Betts doesn't regret rejecting $300M extension: 'I don't worry about that'

Before he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, All-Star outfielder Mookie Betts turned down a contract extension from the Boston Red Sox worth $300 million.

Even after a pandemic has left MLB facing a 60-game season and significant uncertainty, Betts isn't rethinking his decision.

"I don't regret turning down that," Betts said of Boston's offer, according to Andy McCullough of The Athletic. "Once I make a decision, I make a decision. I'm not going back and questioning myself. I don't worry about that.

"The market will be what the market is. We'll just cross that bridge when we get there. But for right now, it's just the safety and health that I'm worried about."

It remains to be seen what kind of contract Betts will fetch when he hits the open market after the 2020 season. Unlike teammate David Price - whom the Dodgers also acquired in the February deal with Boston - Betts doesn't really have the option to sit out the campaign.

Because Betts isn't considered a high-risk individual, he would not gain service time if he opted out of playing the shortened season. If he decided to sit, the 27-year-old wouldn't be eligible for free agency until after 2021. The same goes for other impending, first-time free agents like Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto and Cincinnati Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer.

MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association have agreed that players will receive the same service time in 2020 that they accrued in 2019 if the upcoming season is canceled. In the event of a lost campaign, Betts will still be on track to enter free agency.

Regardless, Betts is focused on the task at hand: getting ready for the shortened season and making sure he stays healthy.

"Free agency is like, on the back burner," he said. "That'll come. That's nothing that I'm really thinking about right now. I think the main concern is the safety and health. There's a lot going on. We haven't gotten tests back. We don't know who's sick, who's not sick."

Betts and the Dodgers are slated to open the season on July 23 when they host the NL West rival San Francisco Giants.