Mookie Betts Removed From Red Sox Season Ticket Graphic for 2020

2020 is a season shrouded in doubt for the Red Sox right now. Ownership wants to slash payroll to below the luxury tax threshold, they're still searching for a new general manager, and to top it all off, there's serious doubt that superstar Mookie Betts will be with the team next year.

And now Betts has been removed from next year's season ticket graphic, adding to the intrigue surrounding his status in Boston. He has been replaced by Eduardo Rodriguez.

The numerous reports here in the waning weeks of the 2019 season regarding the plans to cut down on payroll have only added fuel to the fire surrounding rumors of a possible Betts trade.

The 2018 AL MVP is heading into his final year of arbitration, and he has shown no signs of signing an extension in Boston. The idea seems to be that the Red Sox would rather ship him out and restock a depleted farm system rather than gamble on trying to sign him in free agency or extend him beforehand.

And it's hard to fault that line of reasoning, regardless of the team's spending plans. They've already got multiple extensions kicking in next year for Xander Bogaerts and Chris Sale. That makes signing Betts, who has proven himself to be one of the best position players in baseball, borderline impossible.

Sure, it might be over-analyzing to think that a graphic change is a real indicator of what's yet to come, but there's simply no denying that this casts an even larger shadow of doubt over his future with the Red Sox.