Moneyball or Low Ball? A Xander Bogaerts Story
Do you believe Jon Heyman’s report that the Boston Red Sox offered Xander Bogaerts 4-year, $90 million extension?
The Red Sox are six games into the season, the club is 3-3 and about to have their home opener on Friday from Fenway Park. Despite the excitement and anticipation of baseball being played in front of the Fenway Faithful, there is cause for concern over the Sox roster.
Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers contract situations have been very public in the media over the last few months. The Red Sox and the two players were unable to agree on contract extensions prior to Opening Day.
As a result, Bogaerts and Devers want to focus on the upcoming season and leave the contract talk to the offseason.
Bogaerts is undoubtedly the face of the Red Sox and quite possibly the next big star to leave town. Fans are concerned that history will repeat itself, like it did with Mookie Betts prior to the trade that sent him to the Dodgers. Also, let’s not forget the Red Sox lowballed Jon Lester and ultimately traded the left-hander before he hit free agency.
On Wednesday night, a report surfaced from Jon Heyman that Bogaerts was offered a four-year, $90 million extension from the Red Sox.
In an article in the New York Post, Heyman wrote, “Boston and star shortstop Bogaerts were even further apart in concept, and in reality. Bogaerts, a three-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger winner who has an opt-out after the season on the deal that pays him $20 million annually through 2024, received an offer from Boston to simply add one year to the three he has his left on his deal. Sources suggest it was for about $30 million in that extra year, bringing his potential total to about $90 million.”
Heyman would go onto add that a friend of Bogaerts referred to Boston’s offer as a “slap in the face.”
The question for Red Sox fans is simple. Do you believe in Heyman’s reporting on the Bogaerts offer?
I highly doubt the Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom prepared an offer for Bogaerts that would invoke a Will Smith type slap at the Oscars feeling. But it does beg the question on whether there is some validity to the report.
Heyman has been very close with Bogaerts agent Scott Boras for a very longtime. This entire offseason, anytime a Boras client’s name surfaced on social media, the Red Sox were always connected. A prime example of that was former Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman. Prior to the World Series champion signing with the Dodgers, Heyman had the Red Sox connected to Freeman’s camp.
Heyman also reported Boras’ comments about the MLB lockout back in February. It’s abundantly clear that when Heyman tweets, his source is either Boras or someone very close within the Boras camp.
The concern that Red Sox fans should have is whether the report by Heyman only gets written and tweeted if both Boras and Bogaerts sign off on it. If Bogaerts’ camp truly signed off on Heyman’s report, it makes Bloom and the Red Sox ownership look cheap and gives the impression they’re lowballing their shortstop.
“I can’t do nothing about it right now,” Bogaerts said before Opening Day. “I’ve got a season coming up in front of me and I don’t want to put any of our teammates in that type of distraction. They don’t deserve it. We had time to get something done. It didn’t work out.”
Whether Bogaerts likes it or not, regardless of the fact he has a brand new season in front of him, the contract issue will still be a problem.
I understand players in this situation prefer to focus on baseball and not their contractual obligations during the regular season. However, I find it hard to believe that if Bloom and company reach out to Boras and offer something that isn’t “a slap in the face,” deadline or no-deadline they’ll get a deal done.
Brad Pitt in the movie Moneyball portrayed Athletics general manager Billy Beane and magnificently I may add. During the scene where Beane is with his scouts and Peter Brand he talks about losing first baseman Jeremy Giambi.
“If we try to play like the Yankees in here, we will lose to the Yankees out there,” said Pitt in the movie.
Hopefully Bloom doesn’t have the same thought process when looking at his star players. The Athletics have always been in a complete different situation from the Yankees and Red Sox. Despite that, fans are concerned that Bloom is going to run the Red Sox like a small market team. The Red Sox have the ability to play like the Yankees on and off the field, while using the Athletics Moneyball focus. The Dodgers have gotten the formula right over the last seven or eight years, the Red Sox can too.
The clock is ticking on Bogaerts and not so quietly in the background Devers situation looms. I’ll leave you with this one last quote from Moneyball that reminded me of this Bogaerts situation.
“Would you rather get one shot in the head or five in the chest and bleed to death?” Because it feels like each report that comes out is another shot in the chest and we’re slowly bleeding out.
Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHenrique
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