If you believe Mookie Betts, the narrative that Mookie was itching to leave Boston and was never offered $300 mm was false and very likely something that the Sox put out there to mollify fans and justify the trade.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/08/24/sports/mookie-betts-red-sox-trade/?event=event25
Until Betts made these comments, my view of the Betts' trade was negative but also nuanced. While there are no black and white rules, and there are always a multitude of factors that must be considered when evaluating any trade, my general rule of thumb is that the team that ends up with the best player, especially if that player is a generational talent, wins the trade. So I looked at this trade as a mistake, but comforted myself with the fact that they at least came up with Verdugo and Wong, and I bought that Mookie's heart was not in Boston and that his personality was not suited for the intensity of Boston. Not that he could not thrive in Boston. But that ultimately, he preferred to be elsewhere, and that the Sox were faced with a Hobson's Choice. And as painful as it was to trade Betts, it was a lot better than seeing him walk with no return, and the odds of him walking unless they overpaid him, perhaps by a wide margin, made the bitter pill one that it was at least defensible to swallow.
So when I read Mookie's comments, I'm left with two options. One is to believe him. The other is to think that he's masterfully playing the media and the fans, and having it both ways. He gets to be good with the Boston fans, and totally slam Henry and Bloom, and at the same time, be in LA and away from the Boston "heat."
I choose to believe him. I cannot know what was in his heart at the time. But I think he is telling the truth.
I say that because of my sense of him (from afar, for sure) and because I am not immune from the larger context. That is, that Henry brought in someone to run baseball operations whose mode of being was the antithesis of Dave Dombrowski's heavy spending approach, and who came out of an organization that somehow was able to win without spending like a big market team. And I have seen that Henry has been, in stark contrast to his prior years in ownership, almost shockingly out of the spotlight and not accountable in any sense to his fan base. Whether that's out of lack of interest in the Red Sox, in light of his soccer team and other interests or a genuinely held belief that the Dombowski approach is not sustainable over time, I will leave to others. But it's clear that JWH's approach is in line with not paying up, or even market value, for Mookie. Henry might have looked at the Yankees' deal with Ellsbury, for example, and felt like he had dodged a bullet. I can't find it now, but I distinctly recall Tom Werner predicting that the Mookie deal will look very differently over the latter half of its duration, and indeed that may prove true.
So I do believe Mookie, and in turn, my view of Henry and Bloom, has totally soured. Make no mistake, I have not been a Bloom fan for a while. I know he has made many strong moves. But I have an overall very negative evaluation of him, and have been truly surprised at the extent to which many on this site seem to support him. That discussion is not for now. I am only mentioning it because I am admitting my biases. When I say that I believe Mookie, and the fact that I do has changed my view of Henry and Bloom, it's important to be intellectually honest and admit that I was already very disappointed with their overall approach.
But now, it's different. Now, I can't defend that trade. Now, I view it as the single worst decision a Boston team has made in my lifetime. Now, I view it in the same general category of mouth vomit as bringing Pedro back for the 8th (not that I want to discuss that now, and not that I don't understand that others defend that move; and I know that an in game decision is different in kind than a personnel decision).
So I have some questions.
Do you also believe Mookie?
If not, why not?
If so, does it also change your view of Henry and Bloom? Do you also now view them much more negatively than you did before? Or does it turn your view more dramatically?
And what of the trade? Is your view of it impacted by Betts' comments?
While I admitted my negative view of Bloom overall, because I thought I needed to do so for the reason stated above, I don't intend for this thread to become a referendum on him. I intend it to be more about if and how your views have changed based on Mookie's comments.
If this conversation has been developed elsewhere, perhaps this thread is unnecessary and should be deleted. Hopefully, that is not the case.
