Ortiz has priceless take on Betts trade after Game 1 heroics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It didn't take long for baseball fans to find out why oddsmakers had installed Mookie Betts as the favorite to be named World Series MVP this season.
Betts did it all -- and then some -- in Game 1 against the Rays, becoming the first player to walk and steal multiple bases in the same inning since some player named Babe Ruth did it 99 years ago. He scored from third on a one-hopper to first, streaking home and beating the throw. Later, he added a solo home run to pad the Dodgers lead -- and it was an opposite field shot, near where he made incredible catches against the wall in Games 6 and 7 of the NLCS against the Braves.
Betts' latest display was another example of how he's one of the best players in baseball... one whom the Red Sox traded away before the season, leading FOX's Joe Buck to openly question what every Sox fan has wondered since the deal.
“Red Sox fans are watching this going, ‘Ah, hello. Why did we trade this guy?,’” Buck said. “How could they not afford Mookie Betts?”
And even though the answer to the first question involves the luxury tax and the fact that he had spurned previous contract extension offers, the answer to the second question remains unanswerable.
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An incredulous Alex Rodriguez echoed Buck's sentiments on the FOX postgame show, asking David Ortiz why his former team shipped Betts across the country.
"You're Mr. Red Sox," Rodriguez said. "Why did you trade this guy, Mookie Betts?"
“I wasn’t the GM,” Ortiz replied, laughing. “I would’ve given some of my salary to sign him. It is what it is. Dodgers, enjoy Mookie!"
The Dodgers are definitely enjoying Betts. He signed a 12-year, $365 million extension earlier this season, led L.A. to an MLB-best 43-17 record (a 116-win pace over a 162-game season), and now has the Dodgers three wins away from their first World Series title in 32 years after back-to-back losses to the Red Sox and Astros in the Fall Classic.
So while Ortiz laughed while answering the question, it's a far cry from how Red Sox fans are feeling after watching their homegrown transcendent star chasing another championship.
