#Mookie Betts closing in on mega contract extension with Dodgers

For a while, it appeared Mookie Betts might never play with the Dodgers. Now, it looks like he will spend the rest of his career in blue.

Betts and the Dodgers were closing in on a mega-deal that is expected to be for at least 10 years. A person with insight into the negotiations described the finalization of an extension as “quite real.” Lou Merloni of WEEI in Boston was the first to report that an extension was getting close.

Betts was due to be the biggest free agent in the coming offseason. But the disruption in play and revenue caused by the shutdown of the game due to the COVID-19 pandemic has cast doubt on how much teams would spend, especially with an expectation that attendance will be impacted next year due to lingering impacts of the virus and/or the financial hit taken by the nation.

Betts had turned down multiple forays by the Red Sox to sign him long term. Without an extension in place and with the desire to drop under the luxury tax threshold, Boston controversially traded its best player to Los Angeles in February in a maneuver that had fits and starts and ultimately included the Twins, but not the Angels, who dropped out of it. The Red Sox received Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong from the Dodgers.

And when the game was shut down with no promise of re-starting, the Dodgers looked as if they had given up future talent and that Betts might never play for them. Now, though, the season re-starts Thursday with the Dodgers hosting the Giants after the Yankees open the schedule in Washington against the Nationals. And Betts will be in right field, likely in possession of one of the largest contracts ever. A person briefed on the negotiations said not to expect Pat Mahomes money (which could max out at $503 million), but not to be shocked by Betts getting in the neighborhood.

The most money ever guaranteed in a baseball contract is the 12-year, $426.5 million extension that the Angels worked out with Mike Trout. Gerrit Cole’s $36 million average with the Yankees is the most ever. Betts, who won the 2018 AL MVP in helping the Red Sox capture the World Series that year, does not turn 28 until October and in the last four seasons has won a Gold Glove each year while never finishing worse than eighth in the MVP balloting.

The questions that hover on this potential deal:

1. Will it acknowledge the impact of COVID-19? Betts could be paid just straight out in a contract with no bells and whistles. But the Dodgers have led the NL in attendance each of the last seven years — winning the NL West in all of those seasons — and never falling below 3.7 million fans.

This season begins with no paying fans and there is expected to be a disruption next year. So could Betts’ contract have escalators that pay him different levels based on the Dodgers returning to their familiar heights — they have set franchise records for attendance each of the last two years, including 3,974,309 in 2019.

2. Is Betts a unique contract in this environment? The Dodgers are well positioned even in a troubled time to give out a large contract because of their finances, but also because they do not have a guaranteed deal on the books beyond 2022. Players such as Kenley Jansen, Clayton Kershaw, David Price and Justin Turner have their contracts expiring in the next season or two.

So is this just Los Angeles betting on itself and that the sport will rebound and all will be fine? Or are the Dodgers — even in a troubled time — a bellwether of most of the industry. That will impact how the next level of potential free agents this offseason are treated, a group that includes the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto, the Astros’ George Springer, the Reds’ Trevor Bauer, the Mets’ Marcus Stroman and the Yankees’ D.J. LeMahieu and James Paxton.

3. Mets fans were dreaming that new ownership would mean making a quick, large,“We are not the Wilpons” statement when it comes to finances and nothing would have done that like signing Betts. So much for that. On to Springer.