But those “sure things” get expensive fast. And the only way to keep the ones you have is to make sure you have a few semi-capable minimum wage players on hand. And the more “sure things” you take on, the tougher it gets to keep your own.
No one wanted to see Betts go, except possibly Betts. And for all the talk about his extension with LA being a foregone conclusion from Day One, it still took the largest contract in MLB history to keep him there. And that’s what it took to keep him someplace where he was already HAPPY!!
But because the Dodgers had Seager and Bellinger and Buehler and Gonsolin and found some scrap heap gems in Muncy and Taylor, and they had a stream of minor league arms, they had a lot better positioned to afford Betts. At least for now. We’ll see if it enables them to hold on to Bellinger...