Why was Mookie traded, exactly?

[notin]

Ah, the Kennedy Assassination of Boston baseball... until/if we ever know the truth, guys like us will always debate.

 

One thing we all agree upon is that Chaim Bloom didn't suddenly join the Red Sox and decide to trade Mookie Betts on his own. But if you believe ownership indeed forced his hand, then you have to at least consider that dumping Price was also an order. Packaging them together may very well be the only way Bloom could move Price. And chances are, trading Mookie on his own would have netted an even better return.

 

Yes!! It was a great big conspiracy and no one will give us access to the Manfred Report!

 

Think about it!! Everyone involved in the trade is gone! Mookie? Gone! Bloom! Ok, not gone. But Mookie? Gone! Clearly there was a second general manager on the grassy knoll (at Vero Beach). There is your story!

 

I might be rambling...

[Bellhorn04]

The first month of Mookie's 12 year extension was very meh by his standards.

 

He didn't play again last night, and has only started 19 of the team's 27 games.

 

Let's see how May goes.

[Kimmi]

Im sorry but when I read this article, the part where he whines about rookie hazing & having to get the beer & not riding the elevator until after the veterans, well Mookie you come across like a whiny little bitch. Every sport "hazes" its rookies. I have read other stories where he repeated he didnt like how they treated rookies.

 

https://www.gq.com/story/dodgers-mookie-betts-profile

 

And then there's this attitude:

 

Garrett Whitlock, Boston Red Sox rookie: ‘I’ll be the janitor on this team if that means I get to be in the big leagues’

Updated Apr 30, 2021; Posted Apr 30, 2021

 

By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com

 

ARLINGTON, Texas — Righty Garrett Whitlock is in charge of carrying the beer onto the team plane, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.

 

“I just try to be a good rookie,” Whitlock said Friday. “Everyone’s got a role to play on the team. So I told (bench coach) Will (Venable) when I first showed up, I said, ‘Shoot. I’ll be the janitor on this team if that means I get to be in the big leagues.’ Whatever the job is that I can do to possibly help the team out, that’s what I’m glad to be doing.”

[Donnie Sadler was short]

And then there's this attitude:

 

Garrett Whitlock, Boston Red Sox rookie: ‘I’ll be the janitor on this team if that means I get to be in the big leagues’

Updated Apr 30, 2021; Posted Apr 30, 2021

 

By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com

 

ARLINGTON, Texas — Righty Garrett Whitlock is in charge of carrying the beer onto the team plane, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.

 

“I just try to be a good rookie,” Whitlock said Friday. “Everyone’s got a role to play on the team. So I told (bench coach) Will (Venable) when I first showed up, I said, ‘Shoot. I’ll be the janitor on this team if that means I get to be in the big leagues.’ Whatever the job is that I can do to possibly help the team out, that’s what I’m glad to be doing.”

 

exactly

[Kimmi]

I don't know, maybe it was time for someone to stand up and say that rookie hazing was stupid s**t.

 

I think that it depends on the type and the degree of hazing.

[Bellhorn04]

And then there's this attitude:

 

Garrett Whitlock, Boston Red Sox rookie: ‘I’ll be the janitor on this team if that means I get to be in the big leagues’

Updated Apr 30, 2021; Posted Apr 30, 2021

 

By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com

 

ARLINGTON, Texas — Righty Garrett Whitlock is in charge of carrying the beer onto the team plane, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.

 

“I just try to be a good rookie,” Whitlock said Friday. “Everyone’s got a role to play on the team. So I told (bench coach) Will (Venable) when I first showed up, I said, ‘Shoot. I’ll be the janitor on this team if that means I get to be in the big leagues.’ Whatever the job is that I can do to possibly help the team out, that’s what I’m glad to be doing.”

