and sportswriters get stupid and don’t want to think about long term viability.
    Signing a pitcher is not smart long term for the Dodgers as they have young guys like Buehler & Urias with May, Gonsolin, Gray and others coming up.
    Harper is not IMHO a generational star as he has been a poor fielder and not hit for average. I believe they would have signed Machado but he failed the personality test and clubhouse test. Betts passed it with flying colors showing up at 5AM for workouts and establishing himself as a clubhouse leader within a week of joining the club. Plus Betts has won a WS and been on another winning Team with a winning culture.
    I see Betts and Trout as true generational stars and they are good signings. The rest like Harper and Machado not so much.
    Congrats on the Dodgers signing Betts and now I am curious what they decide to do with Turner.
    I am hoping they sign Turner to a 1 or 2 year deal. If the National league goes with a permanent DH, which I hope they do then Turner may be viable for a 3rd year.
    I am very impressed with Rios so far not so much for Lux.
    I believe Seager will have a HUGE year as will Urias. We shall see. Play Ball!
    Betts has won a Gold Glove and he with Bellinger and AJ Polllock & Pederson are the best defensive outfield in baseball and could be the best offensive one also. We shall see.

  4. He could have got way more… But he said all he wanted was fair value. Value for who he is and how he plays.That says a lot about him and in Mookie and Cody B we have two players that will go chin first on concrete if that is what is required.

    Now the big question; will Scott Boras drive Bellinger away from the Dodgers if he doesn’t get a bigger contract than Betts. I don’t know who represented Betts, but Betts ultimately decided that value was more important than just a lot of money!

  5. The “fair value” remark was a subtle jab at the Red Sox who lowballed him early in his career, basically paying league minimum for All Star performance and then their extension offer was intentionally low as well. It was only arbitration that raised his salary to “fair value.” The analysts misinterpreted his “”smirk” when he was asked about whether he would have accepted a similar amount (to the $365 M) from the Red Sox. He was not smirking in an “of course” sort of way. He was smirking because they poisoned the well and he was not going to take a “discount” to stay in Boston. For all the handwringing in Dodgerville when Rendon and Cole spurned the Blue, Betts clearly saw something he liked more that he wanted, rather than to head to free agency and maximize the dollars (not that $365M isn’t a very tidy sum).

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