Mookie Betts Has to Step Up His Game
At the time the Dodgers traded for Mookie Betts, there was a lot of conversation as to who was the best player in baseball – Mike Trout or Mookie Betts? Sadly for both players, we do not hear that much anymore as both have slipped… and it does not appear that either player will…
At the time the Dodgers traded for Mookie Betts, there was a lot of conversation as to who was the best player in baseball – Mike Trout or Mookie Betts? Sadly for both players, we do not hear that much anymore as both have slipped… and it does not appear that either player will continue to get better as Trout is 31 and Mookie is 30. Both ended the 2022 season with a .340 OB% – that’s pretty good but not superstar-esque. Mike Trout hit .283 with a .999 OPS, which is very much a superstar, and his OPS+ was 178, while Mookie OPS’ed .873 with an OPS+ of just 136. In straight-up comparisons between the two players, Mike Trout is light-years ahead of Mookie Betts. Trout hit 40 HR while Mookie hit 35.
Don’t get me wrong, Mookie is a great player, but realize that the Dodgers have to pay him this way for this long:
- 2023 – $25.4 Million
- 2024 – $30.4 Million
- 2025 – $30.4 Million
- 2026 – $30.4 Million
- 2027 – $30.4 Million
- 2028 – $35.4 Million
- 2029 – $36.4 Million
- 2030 – $35.4 Million
- 2031 – $32.9 Million
- 3032 – $32.9 Million
For the mathematically challenged, that is just about $320 Million Dollars that the Dodgers owe Mookie Betts over the next ten years. YIKES! As I said when the trade was made, “This is not going to end well.” Again, I am not trying to “dis” Mookie, but what I just said are facts. Mookie plays a high level of defense, and that helps his WAR, but insofar as being a “superstar,” Freddie Freeman is the Dodger closest to Mike Trout in hitting as his OPS+ was 152 and his OB% was .918. Them’s superstar stats!
For his career, Mookie has hit .292 against RHP and .295 against LHP. In 2022, Mookie hit .308 against LHP (only 156 ABs), but he hit only .255 against RHP, and therein lies the problem. Mookie was also very “streaky” in his play. Let’s look at his splits:
- March/April – .230
- May – .342
- June – .193
- July .248
- August – . 330
- September – .222
- Playoffs – .143
If you have any questions as to who did not hit in the playoffs, start with Mookie Betts. Cody Bellinger was benched for not hitting in the playoffs, but the truth is, Mookie Betts had twice as many ABs and hit .143… the same as Cody! When Mookie is hot, he can carry the team, but more often than not, he is not hot.. at least lately.
2023 is a new season. The shift is gone (Mookie does pull the ball a lot), so that should help him. The bases are bigger (that should help the fast guys). The pitchers have to throw the ball quicker (that should help everyone). 2023 is the year Mookie has to go back to being a Superstar. Mookie also needs to voluntarily go to the #2 spot in the batting order so as to let Gavin Lux take over that spot (if he can handle it – I think he can).
Mookie, you need to step up and show the Boys in Blue how to do it! Maybe even get more vocal. The Dodger will go as far this year as Mookie and the Youngsters take them. Take the challenge, Mookie! This has to be YOUR team! Seize it! Be the Superstar that you are and the leader you were meant to be. That’s all! Just do it!
I want to see Mookie play with the emotion he had in this Blog’s Opening Photo! I want to see that Superstar again!
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Discussion (100)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Correa to SF. 13/350
We’re gonna have a lot of 40 year old players in around 10-15 years.
Seriously, how do you sign a guy, with a bad back, that hasn’t played 150 games in a season into his 40’s?
This is a really crazy offseason.
I think this off season will prove to be the most pivotal moment in recent Dodger history.
By watching this madness unfold, it might mean short term hurt, but it will ultimately bring longer term success.
Utter madness going on.
Correa.. Giants. 13 years. $350m
I, for one, welcome this signing. It has to do with continuity of distain. Despite a one year respite in Minnesota; I have held few individuals in the sport with such ill-will.
Yes. Many Dodger fans called for him to come to LA. I said, no!
He is now where he belongs.
May god have mercy on his sole.
Never mind.
That was sold in 2017.
May god have whatever mercy he sees fit in what is left of whatever a 2017 Astro has remaining.
Giants got the player they deserve.
As Watford said, This may help the Giants “short term.”
I find it remarkable that smart people like Farhan can get “hoodwinked” by Scott Boreass…
and then there was Dansby!
I also wonder in Freidman has been “tipped off” somehow (through back channels) that Bauer is being re-instated.
i think Mookie and Freddie Freman job is not stepping up but rather continue stellar day to day performance to give stability to the team. I am perfectly fine with a season much or less the same as last season.
If you want to put pressure to step up that will be Will Smith and in a lesser degree Gavin Lux.
Who says the madness goes away next year? Maybe this is the price of doing business going forward! Then AF takes the Dodgers back to being Tampa Bay? Wait to see what AF pays Ohtani next year!
I see Swanson at 5-Year/$125 Million.
Tell me that Correa is worth almost three times that!
Farhan needs a dose of Dumbass Vaccine.
What a dope-fiend move.
If the Dodgers plan is to stay under the CBT this year, I have no problem with that. The excuse of any financial burden that the Bauer court decision may cost I feel is BS. The Dodgers and Bauer entered into a contract. Even though the commissioner suspended Bauer, I would think the Dodgers would put money aside or may be required to put money aside until the court renders a decision.
AF at it again: Dodgers To Acquire J.P. Feyereisen from TB… and oh, he will miss 2023.
He gave up lefty Jeff Belge. THis is obviously a move for the future.
OK, lose your collective minds!
’s a long-term play for the Dodgers, as Feyereisen is still controllable through the 2026 season via arbitration. The Rays would surely have loved to keep Feyereisen until this spring, when they could place him on the 60-day injured list and free up his 40-man roster spot. However, Tampa Bay also has righties Shane Baz and Andrew Kittredge recovering from Tommy John surgery and in need of 60-day IL spots when camp opens. As such, carrying all three until Spring Training would’ve effectively amounted to Tampa Bay operating with a 37-man roster instead of a 40-man roster for the balance of the offseason.
Feyereisen’s DFA raised plenty of eyebrows yesterday, as the right-hander rattled off 24 1/3 scoreless innings for the Rays in 2022 before being shelved by the shoulder injury that eventually led to the recent operation to repair both his right rotator cuff and labrum. A year prior, Feyereisen had turned in 56 innings of 2.73 ERA ball, albeit with a bloated 14.1% walk rate that created some skepticism about his ability to sustain that pace.
The now-29-year-old righty (30 in February) not only improved his command in 2022 but sent his walk rate plummeting to 5.8% — a mark that’s leaps and bounds better than league average. All told, Feyereisen has 89 2/3 innings of experience at the big league level and has pitched to a 2.31 ERA with a 23.8% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate. However, if he can sustain any of the 2022 strides he made in terms of strikeout rate (29.1%) or walk rate, he has the potential to be a vital late-inning arm for the Dodgers for three-plus seasons. And, because he’s unlikely to pitch much this season, his first trip through the arbitration process next winter shouldn’t produce a particularly large salary.
This reads really well – taken from mlb trade rumours