 

He better not get an arm strain from that LOL

[Donnie Sadler was short]

Hazing is illegal now in the military, at most universities, and in most pro-sports. It is now recognized as the stupid, juvenile, and hypocritical activity it always has been. It is particularly prevalent among sexually-repressed homophobes who find themselves in the company of fellow gay-bashers and pedophiles (e.g., late 20th c American prep-schools and fraternities). Time for it to go.

 

Let me guess...youre a 20 something...LOL.

[Bellhorn04]

Let me guess...youre a 20 something...LOL.

 

Bad guess.

[Kimmi]

No one knows for sure exactly why Mookie was traded, nor do we know for sure exactly how the negotiations, or lack thereof, progressed. But I know for sure that I am happy with the Mookie trade and that I have no regrets about him not being on the team anymore.

 

1. I am deeply opposed to that type of monster contract for any player.

2. I am turned off by Mookie's "I want the most money" attitude.

3. It would have been negligent of the Red Sox not to trade Mookie once they realized that a deal was not going to be made.

4. Bloom got a really good return.

5. I am an Alex Verdugo fan.

 

All that said, I will give Mookie credit for handling the trade with class. To my knowledge, he has not once badmouthed the Red Sox organization or in any way implied that the Sox treated him badly.

[Kimmi]

He better not get an arm strain from that LOL

 

LOL For sure.

 

I'm not sure if it's ever happened in baseball (probably?), but if one of our rookies did get injured from carrying beer or something like that, I'm sure my tune about hazing would change.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

LOL For sure.

 

I'm not sure if it's ever happened in baseball (probably?), but if one of our rookies did get injured from carrying beer or something like that, I'm sure my tune about hazing would change.

 

The key is how far technology has advanced the modern beer can. Lugging cases of cans is so much safer than bottles, with the risk of broken glass, severed tendons, and other lacerations. Mobile canning operations now drive right to craft breweries on canning day, eliminating the necessity of growler refills (nothing's more depressing or dangerous than an exploding glass growler, slipping from hands onto pavement).

[notin]

One aspect of the Mookie trade rarely mentioned is that so far, the Sox appear to have done ok. Too often when stars get dealt for prospects, those prospects, no matter how highly regarded, either flop or settle into mediocrity. The White Sox appear to have done ok with the Sale trade. The Marlins - not so much with Miguel Cabrera. There were others that worked out too, like the Guardians dealing Bartolo Colon to the Expos (who?) for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips. But a lot of others just went sour quickly.

 

So far, Verdugo looks like an obvious keeper. Downs might be one, but the jury is still out. I’m not as high on Wong, but he is just as undetermined as Downs. So while dealing Betts might be a historically bad move, if the Sox can get anything out of Downs and Wong and Verdugo keeps it up, it looks A LOT better for Boston...

[jad]

Bad guess.

 

REAL bad guess!

[jad]

I think that it depends on the type and the degree of hazing.

 

I think it does not. And blessedly, many institutions (e.g., the military, and most universities combatting frat-boy mentality) are beginning to agree with me.

[Bellhorn04]

I think it does not. And blessedly, many institutions (e.g., the military, and most universities combatting frat-boy mentality) are beginning to agree with me.

 

Even sor-girls were getting pretty bad with the hazing stuff.

[jad]

Even sor-girls were getting pretty bad with the hazing stuff.

 

Yup. (Although I will concede that it teaches a valuable life lesson: that there are many folks out there of no great skill or intelligence, who get off on exercising arbitrary power over others.)

[dgalehouse]

Should baseball players (who are human beings ) be traded , swapped and bartered ? Sometimes thousands of miles from home ? Just on the whim of a GM , or to placate the " fans "?

[oldtimer]

Should baseball players (who are human beings ) be traded , swapped and bartered ? Sometimes thousands of miles from home ? Just on the whim of a GM , or to placate the " fans "?

