Mookie Betts and the Boston Red Sox couldn’t come to terms on a contract for the 2017 season. That isn’t as bad as it sounds, but it’s also certainly something worth monitoring.
The Red Sox on Thursday announced they had agreed to terms with 18 players on one-year contracts. That group is comprised of young players with less than three years of MLB service time, meaning they aren’t eligible for arbitration.
The Red Sox typically like to negotiate with these players to find a fair contract above the major league minimum, but if the sides can’t come to an agreement, the club has the option of just renewing the contract and dictating the player’s salary for the upcoming season.
The Providence Journal’s Tim Britton had a thorough breakdown of the process prior to the 2016 campaign, and it’s definitely worth a read.
The Red Sox have had success with agreeing to terms in these situations, and again, 18 players did so. Among that group are players such as Andrew Benintendi, Eduardo Rodriguez, Carson Smith, Christian Vazquez, Blake Swihart and Steven Wright.
Betts, however, isn’t on the list.
The star outfielder isn’t going anywhere, though, as he’s still under team control. Instead, the Red Sox will “renew” Betts’ contract for the 2017Â season, and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters Thursday the final figure is “significantly” above the major league minimum ($535,000) … apparently just not “significant” enough for Betts.
According to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, Boston will pay Betts $950,000 — a pretty large figure for a player in his situation.
“That was his choice, and we just couldn’t come up with a number that he thought was the right number for him,” Dombrowski said, admitting he was “a little bit” surprised about Betts’ decision. “It was significantly above the minimum. We didn’t feel like there were any animosities involved. He just had a different number in mind than we had, so we just couldn’t come to an agreement.”
It’s easy to see where both sides are coming from in an instance like this. If it weren’t for Mike Trout, Betts would be the reigning American League MVP. He’s one of the best players in the baseball. From the club’s perspective, however, the rules are the rules, and they were collectively bargained by both the owners and the players union.
How or if this affects future negotiations, only time will tell.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
