Bill Belichick helped Boston Red Sox land one of their biggest free agent acquisitions of the offseason
Bill Belichick is an excellent football coach, one of the best of all time and the second-winningest behind Don Shula. Evidently, he's also an excellent recruiter.
Belichick went on the offensive for the MLB's Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots' crosstown counterpart. The two teams represent the Boston area, along with the NBA's Boston Celtics.
Justin Turner on MLBN confirmed that Bill Belichick sent him a text message recruiting him to sign with the Red Sox. He told him how great of a sports town Boston is, Turner was stoked and says that hopefully they can text more in the future.
Free agent acquisition Justin Turner, over from the Los Angeles Dodgers, revealed on MLB Network that the legendary coach enticed him to the area.
“I’m not going to say what he said,” Turner told host Alanna Rizzo. “It was just saying how great of a sports town Boston is and that he’s good friends with Alex. I don’t want to share all the texts because I hope I can get some more of them. Yeah, that was pretty cool.”
The Boston Red Sox finished in last place in the American League East last season. To get out of the basement, the team will need a lot of help. It probably didn't expect to get any from the legendary coach across town though.
Turner signed a two-year, $21.7 million deal to fly across the country at Bill Belichick's behest.
What is Bill Belichick's contract?
After an unusually disappointing season for the New England Patriots, analysts have called for the team to look at the head coach position.
Belichick is the second-oldest coach in the entire league, and the team has struggled without Tom Brady.
Belichick makes an impressive $20 million per year, which is higher than any player on the Patriots roster right now. Matt Judon at $13.6 million is the player with the highest yearly salary on the roster.
In terms of the wider world of sports, Belichick's contract ranks number one. It's $5 million more than the next closest NFL coach, Pete Carroll, while Gregg Popovich's $13 million is the closest to the Patriots' in the NBA.
Firings happen all the time, but Belichick makes enough money that it wouldn't hurt and it would probably be a rash decision to fire him after a couple of down seasons (both of which resulted in a fairly close finish to the playoffs).