A Rant

I don't really know what happened here.  The Red Sox front office, either through CEO Chaim Bloom or ownership itself, just never really seemed to step up.  Xander Bogaerts is now gone.  Arguably the face of the franchise and certainly the longest tenured player is headed to San Diego.  The contract is massive.  $280 million for eleven years.  I do not blame the Red Sox for not matching that.  Xander is going to be 30 next season and has seen his power numbers dip, and he has never been great defensively.  Certainly he will have to move positions at some point.  But, the fact remains that it never should have gotten this far.  

Boston had the chance to extend him last year.  He wanted an extension.  But they never seemed to take it seriously.  Just like with Jon Lester, they seemed to assume he would just take whatever they offered him.  They could have locked him up for another five years and it would not have hurt them that much.  In the end, it seems their offer was for six with the possibility of adding a year.  But for some crazy reason, the Padres offered eleven.  I have no idea what the Padres are thinking.  They now have three infielders on $300 million contracts, including two shortstops.  And they will have to make a decision regarding Juan Soto.  They are spending money like it is endless.  That's not my concern.  

What is my concern is what Boston does next.  Rafael Devers is now the face of the franchise, if he wasn't before.  But he will be a free agent after 2023.  Is the Boston front office going to step up and lock him up?  If he is allowed to leave, who's left?  They do not have another homegrown star right now.  Matt Barnes has the longest tenure on the team, having been there since 2014, but his hold on a roster spot is tenuous after a major collapse in 2021.  Chris Sale is next, but he has had a hard time staying on the field since 2019 and his surliness is not exactly endearing to the media.  They do have some guys coming up, including Triston Casas and eventually Marcelo Mayer, who is the heir apparent at shortstop.  But those guys are rookies and prospects.  If Devers leaves, this team really has no identity.  Does the front office even care?  It certainly does not seem like it.

We will probably never know how hard the team tried to keep Xander around.  But it sure doesn't look like they tried that hard.  They were blown out of the water by the offer from the Padres.  Sure, that contract is going to look horrible in about five years, but it never should have gotten this far.  If they had taken it seriously last Spring, they may never have been in this position.  Now, they need to step up and treat their one remaining homegrown player right.  Probably even treat him better than right.  Devers should be able to name his price and the front office should say absolutely, yes.  

Boston fans are getting tired of seeing homegrown stars walk out the door.  I know I am.  I have been a fan since 1991.  I have seen Wade Boggs, Ellis Burks, Roger Clemens, Mike Greenwell, Mo Vaughn, Nomar Garciaparra, Trot Nixon, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Christian Vazquez and now Xander Bogaerts all leave.  It has not always been the same ownership, but the results have been the same.  The team has not stepped up to keep the homegrown stars happy.  Players around the league see that and it makes them less likely to come to Boston.  

The three longest tenured players during my fandom have been David Ortiz, Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield.  There is something to be said for the team keeping them around, though they certainly did not make huge long-term deals with any of them.  But all three came from other organizations.  This team is suffering from a massive identity problem and a big part of that comes from how they treat homegrown stars.  The team owes it to its fans to treat their players right.  They can start by extending Devers.  That needs to happen right now.