Xander Bogaerts leaves Red Sox, agrees to massive deal with San Diego Padres
BOSTON -- The Red Sox have a big hole to fill on their roster. Xander Bogaerts is leaving town, signing with the San Diego Padres.
Bogaerts' deal is reportedly worth $280 million over 11 years, according to multiple reports.
According to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox were nowhere close to retaining their start shortstop.
Boston chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said earlier this offseason at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas that Bogaerts was the team's top choice at shortstop this offseason. But over the weekend, as the Baseball Winter Meetings got underway in San Diego, it was reported that Boston has yet to make a competitive offer to Bogaerts.
That seemed to change on Wednesday when there were reports that talks between Bogaerts and the Red Sox had gained momentum. But those talks never materialized.
Now the Red Sox will have to figure out a Plan B, all while saying goodbye to a player that had been with the organization since 2009.
Bogaerts, 30, was an All-Star for the second straight year in 2022. He finished the season hitting .307 with an .833 OPS, 15 home runs, and 73 RBIs. While detractors have pointed to Bogaerts' defense, he was a Gold Glove finalist for the first time in his career.
The Red Sox originally signed a 16-year-old Bogaerts as an international free agent back in 2009, and he became one of the faces of the franchise over his 10 years in the big leagues. Bogaerts earned four All-Star nods and two World Series rings during his career with the Red Sox. He won his first title in 2013, playing third base in the Fall Classic after he was a late-season call-up, and his second in 2018 as the team's everyday shortstop.
Bogaerts' best season came in 2019, when he hit 33 homers and drove in 117 runs -- both career highs. He was fifth in MVP voting that year, when he also earned the third of his four career Silver Slugger awards.
Bogaerts expressed a desire to remain with the Red Sox ahead of last season, but extension talks with the team broke off after the Red Sox offered to add one year at $30 million to the final three years of his team-friendly deal. Bogaerts officially opted out of that deal -- which would have paid him $20 million annually through 2025 -- following the World Series and became a free agent for the first time in his career.
Now, he's set to play for someone other than the Red Sox for the first time in his career. Meanwhile, the Red Sox are left looking for a replacement for a fan favorite and one of the team's top contributors over the last decade.
