Xander Bogaerts appears to take shot at Red Sox front office

The Boston Red Sox truly fumbled the bag with Xander Bogaerts, and he appeared to take shots at them for it after signing with the San Diego Padres.

The Red Sox failed to keep Xander Bogaerts around, disappointing many fans and Bogaerts himself. This ultimately led him to opt out of his contract and hit free agency, in which he agreed to a massive 11-year deal worth $280 million with the San Diego Padres.

He appeared to take shots at the Red Sox for failing to come to an agreement, thanking the Padres for being so ‘straightforward’ in their negotiations.

Boston certainly didn’t go about the contract as well as they could’ve. Their best bet would’ve been to come to an agreement over the 2021 season as he approached eligibility to opt out, but they didn’t. They attempted to come to an agreement with him earlier in the spring, but it wasn’t nearly what he was worth.

They stopped talking contracts entirely during the regular season, and though they said it was their priority to sign him in the offseason, they weren’t proactive enough.

Boston, unfortunately, just didn’t seem to prioritize him enough, and now he’s gone for likely the rest of his career.

Red Sox made a huge series of mistakes with Xander Bogaerts

The Xander Bogaerts mishandling will definitely trickle down through multiple parts of the organization. Bogaerts was one of the best players on the team, leading the Red Sox in several hitting stats and even leading the league among all shortstops in batting average (.307) and on-base percentage (.377).

He had a solid season defensively with a wFB of 12.5. He was the only player on the team to be nominated for a Gold Glove, and though he didn’t end up earning it, it’s still extremely telling of his ability. The Red Sox had minimal success in 2022, but they probably would’ve had a lot less without him.

It’s also likely to impact their ability to extend Rafael Devers considering the two were close and often vouched for each other. Devers expressed his hope to have Bogaerts stay in Boston, and as another top player for the Red Sox, he’s likely to drive a hard bargain.

If the Red Sox don’t sign Carlos Correa this offseason, which they likely won’t, they’ll lose depth, too. They have Trevor Story to put at shortstop and either Kiké Hernandez or Christian Arroyo to put at second base, but there’s not much backup if Story gets injured.

The Red Sox truly made a disastrous situation that could’ve been avoided a long time ago.