Mookie Betts 'Thankful' for Ovation from Red Sox Fans in Return with Dodgers

Mookie Betts was happy to receive a warm welcome from the sellout crowd at Fenway Park on Friday night in his first game against the Boston Red Sox since being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Speaking to reporters after the Dodgers' 7-4 win, Betts said he was "thankful" for the standing ovation from the 35,653 fans in attendance.

"I don't really remember what I was feeling. I know I was kind of shaking a little bit," Betts said of the first at bat. "But I'm just thankful. Thankful I got the ovation. ... Thankful we won."

Betts was traded to Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 2020. The move came after Red Sox owners John Henry and Tom Werner made it clear they wanted to get under the luxury-tax payroll after firing Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations late in the 2019 season.

"We need to be under the CBT," Henry said at the time. "That was something we've known for more than a year now."

Boston would have been over the luxury tax for a third consecutive year in 2020. Doing so would have raised the team's tax rate to 50 percent and additional surcharges that would have increased the rate to 62 percent at $228 million and 95 percent at $248 million.

Betts made $20 million in 2019, his second year of arbitration, signed a $27 million deal with the Red Sox to avoid arbitration on Jan. 10, 2020.

Despite having Betts under contract at that point, the Red Sox sent him to the Dodgers exactly one month later for Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong and Jeter Downs. David Price, who had three years and $96 million remaining on his deal, was also sent to Los Angeles in the deal.

Speaking to Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe earlier this week, Betts denied a longstanding rumor that he turned down a 10-year, $300 million offer from the Red Sox.

"That never happened," Betts said. "I know that's out there and people say what they've got to say. But no, they didn't do that. They didn't."

After the trade, Betts signed a 12-year, $365 million extension with the Dodgers in July 2020.

The Red Sox originally selected Betts in the fifth round of the 2011 MLB draft. He made his big-league debut in 2014 and spent six seasons with the team. The 30-year-old won Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards in each of his final four seasons in Boston.

Betts was named AL MVP and led the Red Sox to a World Series win in 2018.