Mookie Betts Rumors: MLB Execs Expect Contract to Top Bryce Harper's $330M Deal

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts will be a free agent after the 2020 season, and MLB executives told Andy McCullough of The Athletic that they believe the 2018 American League MVP's new deal will be more lucrative than Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper's $330 million contract.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has never signed a free agent to a deal of $100 million or more, according to McCullough, but L.A. wants Betts to break that trend.

Per McCullough, the Dodgers also "intend to spend the entirety of 2020 selling Betts on sticking around as they pursue a title together."

“That certainly was part of our thinking—that that’s what we would like the outcome to be," team president Stan Kasten told McCullough.

Betts, 27, is a lifetime .301 hitter with 139 home runs and 470 RBI in six seasons, all with the Red Sox.

Boston traded him this offseason in a deal that brought back outfielder Alex Verdugo and prospects Jeter Downs and Connor Wong.

The Dodgers also landed left-handed starting pitcher David Price in what amounted to a cost-cutting move for the Sox in their quest to get under the luxury-tax threshold.

Betts may have not fit into Boston's long-term future, but Friedman wants to convince the outfielder to make L.A. his home.

"From our standpoint, I think he's going to fall in love with the city, the fan support, the teammates, the facilities, Friedman said, per McCullough. "And we're just trying to do everything we can to continue that and have our own guys want to stay."

As McCullough noted, the Dodgers' aren't cash-strapped going into the 2020s. They only have $44.5 million on their 2022 payroll at the moment, per Cot's Contracts.

L.A. hasn't balked at being near or at the top of the MLB payroll list in recent years, either. The Dodgers have ranked no lower than seventh since 2012, per USA Today.

Betts is set to make his regular-season debut in Dodger blue on Thursday, March 26, against the San Francisco Giants at home.