The Mookie Betts Columns

Shank's here to painfully remind you about the trade that sent Mookie to the Dodgers and, of course, the state of both teams:

This Mookie Betts appearance is a painful reminder of the contrasting fortunes of the Dodgers and Red Sox

Mookie Betts will be at Fenway Park Friday for the first time since he was dealt from Boston in 2020. His mere presence reminds us of an epic Red Sox blunder. It’s a little bit like Babe Ruth returning to Fenway for the first time after Sox owner Harry Frazee sold him to the Yankees in the winter of 1919-20.

On Jan. 10, 2020, less than a month before Betts was dealt, Red Sox owner John Henry, overseeing the top payroll in baseball, returned an email from yours truly and stated, “We are focused on competitiveness over the next 5 years.”

Looks like someone lost some focus!

He then asks Sam Kennedy (Red Sox CEO) about the Red Sox AppleTV + games on this and other nights:

Loyal NESN subscribers who follow the Red Sox all year may be in for a surprise when they attempt to watch the Sox at Fenway Friday night in Mookie Betts’s first Boston appearance since the Sox dealt him to the Dodgers in 2020. The game will not be on NESN. It will be broadcast on Apple TV+.

MLB is in its second year of a seven-year, $85 million-per-year deal to stream Friday night games on Apple TV+.

“We always like to have our games on NESN,” said Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy. “But we also recognize that we are part of a broader ecosystem, so having our games shown outside of the territory is good for baseball and for the Red Sox.

I'm not going to lose sleep over a missed Red Sox game here and there.