While I ponder how the person in charge of piping in the crowd noise at Dodger Stadium might arrange a standing ovation for Mookie Betts before his first at-bat on Thursday night, please enjoy these morning Dodgers links, with a central theme.
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— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 22, 2020
Links
- Jorge Castillo at the LA Times has details of the Betts deal, including that his signing bonus is $65 million.
- Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register has more on the Betts contract: “This 13-year marriage is the product of a whirlwind courtship.”
- Ken Gurnick at MLB.com recapped Wednesday’s news.
- Pedro Moura at The Athletic wrote about the Dodgers feeling “comfortable” with spending $365 million on Betts.
- Ben Clemens at FanGraphs looks deeper at Betts’ contract, with ZiPS projections for his next 13 seasons included therein.
- Bill Shaikin at the LA Times writes about the Dodgers ownership group fulfilling their pledge.
- Andy McCullough at The Athletic wrote about Andrew Friedman finally landing and keeping a superstar.
- Mike Petriello at MLB.com says the 12-year contract is a win-win for Betts and the Dodgers.
- Zach Kram at The Ringer called the Betts deal a “no brainer” for the Dodgers.
- Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic says the Betts deal makes perfect sense.
- Jeff Passan at ESPN analyzed the move, and in the post is a link to a video of Chase Utley’s reaction to the deal.
- Chad Moriyama at Dodgers Digest says the timing of the Betts deal was perfect.
- Jared Diamond at the Wall Street Journal wrote how the Dodgers were able to pull off the deal in this economic landscape.
- Pete Abraham at the Boston Globe said the Dodgers did in five months what the Red Sox couldn’t do in five years.
- ESPN writers discussed several aspects of the contract in a roundtable, including this line from Sam Miller: “At this stage of the pandemic, I’m surprised when I see somebody manage to get a decent haircut, so, yeah, I’m surprised to see human achievement.”
- Jim Alexander at the Orange County Register on the Dodgers acting how big market teams are supposed to act.
- Bill Plaschke at the LA Times is a fan of the Betts deal, including this line: “Batting first, Mookie Betts, forever.”