We signed Story more than 3 years after the trade, and the Devers extension kicks in over 5 years afterwards.
To me, the issue was the budget, and that was what forced the Betts trade. I guess, in theory, maybe Bloom might have been given the chance to trade other higher-priced players, instead of Betts, but after 2020, when Betts became a FA, how does he sign him, under the budget he had for 2021?
It's possible, if he does not sign anyone else. What would the roster have looked like in 2020 and 2021 with the budget we had and Betts making $30M?
How could we have dumped half-Price without including a good player or prospect (Bello, Casas, Duran?)
We will never truly know, but the fact that Betts was traded had to do with the budget set by JH & Co. NOT Bloom. Had we kept Betts, the roster would have been awful around him- worse than it already was in 2020.