San Diego – Shortstop Xander Bogaerts and the Padres signed an 11-year, $280 million deal late Wednesday, sources have confirmed to ESPN the historic move that will bring the long-time Boston Red Sox luminary to an already loaded team with superstar talent.
The amazing deal, signed in the midst of a particularly active winter conference concluded adding Bogaerts onto a Padres team already containing Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Boston has been grieving over the loss of an American-born player who made his debut in the major leagues at just 20 years old. He is now 30, after having opted out of the last 3 years on his deal.
Bogaerts has won two World Series and made four All-Star teams, including one in 2022, when he ran .307/.377/.456 with 15 RBIs and 15 home runs over 150 contests. The expectation is he will remain at shortstop, with Ha-Seong Kim — who took over at the position in 2022 when Tatis was injured and suspended for a positive performance-enhancing-drug test — moving to second base, incumbent second baseman Jake Cronenworth sliding over to first, Tatis shifting to right field and Soto going to left field.
The agreement, which will run through Bogaerts’ 40th birthday season the end of winter, was the culmination of a meeting where clubs signed players worth nearly $1.6 billion. This includes those from the New York Yankees locking up outfielder Aaron Judge for $360 million and The Philadelphia Phillies signing shortstop Trea Turner for $300 million, and The Red Sox spending more than $105 million, which is the sum of their salary as well as the payment that his old team had in Japan to sign an outfielder Masataka Yoshida.
Bogaerts was signed in the winter of 2009 with the hopes of being one of the prize winners of a highly competitive Free Agent class. After running into Turner and Judge and Judge, the Padres moved to Bogaerts. They were not frightened by the expense to sign him or the domino effect that his signing could cause.
The deal will see the Padres increase their payroll to over $250 million, an impressive amount for a team in the 27th-ranked market for media in the United States.
Boston is a city that typically has one of the highest payrolls in baseball however, was not willing to compete close to the financial realm that it was the Padres are willing to take them. In the day that they Red Sox agreed to a agreement with Yoshida in addition to an agreement for a two-year, $32 million agreement together with close Kenley Jansen, they discovered themselves without a high-profile well-known player just two years after the trade of infielder Mookie Betts with Los Angeles Dodgers. Los Angeles Dodgers.
The possibility that Bogaerts might be leaving Boston began to surface following his rejection of an extension to his contract earlier this year. The option to opt out in Bogaerts the six-year, $120 million contract hung across his Red Sox like the sword of Damocles that was threatening to remove another key member of the team who won the World Series in 2018 and was a part of it to the American League Championship Series in 2021. The team then fell to last spot on the AL East this year.
While Boston was struggling and the Padres took over with a number of bolder moves than previous. The first was signing Machado to the 10-year free agent, worth $300 million contract prior to the start of the start of the 2019 season. Then, two months later, they granted Tatis an 14-year extension worth $340 million. Also, at the trade deadline earlier this season, the team traded five prospects in exchange for Soto who turned down an extension of $440 million offered by his previous team The Washington Nationals, and can be a free agent following his 2024-23 season.
Without Tatis Tatis, the Padres had a 89-game winning streak and earned a wild-card spot and finished 22 games ahead of the top-placed Dodgers on the National League West. San Diego defeated the 101-win New York Mets in the wild-card series, and defeated them in the division series, and swept Dodgers during the divisional series, and then lost in the NL Championship Series to the Phillies which were eliminated from in the World Series to the Houston Astros.
The Padres have not made it to their way to the World Series in 1998, losing to the Yankees but have not yet won an award since they first started back in 1969. The only major professional sports team for men that is located in San Diego, the Padres have been a hit with the city, topping season ticket sales and consistently taking over Petco Park as they fell just short of 3 million people with the fifth-highest attendance in baseball, behind only those of the Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Yankees and Atlanta Braves.
The sum the Padres would be willing to pay to acquire Bogaerts however shocked the industry of baseball. However, Machado is able to opt off of the contract following 2023 and the Padres will shed about $60 million in salary beyond him due to the imminent free agency of the pitchers Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Josh Hader and Drew Pomeranz The three-card financial monte that they’re participating has led to rival executives questioning their long-term plans.
The Padres don’t pay any attention to opinions from outsiders. The Padres are moving Kim and his exceptional skill at shortstop, to the second position base for Bogaerts who scouts or defensive metrics think is better defensively? It’s not a problem. The farm system that they have built up to last the remaining 2 1/2 years of Soto’s control over the club? The cost of building a team that is championship-quality.
Bogaerts is aware of the way World Series rings look like and has nabbed a pair during his 10 year career, during which he’s struck .292/.356/.458 with 683 RBIs in at least 136 games during every single one of his eight seasons. Being able to remain healthy was a key factor for Bogaerts who joined the Red Sox out of Aruba when he was just 16 years old, soared into the major leagues, and quickly became a regular player on the field with a slick right-handed swing designed for damage and contact.
He will now join this team which, even with its superstar power, was ranked thirteenth among the big leagues, scoring 705 runs. The introduction of Bogaerts and the return of Tatis will boost it up.
Boston on its own, has grave questions regarding its present and future.
The Red Sox could move second baseman Trevor Story to his natural position of shortstop, however the speed of his throws, as per the scouts, could limit his efficiency there after he was signed to a six-year free-agent contract. Boston must also find out what the future holds for popular third-baseman Rafael Devers, a 26-year-old who is eligible for free agency in 2023 and is expected to fetch more than $300 million. Devers and the Red Sox and Devers remain not in agreement on the extension of Devers’ contract according to sources.
MLB Network first reported the deal between Bogaerts as well as the Padres.
