The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, March 20, 2019 * The Boston Globe What Mike Trout’s $430m extension might mean for Mookie Betts’s future Peter Abraham FORT MYERS, Fla. — The road signs are now in place, markers that the Red Sox and Mookie Betts can follow to get to what would be the richest contract in Boston sports history. Manny Machado took 10 years and $300 million from the San Diego Padres. Bryce Harper was next with a record-setting 13-year, $330 million contract to play for the Philadelphia Phillies. Then on Tuesday came the news that Mike Trout was closing in on an extension with the Los Angeles Angels that would pay him $360 million over 10 years after his current deal expires in two seasons. For the 26-year-old Betts, those are his peers. Harper and Machado are 26, and Trout is 27. From a statistical perspective, Betts stands with Trout. Or at least as close as anyone can stand with Trout. As calculated by Baseball-Reference.com, Betts has 32.9 WAR over his four full seasons in the majors. Only Trout (36.6) has more over that same period. Machado (23.2) is seventh, and Harper a surprising 23rd with 17.5. The difference is that Trout has been outlandishly valuable for seven full seasons. Betts essentially shrugged when asked his opinion of the Harper and Machado deals. “We’re all different players,” he said after Harper signed. “We all have different things that are important. Good for those guys.” Betts had good reason not to overreact. Agents Ed Cerulo and Steve Veltman can make an unimpeachable case that Betts is more valuable statistically than Harper and Machado. As a hitter, defender, and baserunner, Betts compares most favorably to Trout. But he’s certainly not better than Trout, because nobody playing now can credibly make that claim. Trout’s OPS+, a statistic that accounts for league and park factors, is 175. That’s tied for fifth all time with Rogers Hornsby. Only Babe Ruth (206), Ted Williams (190), Barry Bonds (182), and Lou Gehrig (179) are higher. Trout is an all-timer. He’s already done enough to be an automatic choice for the Hall of Fame. But Betts has plenty of other points in his favor. He has led the Sox to three consecutive division titles and a World Series championship. John Henry, Tom Werner, Sam Kennedy, and Dave Dombrowski are all on record saying that Betts is the kind of player and person they want to invest in. “We have made it crystal clear to Mookie we want him to remain with the Red Sox,” Kennedy said last month. Betts also has a more marketable personality than Trout, who has made a career of never really saying much. There’s also the value Betts brings as a team leader, which carries extra weight in Boston. Having Betts as the focal point of the clubhouse for a decade would be a comforting feeling. So that’s one way to look at Tuesday’s news, that Betts and the Red Sox now have a general idea of how an extension could be structured. It would be in the neighborhood of 10 or 12 years at $32 million or $33 million a year, somewhere in there. It’s fair to judge Betts as being more valuable to the Red Sox than Harper and Machado were to their teams, but not quite as valuable as Trout is to the Angels. Angels owner Arte Moreno would have been his generation’s Harry Frazee if he let Trout get away. Henry will feel some of that same pressure, but not to the same degree. The other way to look at it is that with Trout off the market, Betts will far and away be the prime free agent after the 2020 season. The contenders for second place would be Mets ace Jacob deGrom and Giancarlo Stanton if he opts out of his contract with the Yankees, which seems unlikely. As a free agent, Betts could line up the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, and Phillies and see where it leads. Betts is so talented that even second-tier teams would consider him an exception to payroll discipline. The Red Sox would have nowhere else to go but to outbid the field. The fan base would not accept less. But that strategy carries risk. Betts would have to stay healthy and productive over two more seasons. His inner circle also can’t yet calculate what the atmosphere in the game will be like following the 2020 season. The collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1, 2021. For the moment, there is evidence that MLB and the Players Association are communicating effectively, given the rules changes they agreed to last week. But that can change quickly. If both sides are gearing up for a work stoppage in two years, Betts could find the free-agent market unforgiving. Machado ended up in San Diego, which wasn’t his first choice. Betts likes playing in Boston and how the organization has supported him and treated his family. He also knows the Sox are set up to contend for years to come. It’s a lot for anybody to think about. But Trout had the same decision to make, and the Angels made it for him. Now the Red Sox are up. Alex Cora is among the interview subjects on Alex Rodriguez’s new ESPN special Chad Finn Alex Rodriguez has made a remarkable transition from controversial baseball superstar to well-regarded analyst on ESPN and Fox Sports. On Thursday, March 28, he will have his own special on ESPN in which he talks to notable baseball figures -- including Red Sox manager Alex Cora -- about notable changes they have made in their careers. The special, titled, “Pivot with Alex Rodriguez,’’ will air at 11 p.m next Thursday on ESPN2, following ESPN’s Opening Night telecast of the Red Sox-Mariners game. Rodriguez’s special, which runs a half-hour, will feature three interviews. They include a converation with Cora on his path -- or pivot -- from MLB role player to World Series-winning manager in his first year on the job. Rodriguez also chats with new Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen on his career change from agent to the front office. And he talks with Christian Yelich on his rise from promising young Marlins outfielder to 2018 National League MVP with the Brewers. In search of a rhythm, Andrew Benintendi works on his swing Alex Speier FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s spring training, so the results usually qualify as somewhere between misleading and irrelevant. That context makes it hard to read very much into the fact that Andrew Benintendi has a .212 average, .455 OPS, no walks, and eight strikeouts. Yet even setting aside the numbers, at a time when Benintendi is preparing for life in the leadoff spot, the 24-year-old left fielder acknowledges that he’s been in something of a spring-long search for his rhythm at the plate. A player with one of the most natural, beautiful lefthanded swings in the game has spent a lot of time this spring contemplating the components of his mechanics. “I’m somewhat trying to buy into launch . kind of,” Benintendi said. “I’m working on my swing.” What does that mean? Benintendi isn’t looking to overhaul the shape of his swing. Whereas many Red Sox players have shifted from a direct-to-the-ball swing to one in which they try to get their bat path on the plane of the pitch, Benintendi and hitting coach Tim Hyers don’t want to tinker with the shape of his swing. But they’re also mindful that while the 2018 season was a significant step forward for Benintendi, he had disparate performances in the first and second halves. He was a near-All-Star prior to the break, hitting .297/.380/.517 with 14 homers and 44 extra-base hits. After the break, he hit .279/.343/.384 with 2 homers and 19 extra-base hits. He actually struck out far less in the final months of the season, but made poor contact, with his ground-ball rate surging from 37.7 percent of balls in play in the first half to 45.4 percent down the stretch. Benintendi wants to cut down on the number of grounders he’s pounding into the grass and more frequently drive the ball in the air. “Sometimes if I get a pitch to hit, I’ll speed up my swing, and it kind of takes away from it finishing high,” he said. “When I speed up, I roll my wrist, then I roll over and hit a topspin ground ball.” He is working with Hyers to have a more controlled stride that will improve his timing, allowing him to keep his weight back and then unload on pitches at a contact point in front of the plate, something that will allow him to drive the ball in the air. With Opening Day just over a week away, Hyers said Benintendi’s quest isn’t cause for alarm. “He’s like all of them, trying to do a little bit better and not settle on what he did last year,” Hyers said. “Benny has a knack for the game and his swing, how it should feel. I don’t worry about him.” There is a sign of promise for the Sox in Benintendi’s case. As a college freshman, he struggled with his offensive identity when moved to leadoff.