Mookie Betts Is Finally an Official Dodger

The blockbuster trade that was and then wasn't is finally a fait accompli.

Being real, it was also a foregone conclusion from the moment it was announced.

When names like Mookie Betts and David Price are announced in a deal between two big-brand baseball clubs, one way or another, it's gonna get done.

 

It's a bummer for Joc Pederson and the Angels, though. His sentiments on the about-face don't really mirror how Wilmer Flores felt when the Mets tried to say sayonara but failed.

Instead, dude's back into what was a crowded Dodger outfield that's even more so with Betts on the way.

His situation, though, remains dwarfed by the stir that just possibly the second-best player in MLB -- Pederson woulda joined the best -- is outta the mega-rich Red Sox organization over money, of all things.

 

For the record, here's where all the kings and pawns landed when all was done and dusted:

• Dodgers: Mookie Betts, David Price, cash from the Bosox), RHP Brusdar Graterol, OF Luke Raley, 2020 Competitive Round B draft pick from the Twins.
• Red Sox: Alex Verdugo, infielder Jeter Downs, catcher Connor Wong from the Dodgers.
• Twins: Kenta Maeda, catcher Jair Camargo, cash from dem Bums.

The conventional thinking is a bean-counter's dream:

 

So there it is.

The Bosox surely knew that with Mike Trout earning $430million over 12 seasons, the bidding for Betts is gonna start at a hella lotta more than $300million. They've even more surely been thinking about that well before Trout -- along with Manny Machado and new-town discounter Bryce Harper -- put ink to paper.

'Way down deep, they're also likely sharing the wet dream most big-payroll teams have: what's Tampa Bay do that we don't?

 

Besides creativity and hardcore scouting, that would be a 2019 playoff team that almost beat a buncha cheaters.

The irony, of course, is Boston finished behind the Rays after opting instead for the Houston way of doing things by hiring the now-disgraced Alex Cora to run the club.

As it is, they'll now have another shot at Betts next winter unless the Dodgers entice him to sign a contract before then. That's unlikely if dude's intent on testing the free-agent market, but LA could make a hell of an argument and back it up with a convoy of Brinks trucks.

 

For the most part, though, Red Sox Nation isn't buying it.

• They saw 2019 as an aberration after their 108-win campaign the year before, especially since most of the pieces in that club were still around; now a major one is not, and
• There's no guarantee that ownership is gonna plow their alleged savings back into the team; so far in this economy, that's not something 1%ers do. Tax cut that.

 

A legendary story in baseball lore approaches the same thing from a perennial doormat's point of view.

When future Hall-of-Famer Ralph Kiner went to Pirates' GM Branch Rickey -- yes, that Branch Rickey -- approached him for a raise after yet another great season, all he got in response was this:

We finished last with you,
and we can finish last without you.

 

Thanks to the Orioles and Blue Jays, the Red Sox won't be finishing last anytime soon.

But they've now served notice that as long as their tradition keeps the turnstiles whirring no matter where they finish, it doesn't really matter where they finish more years than not.