Boston Red Sox: Exploring how great Mookie Betts has been in his career

It’s no secret that Mookie Betts is a talented baseball player, but exactly how great was he during his time with the Red Sox?

The trade sending Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers is all but complete. Although the Red Sox reportedly balked at Brusdar Graterol‘s medical report, this won’t cause the entire deal to fall apart, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. At most, there might be a change in which prospect the Red Sox receive or how much of Price’s contract they agree to eat. At the end of the day, our boys are headed to La La Land.

While I mean no disrespect to David “Should-Have-Been-The-2018-World-Series-MVP” Price, Betts is the headliner in this deal and his loss is a gut punch to the roster and the fan base. Betts is who we’re here to talk about today.

Now whether you think the Red Sox were right or wrong to deal Betts due to looming free agency, we can all agree that Markus Lynn Betts is a ballplayer – and ballplayers get paid. Nine of the 10 largest contracts in pro sports are MLB players.

A lot of people were upset when Betts turned down the Red Sox’ 10-year, $300 million offer and in return requested $420 million over 12 years. People said he didn’t deserve that kind of money because he wasn’t Mike Trout. They called him greedy for not just simply taking that much money. I wish I could get $300 million to play baseball – I’d even settle for a whole lot less, many of us would. But if you could get $400 million to play, would you settle for $300 million? Mookie wants what Mookie’s worth.

Dollars and cents aside, Betts is a generational talent. He’s the best home-grown player the Red Sox have developed since Carl Yastrzemski. He’s the best player in the game today not named Mike Trout.

Bett’s time with the Red Sox was special. 2015 was his first full season as a starter, but he was slacking off that year and only finished 19th in MVP voting. Since then he’s been an All-Star and won a Gold Glove every year. In three of the last four seasons he earned a Silver Slugger award. His best year came in 2018 when he won the MVP award while propelling the Red Sox to a franchise best 108-win season and a World Series title.

Let’s take a look at the greatness that is Mookie Betts by the numbers:

The full list of player who have accumulated more Wins Above Replacement (WAR) than Betts since 2015 is as follows:

1. Mike Trout

That’s it. That’s the list.

Critics of Betts will say he’s inconsistent, that he isn’t great from year-to-year. Just because he can’t re-create his MVP winning 2018 season every year doesn’t mean he’s not consistent. There’s only one guy in the game today doing it more consistently.

Now about that 2018 season.  There’s only a handful of players who put together a season with a higher WAR than Betts in 2018: Babe Ruth, Carl Yastrzemski, Rogers Hornsby, Barry Bonds, Lou Gehrig, Cal Ripken Jr., Honus Wagner, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Joe Morgan.

Talk about a Murderer’s Row. Some of the best to ever play the game. All enshrined in Cooperstown, except for Bonds, due to his PED-ties (although he still has two more years on the ballot and is gaining votes every year). Notice anyone not included on the list above? No active players, including Trout, have amassed a single higher WAR season than Betts’ 2018.

So Mookie had one great season, how does his career thus far stack up among active players?

Since 2015 Betts ranks:

• Runs: 1st
• Hits: 3rd
• Doubles: 1st
• Extra Base Hits: 1st
• Wins Above Replacement (WAR): 2nd
• Offensive WAR: 3rd
• Defensive WAR: 5th (oh, did I mention he’s a wizard in the field, too?)
• Stolen Bases: 5th (and a demon on the base paths!)

I could quote a million stats to show you that Betts is the full package, but anyone who has two eyes and a heart can see that Mookie is a one of a kind player. The kind of player you build a team around. The type that commands a big pay day in free agency, because every team in the league would love to have him.

He will be sorely missed in Boston’s lineup and in the hearts of Sox Nation. Thanks for the memories, Mookie.