LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 12: David Price #33 and Mookie Betts #50 of the Los Angeles Dodgers answer questions from the media during an introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium on February 12, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
But tell you what. Let’s keep this to current ownership, the modern Red Sox, the ones owned and operated under John Henry and his partners. First Lester, then Betts, now Bogaerts. Talk about a murderer’s row. Lester won a championship after going to the Chicago Cubs and Betts won one with the Los Angeles Dodgers, too. Both departed Boston after the Red Sox dragged their feet and lagged in negotiations, and the same has now happened with Bogaerts.
According to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox’ final offer to Bogaerts yesterday – when talks between the team and player were allegedly “gaining momentum” according to reports – was for six years and approximately $162 million dollars, an average of $27 million per season. Bogaerts finished with 11 and $280 million. Boston missed the mark by more than 40 percent, the kind of blowout that lands you in last place in the American League East for the fifth time in 11 seasons, which is precisely where the Red Sox finished this year.
CLEVELAND, OH – NOVEMBER 02: Jon Lester #34 of the Chicago Cubs reacts after retiring the side during the seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians in Game Seven of the 2016 World Series at Progressive Field on November 2, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The really sad part? Had the Red Sox offered six and $162 million back in the spring – or something close to it – this probably could have been avoided, the same way it could have been with Lester back in 2014. But they lowballed Bogaerts the way they lowballed Lester, the pattern so strikingly similar that it is impossible to ignore. The Red Sox offered Lester four years and $70 million during the spring of his final season here; he ended with the Cubs for six years and $155 million. In the case of Bogaerts, the Sox merely added one year and $30 million to the three years and $60 million Bogaerts had on his deal, bringing their final preseason offer to him to six years and $90 mil.
He opted out. He got $280 million.
Again, the Red Sox weren’t even in the same universe.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JANUARY 15: From left, Red Sox Owner John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, CEO Sam Kennedy, and Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom attend a press conference addressing the departure of Alex Cora as manager of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on January 15, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. A MLB investigation concluded that Cora was involved in the Houston Astros sign stealing operation in 2017 while he was the bench coach. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Before we go any further here, let’s make something clear. This isn’t about sentimentality. It’s about winning and consistently building winners. It’s about playing from in front instead of playing from behind. Bogaerts didn’t value sentimentality when leaving the Red Sox and you shouldn’t value sentimentality in keeping him. If the 2023 Red Sox are a playoff team and World Series threat without him, we’ll all be just fine. If they miss the playoffs and finish last twice in three years – the way they have since they traded away Betts for next to nothing – we’ll continue to wonder whether the Red Sox know what they’re doing anymore, whether they can balance the short and long terms the way Theo Epstein did, or whether they will continue to bounce between bankruptcy and the White House like some type of baseball Trump.
Winners one day, losers the next.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – OCTOBER 05: Xander Bogaerts #2 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after his two run home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning of the American League Wild Card game at Fenway Park on October 05, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
But floored? Please. Let’s stop with the nonsense and stop with the rhetoric. In the hours leading up to Bogaerts’ departure, the Red Sox tossed around some relative pocket change, securing closer Kenley Jansen (two years, $32 million) and outfielder Masataka Yoshida (five years, $90 million.) Suddenly, that all doesn’t seem like a coincidence.
With regard to Bogaerts, the Sox have known what was coming for some time. They really did little or nothing to prevent it. In fact, in signing Trevor Story, they put in place a safety net before this all began.
Red Sox owners and operators aren’t stupid, folks. Quite the contrary. But they might very well think you are.
Let’s see what they all have to say once they pick themselves up off the floor.
