The Day Xander Bogaerts Left: The Podcast (feat. Sadness)

Dec 8, 2022 - 4:44 PM

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In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Xander Bogaerts signed an 11-year, $280 million deal with the San Diego Padres, ending a tenure with the Red Sox organization that has lasted basically half of his life.

Are you shocked? We are, a little bit. If anything, the sheer size of the deal means the Sox were non-factors from the get-to, yesterday’s reports about “heavy” discussions between the Bloom and Bogey camps almost certainly a negotiating ploy by Scott Boras, the best to ever do it. Pete Abraham reported the Sox were no higher than fifth in their bids to Bogaerts, leading Bryan and Dan to review the lip-service the organization paid towards X while never making a competitive offer (if you believe this version of events, which we more or less do).

We obviously talk about how this would affect a Rafael Devers extension/predict the lack of one, how Bogaerts will fit into the Padres and what the Sox — who make some suddenly overshadowed big moves — are likely to do next this offseason.

Anyhow, it stinks even if it’s not entirely surprising, and that’s the tone of the podcast because duh.

(Special thanks to the U.S. Marine Band/Matt Harding for the intro.)