Jeff Passan: “Mookie Betts is probably the best Red Sox player since Ted Williams.”
Rich Eisen: “Wow, you really just threw one out there. Best Red Sox player since Ted Williams? Really??”
Passan: “Who’s better? Mookie Betts is a better player than Carl Yastrzemski, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez. We’re talking about a guy over the first 5-6 years of his career is in the Top 10 all time in Wins Above Replacement; a metric used to measure players generationally. Here’s a guy with an MVP and a guy with ELITE numbers every year. He doesn’t have a weakness. He’s a guy who in a high strikeout era does not strike out, he’s a guy who walks, he’s a guy who steals bases at an extraordinarily good clip, he hits for average, he hits for power, and there is no better defensive right fielder than him. He is the total package. He is better than the Hall of Famers the Red Sox have had, and is clearly on the path to the Hall of Fame himself.” (Full Video Above)
Listen to ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan discuss the recent blockbuster trade involving Mookie Betts being traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers, in a massive move that was the biggest baseball story of the offseason before potentially hitting a minor snag late Wednesday night.
Despite the extra-curriculars delaying a move that most feel is still inevitable, Passan had some glowing compliments for Betts, as he went so far to say that he’s the best Red Sox player since Ted Williams, in a loaded field including Pedro Martinez, Carl Yastrzemski, Wade Boggs, Jim Rice, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Nomar Garciaparra, and Dustin Pedroia.