Red Sox trading Mookie Betts is worse than Patriots losing Tom Brady

The case for Betts

The part that stings the most about the Betts trade is how it unraveled in the worst possible way. No franchise wants to part with a generational talent but in some circumstances it’s unavoidable. If the team is forced to watch their superstar walk away, a hefty trade package that sets the club up for future success can soften the blow.

Sadly, that wasn’t a priority for the Red Sox. It’s defensible if the front office truly was convinced that Betts was going to leave in free agency. Ownership has tried to spin the narrative by leaking information about Betts turning down a lucrative offer while demanding north of $400 million. I’m not buying the idea that any team will give him a contract in that ballpark and it’s foolish to think the Red Sox had to trade him because it will take that outlandish price tag to re-sign him.

While they may have been willing to offer Betts $300 million at the age of 26, if they aren’t prepared to approach that salary when he hits free agency at 28 then trading him was a better alternative than losing him for nothing.

Even if a trade was inevitable, the Red Sox still failed by turning it into a shameless salary dump. They used one of baseball’s best players as a pawn to dump the bloated contract of David Price – scratch that, they actually only shed half of Price’s salary, with the remainder clogging their payroll for the next three years while he pitches in Dodger blue.

Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong are appealing assets who might turn out to be solid major league players one day but it feels as though the Red Sox should have received more for Betts. They almost certainly would have if they hadn’t insisted on dumping the Price contract.

Betts is undoubtedly one of the top five position players in baseball and arguably would have entered the conversation for the best in Red Sox history had he stayed in Boston. He should have at least a handful of seasons remaining as an MVP-caliber superstar and could have remained a key cog in the Red Sox lineup for another decade.

Knowing that won’t happen because the multi-billionaire owners wanted to save a few bucks leaves a sickening feeling in the stomachs of Red Sox fans.

The case for Brady

It’s possible that Brady has meant more to the Patriots than any player has meant to their franchise in any sport. A relatively unknown sixth-round pick served as the backup for a highly-paid star quarterback until fate intervened, vaulting Brady into the driver’s seat where he told the ultimate underdog story on his way to emerging as a hero.

Brady led the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances in his 19 years as the starting quarterback, winning six championships. He turned New England into a perennial division-winner that failed to make the playoffs only twice under his guidance – with one of those missed opportunities coming in 2008 when a severe knee injury limited Brady to only one game.

A collection of rings that won’t fit on one hand, the impressive statistical resume and the unmatched competitive drive to win. Those traits have made Brady the greatest quarterback of all time.

Despite his advanced age, the Patriots were still viewed as a contender as long as they had the GOAT. They won their most recent championship with Brady on the wrong side of 40. While last season ended in a disappointing exit in Wild Card weekend, New England was still a playoff team. The feeling was that by restocking the weapons around him, Brady had enough left in the tank to bring his team back to the promised land one more time.

I’m not sure we can say the same for Betts. That’s not his fault considering a quarterback is more vital to his team’s success than any individual baseball player. Still, the Red Sox fell well short of their playoff aspirations with Betts last year and the outlook was gloomy for 2020 even before they traded their best player.

The Red Sox have a strong young core to build around and the financial freedom they created should allow them to retool quickly. They may not appear to be a contender now but that should change in the near future.

The Patriots are at more of a crossroads with no clear replacement at the most important position in football. Unless they can find a veteran quarterback who is adequate enough to allow New England’s elite defense to carry them back to glory (those options are rapidly dwindling), the Patriots will be forced to tear it down and rebuild through the draft. This is the end of an era.

At least the Red Sox got some young players and financial flexibility by trading Betts. All the Patriots are left with is $13.5 million in dead cap space.

Part of what makes Brady’s departure so painful is that we still don’t know where he will end up. Perhaps he’s not even sure where he’ll sign, he just knows he doesn’t want to stay here. This isn’t a Ray Bourque situation either. We aren’t watching a beloved icon leave the shambles of a rebuilding team in order to see him get the chance to win at the end of his career. The Patriots would be a contender if Brady stayed. Are we sure that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Los Angeles Chargers will be if the lands there?

What hurts the most

There’s no denying that Brady has had the more accomplished career. He’s the GOAT and nobody can compare to what he’s meant to the Patriots over the last two decades.

I still believe that it hurts more to lose Betts. Perhaps not from an emotional standpoint but as far as the ramifications this will have on the team’s future, the Mookie trade is the worst thing that has happened to a Boston franchise this year.

It boils down to where they are in their respective careers. Betts is a 27-year-old in his prime while Brady turns 43 before the start of the next NFL season. Brady plans to play until he’s 45 but the end is near for the former Patriots QB. At best, we could have held on to Brady for a few more years as his skills inevitably eroded. Father Time remains undefeated for a reason. The Red Sox could have locked up Betts for at least a decade with the majority of that span falling during the peak of his career.

The future of the Patriots is uncertain but they still have the greatest mind in football as their architect. We should assume Bill Belichick has a plan because he always does. In Bill we trust. The Red Sox front office doesn’t generate the same level of blind trust. Belichick will always do what he believes is best for the team but Boston’s brass has proven they favor their wallets.

Brady said it best in his social media message – forever a Patriot. It’s how he’ll always be remembered, regardless of where he ends his career. Betts may one day be enshrined in Cooperstown but it’s far from certain that he’ll be wearing a Red Sox cap. His legacy has yet to be defined.

It’s unbearably painful for a city to lose a superstar of this caliber. Losing two of them in the span of a couple of months is a cruel twist of fate. Brady might be the most popular icon in Boston sports history and he’ll undoubtedly be missed. Losing him and the dynasty he created over a 20 year period is more traumatic but trading away Betts does more damage to the franchise. If you had to pick between the two, give me the five-tool player in his prime over the quarterback in his 40’s trying pry his window open a little longer.