 

I don't feel sorry for them. The lowest paid knows the risks and is getting paid more than the President. Many of them make really big bucks so the risks versus reward scenario is very favorable. Some poor dogface marine is getting very low pay and is often sent thousands of miles from home and exposed to serious danger at the whim of the commander. If you want to feel sorry for someone, think of them.

[jad]

Should baseball players (who are human beings ) be traded , swapped and bartered ? Sometimes thousands of miles from home ? Just on the whim of a GM , or to placate the " fans "?

 

There was a problem a couple of hundred years ago in this country with the notion that workers were owned, and could be sold. Not sure why that system is reconstituted on the upper levels. But not many workers for, say, GE wake up in the morning to discover that they've been reassigned to Xerox and need to show up for work on Monday. Maybe the next CBA will address this?

[jad]

I don't feel sorry for them. The lowest paid knows the risks and is getting paid more than the President. Many of them make really big bucks so the risks versus reward scenario is very favorable. Some poor dogface marine is getting very low pay and is often sent thousands of miles from home and exposed to serious danger at the whim of the commander. If you want to feel sorry for someone, think of them.

 

I don't think he was asking that anyone feel sorry for them. He was asking whether a boss (in any profession) should be able to treat you like property.

[notin]

I don't think he was asking that anyone feel sorry for them. He was asking whether a boss (in any profession) should be able to treat you like property.

 

Do “normies” occasionally get transferred or watch their entire employer uproot and go to a different state? “We’re moving the whole operation to Sheboygan. You can either relocate or get laid off.”

 

Is that fair? And most people dealing with that scenario aren’t in a profession where minimum wage is $525,000...

[moonslav59]

There was a problem a couple of hundred years ago in this country with the notion that workers were owned, and could be sold. Not sure why that system is reconstituted on the upper levels. But not many workers for, say, GE wake up in the morning to discover that they've been reassigned to Xerox and need to show up for work on Monday. Maybe the next CBA will address this?

 

In many other ways, the common worker has it worse than pro sports players.

[Bellhorn04]

Do “normies” occasionally get transferred or watch their entire employer uproot and go to a different state? “We’re moving the whole operation to Sheboygan. You can either relocate or get laid off.”

 

Is that fair? And most people dealing with that scenario aren’t in a profession where minimum wage is $525,000...

 

That's the MLB minimum wage. Minor leaguers are professionals too.

[moonslav59]

Many people would give their left nut to play professional ball. Getting paid for it, even at minor league pay,would be icing on the cake.

 

Everyone who signs a contract knows the rules. They agree to them and make out better than 99% of other workers around the world.

 

Does it seem right they can be bartered, traded or cut on a moments notice? Not really, but the trade off is worth it for most, or they'd never have signed.

[Bellhorn04]

Many people would give their left nut to play professional ball. Getting paid for it, even at minor league pay,would be icing on the cake.

 

Everyone who signs a contract knows the rules. They agree to them and make out better than 99% of other workers around the world.

 

Does it seem right they can be bartered, traded or cut on a moments notice? Not really, but the trade off is worth it for most, or they'd never have signed.

 

I don't disagree with any of that. As you say, it's a free choice.

[notin]

That's the MLB minimum wage. Minor leaguers are professionals too.

 

But the goal of every minor leaguer is to be promoted to major leaguer. If a trade to a new geographical location helps in that regard, I doubt many are very upset by a deal...

[Bellhorn04]

But the goal of every minor leaguer is to be promoted to major leaguer. If a trade to a new geographical location helps in that regard, I doubt many are very upset by a deal...

 

Certainly not. My only disagreement was with the statement that the minimum wage for a professional player is $525 K.

[notin]

Certainly not. My only disagreement was with the statement that the minimum wage for a professional player is $525 K.

 

OK but you have to factor in the desire to get to that $525,000....

[mvp 78]

That's the MLB minimum wage. Minor leaguers are professionals too.

 

And mostly paid less than a full time Target employee.

[mvp 78]

OK but you have to factor in the desire to get to that $525,000....

 

Uh...