I think Betts would listen on an extension that takes him 3 or 4 years beyond the 3 he has, to give him another shot at a big payday later (as has already been discussed.)
It's funny how we have such little faith in any relievers not named Kimbrel in spite of the fact we largely agree that the pen has done an overall great job this year.
Maddon lost his marbles with how he used Chapman late in the Series but he got away with it. I think Maddon's a decent manager but like I say, managing in MLB will make you look stupid at some point. Larussa also had some sort of crazy bullpen gaffe in his final World Series, I can't remember the exact details.
In my opinion, being manager of a major league baseball team is almost guaranteed to make you look like a moron. Our team has won 3 championships in the last century, two managed by Francoma and one by Johnny Neuron.
But this team has been running into an incredible number of outs on the bases all season. They lead the majors in outs on the bases with 64, and the next closest team is 49. That's crazy.
Brentz is on a tear, but he has not 'proven time and time again that he deserves a chance'.
Here are his AAA OPS's for the 4 seasons prior to this one:
2013 .788 OK
2014 .806 OK
2015 .690 Sucks
2016 .680 Sucks
Don't go there, man. Baseball is not the real world, it's the entertainment world, and us fans are the ones who are responsible for unproven prospects getting 2.75 million...or 72.5 million if we're talking Rusney Castillo.
Yes, cheap young talent is the best. Unfortunately if the SOB's keep playing well they get radically more expensive.
Longoria's contract is probably the best bargain in modern baseball history.