With so many free agents still available, baseball’s shopping season is still in full swing two days before Christmas. The question for the contending teams doing the shopping goes like this:
Who do they think might be their Mookie Betts this year?
In other words, who is the one player they think might be the difference-maker and game-changer like Betts was for the Dodgers in 2020, leading up until the night when Los Angeles won its first World Series championship since 1988.
Betts doubled in the sixth inning of Game 6 against the Rays, and then was a streak of light scoring the Dodgers first run on a grounder to first. Then he hit the eighth-inning home run that got his team its third run in a 3-1 game. There was your difference making and game changing right there.
Reggie Jackson did the same thing for the Yankees in 1977, ending that season with three home runs in his own Game 6 against the Dodgers after signing as a free agent during the previous offseason.
Sometimes a team swings a deal for a pitcher, the way the Astros did for Justin Verlander in the summer of 2017. And sometimes a team goes as big as the Yankees did for Gerrit Cole one year ago -- $324 million for nine years -- because they were sure that an ace like him was going to make the difference for them. He didn’t. Not his fault. Cole pitched like a star all the way until Game 5 of the American League Division Series against the Rays, but the Yankees didn’t win it all.
So now here we are, what is always, well, a most wonderful time of the year in baseball. Who might be this year’s Mookie? Or Reggie?
Who might be That Guy, this time? Here are five candidates.
1. Francisco Lindor, SS, Indians
You have to start this conversation with Lindor, who is coming up on his walk year the way Betts was with the Red Sox.
Lindor is 27, the same age Betts was when Boston traded him. When Betts won his American League MVP Award in 2018, he had 520 at-bats, scored 129 runs, had 180 hits, 32 homers and 80 RBIs. Betts had a better slugging percentage than Lindor, a better on-base percentage and a better OPS. Still: Lindor that same year had 661 at-bats, 129 runs, 183 hits, 38 homers and 92 RBIs.
Now he might be on the move.
“No one likes having him in uniform more than I do, because I write out the lineup,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “But we do have challenges and we’re going to have to attack those challenges.”
But is there a team willing to trade big pieces to rent Lindor for just one year? Or is there a contender willing to do what the Dodgers did, swing for the fences and then sign him to a deal that effectively takes him to the end of his career? To be determined.
What isn’t TBD is this: Lindor is the shortstop who plays the game the way Betts does.
2. Nolan Arenado, 3B, Rockies
He already has a sweetheart, long-term contract a new team would have to absorb in a trade, one that also includes an opt-out clause after the end of next season. In addition, he is coming off a left shoulder injury.
With all that, Arenado hit 199 homers in the five seasons before the shortened-season of 2020. We’ve pointed this out before, but only Nelson Cruz hit more over the same period.
Say the Dodgers don’t bring back Justin Turner, maybe Arenado could be the guy who keeps Los Angeles on top the season after Betts did what he did to put them there.
3. Trevor Bauer, RHP, free agent
Bauer isn’t just a free agent, he’s a Cy Young Award-winning free agent coming off the season of his career. I keep thinking that if there is one team out there that is one ace pitcher like Bauer away from a title, it is the Braves, who came as close as they did to beating the Dodgers in the 2020 National League Championship Series after leading the series 3-1.
Put it this way: What if it had been Bauer throwing against the Dodgers in one of those games?
4. George Springer, OF, free agent
Springer is a center fielder who can hit (and hit for power) and has a World Series MVP Award on his resume. The current wisdom is that the Mets and the Blue Jays are coveting Springer, most highly. Could he be the position player who elevates either one of them into a serious championship conversation?
Fans of both would sure like to find out.
5. DJ LeMahieu, INF, free agent
He is now a batting champion in both leagues and has been the Yankees best player for two years. Now LeMahieu is a free agent, and we keep hearing that he and the Yanks are as much as $25 million apart. But the Yankees thought they were set up to win last year. They always think they’re set up to win. Maybe the player they need to put them over the top is DJ.
Ask yourself: When was the last time the Yankees lost a player they really wanted over money?
And what would the Dodgers look like if DJ ended up playing third for them?
There are other stars out there, for sure. J.T. Realmuto is the best catcher in baseball. Marcell Ozuna was such a big bat for the Braves. Maybe the Rays really would consider moving Blake Snell, whose World Series Game 6 ended a lot differently than Betts’ did.
There are a lot of contenders looking for this year’s Betts. A lot of star players who might be on the list of available guys. In the end, though, you go right back to the top of the list, if Cleveland really is willing to trade him:
Francisco Lindor: The Mookie Betts who can play shortstop is the best bet to be this year’s Mookie.