You Better You Better You Betts

A finger has been pointed at baseball as a sport. It's too slow. It's too boring. It takes too long. Not enough action. Whoa, there finger. You apparently have not seen enough Mookie Betts. Batting first, playing right field, number 50...

He's not six foot eight. He's not a Gold's Gym member, nor is he a daily multi-times a day visitor of a fast food drive through. He is just an amazing athlete, and wow, he is exciting to watch. It's amazing that a guy signs a $365 million dollar contract and it seems like news to folks who watch or follow baseball occasionally (for more info on Mookie Betts' deal, please read Billy Heyen's article found on this link to Sporting News https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/mookie-betts-contract-dodgers-breakdown/isnjlf02f80r1dc3f99tp5nm5). Most of the guys getting $20 to $30+ million a year contracts I suspect are not five foot eight, though I have not researched it. They have hit most of their homers and won Silver Slugger awards previously, had 20 win seasons or a Cy Young award previously, or have great hair. Mookie is being paid for being talent plus, a throwback if you will, and he is already starting to make it rain. He hits home runs, he steals home runs, he steals bases, and he is a winner and a game changer. He is the ultimate baseball player and guy you want on your team.

Hello, baseball - time to wake up, for a number of reasons.

The greatest reason, in my opinion: whether I'm a fan of the Dodgers or not (which I'm not in the traditional sense), I would go to the stadium to watch him play if I had an opportunity. If I could afford it, I'd watch him every day that I had the opportunity. But I'm not a guy with a disposable income that can afford that, even if I'm just visiting L.A. for a few days, a week or more. This is where market size and eco stats come in, and I am not going to pretend to know those details, but I will say with confidence that it means the Dodgers don't have to work as hard as the Tampa Rays to fill up seats. Slow down, Tampa fans, you're not off the hook yet.

Mookie Betts does more than what his perennial MVP caliber numbers suggest. He is a gifted athlete who leads with his actions, his approach and work, and his excitement. Heck, he hits 300 and bowls 300. Anybody else do that? He plays the game as if he is the only one on the field who truly knows the rules of the game. He has a smile that makes you want to be best friends with him, and lacks scandal. He gets you excited with his play, and makes you feel like wow, wow, and then...speechless. On a personal note, Double Wow + speechless = hoot tank crank to the point of losing your voice. He does it all to where you just watched him homer or hit, steal, and score in the offensive half of the inning, and you can't wait to see what he does in right field in the next half-inning. Quickly, off the top of your head, who else does that, and how many names can you come up with in the next 10 seconds? I took the test and came up with just Mike Trout (10 second rule). The other names I came up with I had to do a double clutch no, as they didn't quite match the criteria fully.

If baseball wants to know what's wrong with the game, look no further than the over analytics occurring at the greatest level during the World Series, and poor foresight. The game has been treated like a cash cow now for too many years, and in my observations over the years of cash cows in business, it's the beginning of the end of that segment or line of business. My oversimplified description of a cash cow includes a business where there is no creativity, no R&D, no investment. There is little effort in growing or any extra effort (expense) in even preserving a customer base. The cash cow just simply exploits an existing customer base that's extremely large, until it becomes too small to support the larger conglomerate. It's then simply abandoned or converted to something else. Mama, grab the valuables and the kids while I start the car, we gotta go now. I oversimplify the cash cow, but present the thought only for comparative purposes of Major League Baseball. I think you can find the comps that are important.

Mr. Betts is the outlier here, and on display on the national and worldwide stage. He combats the preservation of the cash cow, the over-reliance on analytics that turns this beautiful game played on a diamond to those things you hear the finger wagging at you. I believe he has single handedly done something no one else has been able to do in this postseason - attack the self-confidence of Rays manager Kevin Cash well enough to let in a sliver of doubt or pause in the plan. Glasnow out early, Morton out early, each in a losing effort. The main cause was Mookie Betts.

Mookie has played the last two postseason series at a sustained level that I believe has not been done in quite some time. The last person I've seen dominate on both sides of the inning was Derek Jeter of the N.Y. Yankees. Yes, it helps to be in the postseason as often as Jeter, but you still have to perform consistently. My take is that it comes down to talent, and then playing as if you were the only one on the field to know the rules. Back to my first take on this, Mookie has been the guy doing this. The "over" analytics department would say stop hitting the ball to right field (wait, what? you can do that?). But what about at the plate? You have to pitch to him. You cannot walk him. And right now, Betts is the only guy who can get Betts out. He plays the game the way the rules allow, and takes full advantage of the analytics folks. He doesn't just steal bases, he steals the plan of attack, he steals your concentration, and he steals your confidence. If Glasnow and Morton don't admit he was a distraction that cost them, I say they are not being truthful. And if Mr. Cash does not admit it either, then I would call them all fools.

Watching the over analytics departments employ their strategies, I wonder how long it will take to "get back" to the game of baseball. There is certainly room and a need for some analytics, but as a fan of the great sport, I wonder when the pendulum swings back to talent. I wonder how many Mookie Betts there are out there being platooned, being taken out in late innings, and only seeing certain pitches during game at-bats (that will work itself out sooner than later, just ask Max Muncy). And all this while they're being developed. How many pitchers are being developed to pitch five + innings? Seems crazy to me. Not only do I want to see guys hit, run, defend and throw the way Betts does, I want to see guys pitch 7+ innings where you hate to see them come out of the game before the 8th or 9th. But hey, I'm just a fan, part of that cash cow customer base.

I shudder to think if Betts were brought up in the Rays system. Would he be part of the Cash Platoon whenever righties pitched? Can you even imagine? This is where I say the Tampa Rays can do a much better job of marketing and eco stats (again, I am not going to pretend to know those details, but I will say with confidence that it means the Rays do need to do a better job). I believe they would be far better off if they had Mookie Betts and his $365 million salary than not. I would also submit that they would still be in the World Series facing the Dodgers (or Braves, if the Dodgers did not have Betts), and likely up three games to none. If you say they don't have the money, I say bull butt. Sometimes you gotta spend some coin to get more dollars. Just not on Greg Vaughn. I have a whole litany of thoughts on their "limited finances" and the bull butt they spew forth, but I'm saving it for a different day.

Mookie Betts is the anti-analytics, the anti-shift, the anti-modern day baseball player. He is a guy you can root for, and a guy who can increase a fan base for a team (hello Tampa, do you have fans for the lefty Cash Platoon, and then different fans for the righty Cash Platoon?). He is a guy that needs to be drafted, acquired and developed in every team's system. He is the future of the game, playing like the greats of the past, and not celebrated enough in the present to preserve the game we love. Major League Baseball needs to get out of the cash cow business and think about things like leaving one or two more days between the League Championship Series so I don't have to watch an opener in game two. They need to start investing back in the minor leagues at higher levels than before to preserve and improve the game and keep it great. The "over" analytics departments need to be tossed or redefined (I blame them for not just what we're seeing now, but also for the Astros sign stealing scandal, which I think is still devastating baseball fan numbers). All of this needs to be addressed sooner than later.

In other words, Major League Baseball, you better, you better, you Betts.