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Aside from the
general malaise that permeates Red Sox Nation this Winter, there is also a very
specific worry. It's looking more and more like Boston's only
true emerging superstar—
Mookie Betts—may not be a long-term
Carmine Hoser. Betts clearly does not want to sign a typical contract extension—looking instead for the riches he would rightly deserve in free agency. Thus, he and the team went through the arbitration process this year and Betts won—easily. Said Mookie of the future:
"I’m just going to focus on 2018. Seeing that side of it [arbitration] is pretty interesting. No hard feelings. I love these guys. Nothing changed." Frankly that's the problem—
nothing's changed.
John Henry has
got to step up and pay Mookie enough to convince him to sign long-term in Boston. He is our
Mike Trout. Our
Bryce Harper. Heck, down the road a bit, he could be the Red Sox version of
Willie Mays. We
need Betts in a Red Sox uniform for a very long time—
his entire career. Anything less would be a dereliction of duty on the part of this increasingly ineffective ownership group.
