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Xander Bogaerts has successfully established himself as one of the top shortstops in baseball. The question now is which team will be lucky enough to secure this infield phenom.
While many teams may be interested, the top contenders seem to be the Minnesota Twins and the Atlanta Braves. Both teams seem likely to lose star shortstops this season. The Twins have had to deal with Carlos Correa opting out of his contract two years early, while Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson seems to be on his way out as well.
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"If the Red Sox fail to sign Xander Bogaerts and he reunites with Mookie in LA, I don’t think I’ll be able to go on. It might be curtains for me." - @ Jared Carrabis
The truth is that the Boston Red Sox are not likely to come anywhere near the postseason for some years yet. Bogaerts has been with the team for nearly a decade now and does not want to go through the rebuilding.
Xander Bogaerts MLB timeline
Originally from the small Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, Bogaerts caught the attention of big-league scouts in 2012. The following year, he signed with the Boston Red Sox, one of the most well-known teams in the league.
He made his debut in August 2013 and spent most of the season on the bench. But he was able to learn from stars like David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia as the Red Sox went all the way to the World Series that year.
2014 was Bogaerts' first full season in the MLB. In 144 games, he hit 12 home runs and 46 RBIs. A year later, Bogaerts began to develop into the speedy, contact hitter that all teams wanted.
The shortstop hit .320 in 2015 with 10 stolen bases and 35 doubles. It became apparent to everyone in the baseball world that Bogaerts could run and hit for contact.
Over the next seven years, Xander Bogaerts continued to hit around .300 and stretched out a lot of extra-base hits. The Red Sox repeatedly signed Bogaerts to one-year deals until March 2019 when he penned a six-year deal worth $120 million with a player option after three seasons.
"Xander Bogaerts has opted out of his 6 year and $120 Million deal with the Red Sox." - @ Boston Strong
In November 2022, he exercised his player option and made it clear he wanted to leave.
