Ex-Red Sox exec says team almost traded Mookie Betts in 2019

Red Sox

He also said the Red Sox extended Chris Sale in 2019 because he claimed the organization concluded that they couldn’t re-sign Betts.

A former Red Sox executive offered insight into events that led up to Boston’s decision to deal former homegrown star Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020.

One day after revealing on X that the Red Sox had an agreement in place to trade for Aroldis Chapman in 2015, Zack Scott also explained that Boston “nearly” dealt Betts to the Dodgers in July 2019.

Boston’s former vice president of baseball research and development (who eventually served as assistant general manager) said that the organization determined earlier that year that they were not going to be able to retain Betts when he was set to hit free agency in 2020.

“We made our best and final offer to Mookie in the spring of 2019,” Scott said in a reply to a user on X. “Once that door closed, we pivoted to other investments. In July 2019, we nearly traded Mookie to the Dodgers for a better return than what we’d ultimately get.”

The Red Sox eventually sent Betts and David Price to Los Angeles in February 2020 and received Alex Verdugo and then-prospects Connor Wong and Jeter Downs in return. Boston traded Verdugo to the Yankees on Dec. 5 last year and Downs played for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan in July. Wong is currently the Red Sox’ starting catcher.

Pitcher Brusdar Graterol was originally sent to Boston in the trade, but the Red Sox opted not to take him after conducting his physical.

Prior to the trade, Boston did settle with Betts in salary arbitration for $20 million in January 2019. The fact that both sides went to arbitration (and did the year before, when the Red Sox lost) was not a great sign for the Red Sox’ chances at retaining Betts, in hindsight.

Scott also shed light on Boston’s mindset shift regarding spending following its 2018 World Series championship victory.

“We decided in spring of 2019 that the Red Sox weren’t in the business of giving mega contracts,” he said. “Much like we decided years before that we weren’t in the business of investing large sums to pitchers in their 30s like (Jon) Lester. And then we changed our minds with Price 🤦‍♂️.”

On the topic of spending money on pitchers, Scott delved into the reason why the Red Sox opted to extend Chris Sale in 2019 despite his injury history. Scott said the club decided to give Sale a five-year, $145 million extension in March 2019. He explained that this only happened when Boston concluded that it wouldn’t be able to retain Betts.

“We only signed Sale once we knew we couldn’t sign Mookie,” Scott shared.

“We made our best and final [offer] to Mookie in spring 2019, and once it was clear it wasn’t happening, we almost immediately pivoted to Sale. I guess all that cash was burning a hole in someone’s pocket. 😆”