When Mookie Betts was presented with a long-term offer to become a lifer in Boston, he said no. When the Red Sox approached him in each of the next couple of years trying to sign him during arbitration, Betts again said no. That was the first of many warning signs that he did not want to stay long term.
While baseball is a business, there should be no one that believes the comments he made to Red Sox great, Jim Rice. According to MLB Network Radio, when Betts uttered the words to Rice,
“I told you before – I wanted to stay.