The Boston Red Sox Friday, April 17, 2020 * The Boston Globe Are baseball players facing further salary reductions? Alex Speier Baseball players know they won’t be receiving their full salaries in 2020. An agreement governing the financial relationship between MLB and the Players Association, reached in late March, stipulated that salaries would be adjusted to reflect the percentage of the regular season that was played — with the possibility there would be no games in 2020 due to the shutdown forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. But even if there is a season, could further player salary reductions follow? The possibility was introduced by New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who in an interview with CNN relayed that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon had suggested that owners might see further salary concessions by players if a season is played in empty ballparks. “Apparently, Major League Baseball would have to make a deal with the players because if you have no one in the stands then the numbers are going to change, right?” Cuomo said. “The economics are going to change.” A major league source said that owners had not broached the topic of potential salary reductions with the MLB Players Association, A major league source said owners had not broached the topic with the Players Association, but the possibility is unsurprisingly being disputed. MLB believes the agreement was premised on the possibility of games taking place in stadiums with fans, and believes the document codifying the agreement is clear on the point. The MLBPA, however, feels the sides already reached an understanding about the financial rules that would govern a season. “We already addressed this issue,” agent Scott Boras said. “In the agreement that was done just [20] days ago, it specifically addresses games in neutral sites and playing games without spectators. In concession for that, players said, ‘I will play for a fraction of my salary.’ It’s already been done. There’s nothing new now that was not in play 45 days ago. So I’m a little bit perplexed that they’re suggesting that something different has to be done. “The players made their concession early on in the process,” Boras added. “They actually have an agreement that they anticipate neutral sites and players playing without fans. All of that was a consideration when they agreed [in March] … If owners want additional concessions, they should have asked for them then.” * The Boston Herald Red Sox’ 10-best seasons in the last 10 years: No. 2, 2018 Mookie Betts Jason Mastrodonato By the time Alex Cora was hired as the new Red Sox manager in the winter of 2017, everybody in baseball knew Mookie Betts was better than he showed in 2017. There were just differing opinions on what would get him there. But Cora was so sure of what needed to happen that his confidence during an interview with Red Sox owner John Henry was momentarily mistaken for arrogance. Cora wanted Betts to be more aggressive. He wanted the entire offense to be. And he wanted Betts back in the leadoff spot after he finished the 2017 season hitting third and fourth. “I believe Mookie Betts is going to change the lineup,” Cora said during spring training that year. “That’s why he’s leading off.” Cora started referring to Betts in the leadoff role as “instant offense.” And within days of camp starting in Fort Myers, Fla., that February, Betts was feeling the chemistry with his new skipper. “There’s a lot I can do better,” he said after a disappointing 2017 season in which he hit just .264 with 24 homers and an .803 OPS. “You just have to go in and play with urgency. We weren’t as urgent as we should have been. As we saw all the other teams, they were coming out ready to go. We were kind of lax for the last two years. I think we know that and we can make some adjustments there. “I think it will be fun. Those guys are a little younger. Cora just got done playing so he may have a different view on things. I think it will be fun. I’m curious to see how things will go.” We all were. And when Betts began spring training 0-for-16 at the plate, Cora laughed when asked what was going on. Going back to leadoff was “like going home,” Betts had said. And while he took some time to get adjusted during spring training, he finished hitting .472 in his final 36 at-bats leading into the regular season. Thinking back on 2018, it’s hard to remember exactly what made Betts so dominant. Cora helped re- energize him. J.D. Martinez taught him how to better prepare, understand his own swing and read opposing pitchers. But there was a certain confidence about Betts’ play in 2018 that had been missing since David Ortiz retired in 2016. On April 17, we were reminded of that. Shohei Ohtani had taken MLB by storm by starting the year 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA as a two-way player. He started a game in Anaheim with a low fastball to Betts. It was demolished for a home run. The Sox were up 7-0 by the third inning when Betts went deep again. He finished the game with three homers. “I just ride the wave,” he said. On May 2, Betts did it again against the Royals. Re-watching his third home run of that game now, it almost looks like the video footage has been photoshopped. How else does one explain a player who feasts on inside pitches going after a fastball high and outside the zone, but pulling it to left-center and soaring the ball over everything onto the streets behind the Green Monster? On the NESN broadcast, Jerry Remy was in disbelief. Many of us still are. It was that game that we realized Betts wasn’t having a good season. He was having a generational season. “I know what I can do and I know I have the ability to drive the ball and I’m kind of showing it,” he said. “I think it’s more surprising, kind of, to everybody else.” The secret was in a bit of advice Ortiz had given him years earlier: stop thinking. “You just get to a point where you just kind of swing and there’s not much thinking going on,” Betts said. “When you have those days, it’s fun.” The Red Sox offense was thriving, the team was winning at a record pace, and yet the players couldn’t help but simultaneously take time to be bystanders. Even as a pitcher, Drew Pomeranz would spend his games thinking about Betts. “It was pretty cool,” Pomeranz said. “I’m just trying to shut them down long enough to let Mookie get at- bats. When he gets hot like that, we’re all cheering for more at-bats for him. They keep throwing him pitches, but he’s sitting on everything they threw at him. It’s pretty awesome to watch.” Betts said his aggressiveness changed the way he approached at-bats. And while he was more aggressive early in the year, he was forced to adapt as teams became leery of throwing him anything around the zone. By the end of the year, his swing percentage was 36%, the same as it was in 2017. But the player was not. He had hit three homers twice. He had hit a grand slam on the 13th pitch of an at-bat against Jays lefty J.A. Happ. He had become the second 30-30 player in Red Sox history (Jacoby Ellsbury was the first). And he had put together a season on par with the greats in MLB history. “You expect greatness with him every night,” Cora said. It was a mid-August game in Toronto that gave Betts another chance at history. He had singled, doubled and tripled in his first three at-bats. In the ninth inning, on a 3-2 count against Ken Giles, Betts got a hanging curve and cracked it on a line drive over the left-field fence. “I’m going to say a cycle is probably harder than a perfect game in bowling,” Betts said afterward. By the end of the year, when it was clear the Red Sox were far-and-away the best team in baseball, it had stopped becoming a matter of if they would win but how they would win and what kind of milestones would be reached during the win. From 2017 to 2018, Betts increased his average from .264 to .346, homers from 24 to 32 and OPS from .803 to 1.078. He wasn’t just one of the game’s premier power hitters; he was also the first Red Sox player to win a batting title since Bill Mueller in 2003, and the first to lead the majors in average since Wade Boggs in 1988. The eventual American League MVP by winning 28 of the 30 first-place votes (Mike Trout and Martinez each received one), Betts established himself as one of the best players in the world. And though he hit just .210 with one homer in the postseason, his home run in the clinching Game 5 against the Dodgers was a memorable one. “Everything I did is kind of irrelevant,” he said after the champagne celebration. “We have 25 guys here to win a game. We proved that it’s not just one guy.