Xander Bogaerts officially opts out of Red Sox contract and becomes a free agent
For the first time in his professional career, Xander Bogaerts is not a member of the Boston Red Sox.
On Monday morning, the MLBPA officially announced that Bogaerts is one of nine players who’ve opted out of their contracts and elected free agency. The deadline to do so is Tuesday.
As usual, a situation that should have been extremely simple and straightforward has been complicated by this ridiculous organization. Bogaerts has been with the Sox since he was sixteen years old. He’s one of the rare players who thrive under the harsh Boston spotlight. No other shortstop in franchise history has played more games at the position or hit more grand slams. He’s won two championships, four Silver Sluggers, and is the only American League player to hit .285 or better with an OPS+ of at least 125 in each of the last five seasons, never mind the intangibles, like the energy and leadership he brings to the clubhouse. He spent the entire season tying or breaking records, which now feels like a grand finale, as opposed to a thrilling chapter in an unfinished book.
It should have been so easy to give him a raise, tack on a few years, and say, ‘You’re our guy.’
Why can’t it ever be that easy? Just this once.
Instead, the Sox sweet-talked the media and fans into thinking they’d get it right for once, promising that Bogaerts was their top priority and that the process of retaining him would begin immediately. Whatever they did in the past month, it clearly wasn’t enough. Knowing them, whatever offers they made were insultingly low. That’s how they’ve been negotiating with Rafael Devers, too.
The Sox could still make Bogaerts a Qualifying Offer, but it would be absurd, given it would pay him less than the money he stood to make if he’d opted in. And yes, they could still re-sign him. But Red Sox fans have been here before. They’ve watched their proven homegrown stars get mistreated while the team overpays for unproven free agents. The Sox should know better by now, and they don’t. And now they could lose the face of their franchise. Again.
If this is the end of the Bogaerts era, it’s a dang shame. In part because some other team will be eager to appreciate him, but mostly because it never should have come to this.
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