Xander Bogaerts considered "most irreplaceable" free agent lost in MLB by The Athletic

BOSTON -- Red Sox fans surely know how valuable Xander Bogaerts was to the Red Sox franchise. Apparently, so does everyone else in and around baseball.

The Athletic polled 29 people --  "executives, former executives, coaches and scouts" -- and asked them which players are most irreplaceable for the teams that lost them to free agency this offseason. With 16 votes, Bogaerts topped the list. 

With Bogaerts getting 16 votes, Trea Turner got 11, Carlos Rodon got five, Justin Verlander got four, Jose Abreu and Jacob deGrom got two apiece, and Justin Turner (a Red Sox signing) got one.

Jayson Stark wrote that Bogaerts received these votes for more than just the player he is on the field.

"This was about everything else he took with him. When the Red Sox let this guy get so close to free agency and ultimately let themselves get outbid, they lost something else that's nearly impossible to replace: They lost a level of trust from their fan base that no replacement from the outside could duplicate," Stark wrote. 

One voter said: "He was their guy. So that's a tough pill to swallow. It's like losing Jon Lester. You don't replace what guys like that mean to a team. That's a tough one."

One voter picked Bogaerts over Trea Turner leaving Dodgers, because "the Dodgers have built up more goodwill with their fan base over these last few years than the Red Sox."

"When you're in the place the Red Sox are with their fan base and you let a guy like this leave, it's not just about replacing the player on the field," that voter said. "It's impossible to replace what he means to those fans."

For outsiders to fully comprehend this while the owner of the team seemingly doesn't understand it is a bit puzzling, as it's apparent to just about everyone what Bogaerts meant to the franchise and the fan base. While John Henry may find humor in offering flippant comments as to what he and the team could have done better in an effort to keep Bogaerts in Boston for his entire career, the rest of the baseball world wonders how and why the Red Sox let him get to free agency at all.

That one voter who referenced Jon Lester certainly gets it. Back in the winter of 2013-14, Lester was fresh off posting a 4-1 postseason record with a sterling 1.56 ERA for the World Series-champion Red Sox. He allowed one single run and issued one single walk across 15.1 innings in the World Series, in which he was the Game 1 starter.

Exactly like Bogaerts, Lester was a homegrown two-time champion for the Boston Red Sox. He had posted a 3.65 ERA over nearly 200 starts in the six seasons from 2008-13, averaging 32 starts per year. Just like Bogaerts in 2022, Lester was in line in 2014 to get a big-money contract that would pay him through his mid-30s. The Red Sox, though, had no interest in making that deal happen. Not for Lester, not for Bogaerts.

Boston offered Lester a four-year, $70 million contract. He didn't take it, and the Red Sox traded him to Oakland before the deadline in 2014.

Lester then signed a six-year, $155 million deal with the Cubs. The Red Sox were off by $85 million.

Nearly a decade later, the Red Sox reportedly offered Bogaerts six years and $160 million. He signed for 11 years and $280 million. The Red Sox were off by $120 million.

Treating Jon Lester like that was the moment that the relationship between ownership and fans was irreparably harmed. It was the black-and-white point of demarcation where the ownership group that had delivered three World Series titles in 10 years lost most of its stored goodwill with the fan base.

As much as anything else -- including the firing of Don Orsillo, the forced exit of Terry Francona, the absurd hiring of Bobby Valentine, etc. -- the lowballing and disrespect given to a face of the franchise in Lester only led to bewilderment, disappointment and frustration among fans.

Henry justified that decision at the time by boasting about a new philosophy wherein the Red Sox would not be investing big dollars in pitchers over the age of 30. The Red Sox' rotation then promptly had the third-worst ERA in the American League in 2014, and that was with Lester's 2.52 ERA in 21 starts keeping the total number from being even uglier. The rotation was even worse in 2015, with the third-worst ERA in the AL, leading the Red Sox to ... give a big-money contract to a pitcher over the age of 30 in David Price.

To many fans, that was the contract that should have been given to Lester. Instead, it went to Price, who never fully embraced Boston and in return was never fully embraced by Boston.

Instead, Lester delivered upon his contract for the Cubs, helping break their curse and earning NLCS MVP honors along the way. Lester went 3-1 with a 2.02 ERA in six appearances (five starts) in the 2016 postseason for Chicago, including three critical innings of relief on short rest in Game 7 of the World Series.

In short, Lester was who we thought he was.

Price did cobble together a strong 2018 season, allowing three earned runs over 19 innings in his final three playoff starts, the last of which was the clinching game of the World Series. But he didn't deliver in any of his other three seasons in Boston, leading to the Red Sox packaging him with Mookie Betts in what turned out to be one of the worse trades of the 21st century.

And that's really what the loss of Bogaerts comes back to. Lowballing and losing Lester led to signing Price, who was a lesser player at a higher cost. Opting to not invest in Betts led to a forced trade of one of the best players in baseball, but lumping in Price and his albatross of a contract severely limited the return on that deal.

With a chance to do better this time around, the Red Sox instead pulled a Lester 2.0. The only difference was this time, in an effort to try to save face and feign competitiveness in a playoff hunt they were never truly in, they didn't trade the player ahead of the deadline. As a result, they lost the player for absolutely nothing.

It is merely the latest reminder that the game can be seen through the lens of dollars and cents from owners, while fans -- even the most level-headed and logical among them -- see the game for much more. Red Sox fans know what walked out the door in Bogaerts. Executives and scouts around baseball know that it cannot be replaced. Ownership and the front office, though, just seem to see things differently.