COVID (and cancelled games) may have been a factor, too.
They traded for Betts in February but he didn’t extend until late July. Think the Dodgers postponed those negotiations for over five months? If not, how low did they start?
Unfortunately that option seems to have not been on the table. And stories at the time seemed to indicate Mookie’s strong desire to test the market. (He did reportedly ask for $400mill.)
Really the issue was waiting until year five to try to lock him up. It should have been done at the latest by year three.
Maybe even year two instead of signing Price…
And there really are not any relievers left on the market I would consider high leverage arms. I think the headliners left are Stanek and Heuer. If the Sox are not going to get a starter and push Houck to the pen, then these guys are hopefully options to backfill a rotation spot. But that's really about it...
Bloom definitely made his share of mistakes. Some mistakes are going to happen with anyone; every GM with a long enough tenure has Corey Kluber somewhere in his history. With Bloom, it was simply more about what he didn't do...
You think he should have held him and let him walk through free agency? It doesn't seem like trading Betts was just something he did to shake things up...
I think Duran having 5 years of control does really help his trade value. His league minimum salary also will have appeal with even teams like Oakland and Pittsburgh...
If you had the choice to extend only one of Ruschman or Burnes, which one?
I don't know if it comes down to that for Baltimore, but if so, I think Burnes will be available in a year...