With a few of baseball’s biggest stars inking new deals north of $300M, what kind of lucrative deals will the Red Sox stars receive in the near future?
As if the Boston Red Sox didn’t already have enough attention surrounding themselves coming into the 2019 campaign, to add onto it, more pressure will be put on the plates of Xander Bogaerts and Chris Sale to perform as they enter the final year of their respective deals.
Sale will turn 30 years of age just two days after Opening Day. With a list of injury struggles over the past few seasons, many clubs, including Boston, will be a bit hesitant to break the bank for a long-term deal with the southpaw.
However, the numbers don’t lie. When healthy, Sale is one of the most dominant pitchers in the game and had he pitched a full 2018 season, it’s safe to assume he would’ve walked away with more hardware than just a World Series ring.
Since his arrival in Boston in 2017, Sale has posted a 29-12 record to go along with a stellar 2.56 ERA. But once again, we have to revisit the injury struggles. Elbow inflammation and a belly button infection caused Sale to perform to less than what we all know he’s capable of in 2018 and limited him to just 27 starts. Which leaves us wondering if those ailments will follow him to the mound in 2019.
Boston would be smart to wait and see what Sale brings to the table at the start of the season, then sit down and talk about an extension with the lefty.
As for Bogaerts, his situation is a little bit different from that of Sale, mainly based on the fact that he’s four years younger. Entering his age 26 season, Bogaerts saw his numbers reach career highs across the board, and what encouraged fans the most was the fact we finally saw the power out of his bat that he was missing to really separate himself from other shortstops in the MLB.
An average of .288 with 23 home runs and 103 RBI are outstanding numbers for a shortstop not known for having a big bat but, if those numbers serve as any indication, 2019 will be another resurgence of power for the ‘X-Man’.
If Bogaerts can keep those numbers on the same plateau as 2018, he can expect the money to come rolling in. Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado just secured his own 8-year, $260 million extension and Bogaerts may expect his deal to be in the same neighborhood as that number when the time comes.
That would put Boston in an extremely tough spot, as that brings up the next pair of superstars that should be on Dave Dombrowski’s radar for paydays. Those two men being Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi. Here’s a look at the stat lines for each of the star outfielders.
Betts: .346 BA/32 HR/80 RBI/1.078 OPS/30 SB/10.9 WAR
Benintendi: .290 BA/16 HR/87 RBI/.830 OPS/ 21 SB/ 3.9 WAR
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While Benintendi is a great player and still extremely young at just 24 years of age, Betts is just a once-in-a-generation talent, being praised by many as the best player in all of baseball. Don’t believe it? He’s got an MVP trophy to prove it. He’s someone the Red Sox absolutely have to lock up long-term, but this is where it gets tricky if it hasn’t already.
This offseason saw Bryce Harper, who plays the same position as Betts, sign a 13-year, $330 million deal. Betts, who is presumably better than Harper, will be seeking a contract come 2021. Although he’s arbitration eligible next season, it would be wise of Boston to secure Betts as soon as possible to avoid him slipping through their grasp.
So, what’s next? You have four players, Betts, Bogaerts, Benintendi and Sale, all of whom are superstars at their given position and integral parts of Boston’s continued success this season and deep into the future. Will they have enough space for all four? Will someone be the odd man out? That remains to be seen, but the contract situations will no doubt be brought up throughout the season as the primary topic of discussion.
The future of this franchise rests on the shoulders of Dave Dombrowski and the decisions he has yet to make or not make, and all we can do is sit back and enjoy the ride of what will soon be the 2019 season.