By John Pullano, Managing Editor
Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. Boston Red Sox fans have had a Mookie Betts-sized hole carved into their hearts over the past week that only the 2018 MVP and four-time All-Star can fill.
Late Tuesday, the Red Sox elected to trade Betts and former Cy Young winner David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers, in exchange for center fielder Alex Verdugo from the Dodgers and pitcher Brusdar Graterol from the Minnesota Twins.
As the season approached, it was Red Sox owner John Henry who was hoping to get under the luxury tax for the upcoming season. The only way that was going to happen was to rid the team of its homegrown superstar Mookie Betts. They did just that.
Now, as a lifelong Red Sox fan, I am doing my best to, “not cry because it is over, but to smile because it happened.”
But not this time.
What the Red Sox did was a hollow act. A middle finger to the herds of Red Sox fans around the country.
The Red Sox are the third most valuable franchise in the MLB, with a current value of $3.2 billion, trailing only the Dodgers and New York Yankees. The team’s owner, Henry, has a net worth of $2.7 billion, but insists on trading Betts in order to cut costs.
This move, to me and many other Red Sox fans, is unjustifiable.
To wonder if Betts was worth the money: In five full seasons Betts has been a four-time all-star, a four-time gold glove winner, a three-time silver slugger and won the batting title in 2018. In 2018, Betts had the second greatest season WAR in Red Sox history, only behind Carl Yastrzemski’s 1967 Triple-Crown season.
So, to answer my question, yes.
Coming off of a failure of a title-defense season in which Boston won a measly 84 games that ended in a winter investigation into sign-stealing during the 2018 playoffs, the Red Sox organization owed the resigning of Betts to its fans.
The Red Sox front office made a mistake by prematurely signing the likes of Chris Sale and Price following the 2018 world series to a combined $241 million over the next four seasons.
A mistake like that boils down to the competence of the ownership group and influenced by the zeal of a world series championship the team made a mistake and needed to pay for it. But instead they chose to rid the organization of its transcendent talent and take their money mistakes out on the fans.
Assuming the Red Sox are done making acquisitions this off-season, they will begin the 2020 season worse than their 2019 campaign. Now, the Red Sox are in a rebuild just two years removed for a World Series title.
So, instead of smiling because it happened, I will instead be angry because it should have never been over.
pullanjj18@bonaventure.edu
